[An Easy-to-Follow Office Design Guide] ④ How to Prepare for the Presentation & How to Manage the Construction Schedule

What should an office PM prepare in advance to wrap up a project without a hitch? In this article, we'll walk you through the parts that are easy to miss when preparing an office interior. Namely, "preparing for the presentation" and "managing the construction schedule." Both are essential tasks for choosing a good interior firm and finishing construction within the planned timeline. Let's take a look at why they matter and what makes for effective management.

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Why do you need an interior presentation?

Don't decide on an interior firm based on documents and proposals alone. Instead, it's better to have the interior firm convey their specific design intent through a presentation (PT). Let us explain why in detail.

1\. You grasp the design intent

Have you ever received a floor plan and felt at a loss for how to interpret it? Or struggled to compare several floor plans to figure out which one was better?

Through the presentation, listen closely to the strengths of each floor plan. You can also find out how well they understood and reflected what your company asked for.

The same goes for the design draft—you need time to talk with the interior firm and align your opinions. “I like some parts, but I'm not sure about others” By speaking honestly like this, you can steer the design in a better direction. Listen for the hidden stories behind the finishes through the presentation, too. Why that finish had to be chosen, and what hidden advantages it offers Hearing the designer's intent will make it much easier to crystallize your own opinions.

2\. It uncovers hidden needs

“This is exactly what our company wanted!” You might find yourself shouting eureka while listening to the interior firm's presentation. Even if you think you've requested everything you need, an expert's perspective can surface hidden needs.

Through the presentation, crystallize what your office truly needed and take one more step toward a more polished office.

3\. You understand the context behind the proposal and the estimate

By only receiving documents, it's hard to understand the context in which the proposal and the estimate were created. That's because you're seeing only the result, skipping over the countless deliberations the interior firm went through. We recommend listening to a detailed explanation of what constraints and requests the proposal was planned around, and what conditions the estimate was derived from. For the estimate in particular, the content is complex, so rather than comparing fragmentary numbers at face value, we hope you'll also understand the context in which the estimate was derived.

What you should do to prepare a perfect presentation

So, does the presentation end with simply leaving the preparation to the interior firm? There are things an office PM would do well to prepare in advance for the presentation as well. If you refer to the checklist below, you can boost the value of the presentation by another 200%.

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□ Create scoring criteria and a scoresheet When you receive proposals from several interior firms, it can get confusing which firm's proposal was better. We recommend preparing clear scoring criteria and a corresponding scoresheet in advance. Based on the scoresheet, you can decide on an interior firm efficiently.

□ Assemble an evaluation committee Deciding who within your company should evaluate the interior presentation is also important. We strongly recommend including your design team, finance team, and top decision-maker—those most relevant to the office interior—on the evaluation committee.

□ Allocate the presentation time If you want to compare several interior firms while using your time efficiently, we recommend paying attention to how you allocate the presentation time. It's common to give 30 minutes for the presentation and 10 minutes for questions and answers.

□ Give advance notice Letting the interior firm know in advance so they can prepare for the presentation is also important. If you announce the presentation time at least 5 days ahead, you can receive a more polished presentation.

A clean way to manage the construction schedule

If the construction schedule runs into trouble because of something you failed to check, it can have a big impact on company-wide operations, too. The main causes of construction schedules being delayed or changed are gathered here. We hope you'll check the points below, prevent schedule changes, and wrap up construction without a hitch.

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STEP 1. Check the building's construction permit guidelines

Large buildings require you to apply for a construction permit in advance. So that the planned construction schedule isn't delayed, apply for the building's construction permit and check the necessary steps such as “floor plan approval.” Based on this, it's best to coordinate the construction start date with the interior firm.

STEP 2. Select security equipment & server vendors in advance

Creating an environment where you can get straight to work in the new office is important, too. If there are vendors that are essential for work but easy to overlook during the interior process, those would be the security equipment vendor and the server vendor. Not only do you need to select these vendors in advance, but you also need to coordinate with the interior construction schedule. There are parts you'll need to discuss and work on together, such as hiding wiring so it isn't exposed.

STEP 3. Decide on electronic devices

Deciding in advance on electronic devices such as water purifiers, refrigerators, and monitors is more important than you might think. Decide which electronic devices to purchase new at the start of construction and let the interior firm know. There are many things closely tied to the interior—whether the water purifier needs drainage and water supply, whether the wall needs reinforcement to install a meeting room monitor, and how to conceal the power cords and piping of the devices.

STEP 4. Allow time for ventilation after completion

If you're planning to move in as soon as construction is finished, you might be overlooking “ventilation.” It's a good idea to allow about two days of ventilation to clear out construction dust. For the health of your members, please be sure to factor in ventilation time after completion.

STEP 5. Select a moving company

When is the right time to select a moving company? Right after you've decided on the interior firm. At this point, you need to select the vendor right away so the move can proceed smoothly after completion.

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We've talked about the two important tasks for efficiently wrapping up an office interior. Through “preparing the interior presentation,” we introduced how to carefully select a good firm, and through “managing the construction schedule,” we showed you how to minimize problems all the way to the finish.

Preparing an office interior is much like a long voyage. The key is to take the helm amid the countless processes crashing in like waves, and to manage external variables well. `That's why, in a construction process this demanding, the process of deciding on a partner you can trust matters more than anything. If selecting the right partner is 70%, then every process after that is about 30%. `We hope that by first selecting a good partner through the presentation prep method we introduced today, and then minimizing variables to the very end with the construction schedule management method, you can wrap up your planned project without a hitch.

🔗 See all of the Office Design Guide

👉 ① How to write an RFP 👉 ② 6 ways to choose an interior firm 👉 ③ How to get a good estimate & the importance of the “on-site briefing”

🔗 If you'd like to consult about a complex interior all at once

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