Fit-out companies in Dubai: how to choose, and who to consider
A search for fit-out companies in Dubai returns a long list of names and very little help in telling them apart. This guide explains what a fit-out company actually does, what to compare before you sign, and lists Dubai firms, including ours, with a neutral note on each taken from their own websites.
Free site visit · Approvals handled by us · Designed in 3D
What a fit-out company does
A fit-out company takes a unit that is structurally complete and turns it into a space a business or a household can use: the ceilings, partitions, floors, lighting, power and data, air conditioning distribution, plumbing, joinery and finishes inside the unit, plus the drawings and approvals that allow the work to happen. The building itself, its facade, lifts and main services, belongs to the landlord or developer. In Dubai the term is used most for offices, shops, clinics and restaurants, the work of a commercial fit-out company, but the same trades fit out villas and apartments as residential fit-out. Some firms design and build; others build to a designer's drawings; a few only manage subcontractors. Knowing which model a firm follows is the first step in comparing them. If the vocabulary is new, our guide to what fit-out means explains the terms landlords use.
The types of fit-out you will be quoted for
The starting condition of the unit and its use decide how much work there is, so make sure every firm is pricing the same thing.
Shell and core
Nothing inside the unit yet: bare slab, no ceiling, and water, power and AC stopped at the boundary. Everything inside is designed and built by the tenant's fit-out company, so design, MEP coordination and approvals are the heaviest part of the job.
Category A
The landlord's neutral base: ceiling, lighting, AC distribution and a floor in place, nothing that belongs to a particular tenant. Most office quotes start from here.
Category B
Everything the occupant adds to a Cat A unit: the layout and rooms, the joinery, the branding and the services that follow them. When a business asks for a fit-out quote, this is usually what it means.
Office
Workstations, meeting rooms, acoustic privacy, power and data, and a reception that represents the company. An office fit-out is as much about how a team works as about finishes.
Retail and hospitality
Shopfronts, display joinery, lighting that sells the product and mall approval steps for a retail fit-out; commercial kitchens, extraction, drainage and food-safety requirements for a restaurant fit-out. Both need a firm that has done that type of unit before.
Residential
Villas, townhouses and apartments, fitted out from new or stripped back and rebuilt. The trades are the same as commercial work, but the approvals usually start with the master developer and the community or building management rather than a commercial landlord.
Own workshop or subcontracted joinery?
The question that separates fit-out firms
Joinery is the part of a fit-out you touch every day: the reception counter, the kitchen, the wardrobes, the wall panelling, the doors. It is also the part most often subcontracted. A firm that sends joinery out to a third-party workshop depends on that workshop's programme, quality control and willingness to come back for snags. A firm that makes it in house can measure on site, adjust a detail the same week and fit the piece with the people who built it.
Ask directly: where will the joinery be made, can we visit the workshop, and who fits it? The answer says a lot about how the rest of the project will run. Our own joinery workshop is why we can treat a kitchen, a counter or a run of partitions as one piece of the design rather than a purchase from a catalogue, and it is the first thing we show clients who ask how we differ from a contractor who only manages trades.
How to compare fit-out firms
Six things to check with every company on your shortlist. None of them needs technical knowledge.
Design in 3D before work starts
A fit-out firm should show you the layout, finishes, lighting and joinery in 3D and only start on site once you have approved it. Ask whether the 3D design is produced in house and whether revisions are included.
Approvals handled, not delegated to you
Fit-outs in Dubai need the landlord's or building management's consent and, depending on the location and use, authority approvals for MEP and fire and life safety. The firm should prepare the drawings and apply itself. Our page on fit-out approvals explains which ones apply where.
Project management with one name
You want one project manager who attends site, holds the programme and answers the phone. Ask who that person will be and how many other projects they are running. Our interior contracting page sets out how we structure this.
Licences and registrations
Different parts of Dubai fall under different authorities: Dubai Municipality for most of the city, Trakhees in the ports and free-zone areas it covers, the Dubai Development Authority in its zones, with master-developer and building-management rules as well. A firm working regularly in your area should be registered with the relevant authority and able to name the approvals your unit needs before it quotes.
A site visit before the quote
No serious firm prices a fit-out from a floor plan sent on WhatsApp. The site visit confirms the ceiling void, the state of the services, access for materials, working-hours rules and what the landlord's fit-out guide demands. A quote given without one will be corrected later, usually upwards.
References and finished projects
Ask for projects of the same type as yours, ideally ones you can visit, and for a client you can call. Photographs are a start; a finished office you can walk through, still in good condition well after handover, is better.
Questions that expose an unrealistic programme
The cheapest quote is often the one that leaves things out. These questions bring the gaps into the open.
- How was the programme built?A realistic programme starts from approval lead times and material deliveries, not from the date you would like to move in. Ask what happens to the programme if an approval takes longer than planned.
- What does the quote exclude?Furniture, IT and AV, signage, landlord fees, authority fees, air conditioning units and fire and life safety modifications are commonly left out.
- Who will be on site?The firm's own team, labour supply or subcontractors? It decides who is accountable for quality and for finishing on time.
- How are variations handled?Ask how a change is priced, who approves it and whether it moves the completion date, and get that in writing.
- What is handed over at the end?The approved drawings, NOCs and completion certificates, plus a snag list with dates and a named contact for anything that appears after you move in.
Fit-out companies in Dubai to consider
The firms below are listed in alphabetical order, ours among them. Each note describes what the company says about itself on its own website at the time of writing: what it does, where it works and what it emphasises. We have not ranked them or verified their claims; use the list as a starting point for your own shortlist.
- Algebra ContractingAlgebra Contracting describes itself as offering interior fit-out and renovation solutions under one roof, covering civil, architectural and structural works alongside plumbing, electrical and drainage work, flooring, ceilings, glassworks and custom-made kitchens and furniture. Its site lists villas, apartments, offices, shops, hotels, spas, clubs, clinics and warehouses as project types, with completed work in areas such as Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Marina, JLT, Business Bay and Dubai Silicon Oasis. It states that approvals with developers, owners associations, Dubai Municipality, DED and Dubai Civil Defence are handled in house, and that 3D designs and layout drawings are part of its service.
- AlgedraAlgedra is a Dubai-based design group whose site lists interior design, architectural design, exterior design, landscape design, real estate advisory and branding as its disciplines, with fit-out described as a full service that includes procurement, construction and project management. Its contact page lists offices in Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai, and in Istanbul, and its portfolio spans villas, palaces, penthouses, hotels, commercial towers, restaurants and schools across the UAE and abroad. The firm states that its work is managed in house rather than outsourced.
- Antonovich GroupAntonovich Group is headquartered in Dubai and offers architecture, interior design and fit-out for residential and commercial properties, positioning itself at the luxury end of the market. Its fit-out page describes the service as taking an approved design set through ceilings, partitions, flooring, joinery installation, painting and second-fix sanitary and electrical work, with authority submissions to Dubai Municipality and master developers made before construction. The site states that the group runs its own design studio, joinery workshop and MEP team, with the design and construction stages under one agreement.
- OutMazed DesignOutMazed Design is a Dubai design-and-build company with its own joinery workshop, so reception counters, partitions, wardrobes and kitchens are made by the same team that fits them. Every project is designed in 3D before work starts, and the company applies for the approvals the work needs itself. It carries out residential, commercial, retail and hospitality fit-outs; office examples include Project Design and Project Door Step in Dubai Silicon Oasis, and on the residential side the fitted kitchen at Project Solace in DAMAC Hills.
- Rady Interior Design & Fit-OutRady Interior is headquartered in Business Bay, Dubai, with an office in Sharjah, and lists interior design, interior fit-out and landscape design and build as its services across the UAE. Its site describes turnkey work for residential, commercial, retail and hospitality projects, covering concept design, 3D visualisation, technical drawings, approvals, fit-out execution, furnishing and styling under one team, and offers VR walkthroughs of designs. Project types named include villas, penthouses, apartments, offices, restaurants, hotels, retail stores, clinics, salons and gyms.
- Ray FitoutRay Fitout describes itself as a turnkey design and fit-out firm working from concept design to final handover, with services spanning interior fit-out, architecture design, bespoke joinery, civil construction, MEP, villa renovation, interior design and landscape design. Its site lists a Dubai headquarters with offices in Riyadh and Nairobi, and sectors covering residential, commercial (workspaces, hospitality and retail) and urban planning. It states that its headquarters houses in-house departments for joinery, carpentry, aluminium and fabrication, paint and upholstery, producing items such as walk-in closets, kitchens, doors and wardrobes.
- Smart RenovationSmart Renovation, with an office on Sheikh Zayed Road, offers interior fit-out and renovation for residential and commercial spaces, from full villa and home renovation to office and retail interior design and fit-out, plus landscape design including pools and gardens. The site describes a three-stage process of discovery, planning and delivery, with daily monitoring during construction and permit applications managed where required. The firm describes its design approach as drawing on Italian design heritage.
- USBC InteriorsUSBC Interiors, based in Al Quoz, Dubai, provides turnkey interior fit-out and design across the commercial, hospitality and residential sectors, with MEP, joinery and carpentry, IT and smart-home systems, and pools and landscaping listed as further services. Its site describes an in-house production facility covering joinery, upholstery, painting, metal and glass, and an in-house team of designers and project managers, with delivery kept in house rather than subcontracted. Portfolio categories include offices, villas, hotels, restaurants, retail, clinics, gyms, schools, airports.
- Yalla RenovationYalla Renovation describes itself as a home renovation company, covering villa, apartment and office renovation in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with kitchens, bathrooms, wooden flooring, wardrobes, villa extensions, landscaping, painting, AC installation and swimming pools among its services. Its office renovation page lists full office interior renovation, flooring, ceilings and finishing, custom joinery, workstations and storage, office fit-out and space planning, glass partitions and electrical upgrades. The site describes an in-house approvals team for community and building management NOCs and authority approvals, naming Dubai Municipality, DDA, Trakhees, DMCC and Concordia.
Residential fit-outs: check the community rules first
If your project is a villa or townhouse rather than a commercial unit, the first approvals come from the master developer and the community management, with an authority building permit on top where the work is structural or extends the house, and each community has its own rules on what can be altered, when work can take place and which contractors are accepted. Ask each firm whether it has worked in your community and which NOCs it obtained there. Our guide to villa approvals by community lists what applies where.
Fit-outs from our projects
Project Design
Silicon Oasis, Dubai · 112 sqm · February 2020 - July 2020An open-ceiling office with frosted glass partitions, custom kitchen wrapping, carpeting, flooring, design painting and CCTV in Dubai Silicon Oasis.
View project →
Project Door Step
Silicon Oasis, Dubai · 112 sqm · October 2022 - December 2022Workspaces and meeting areas with a reception counter, slatted walls and partitions made in our workshop, plus new flooring, bathrooms and soundproofing, in a Dubai Silicon Oasis free zone tower.
View project →More of our work: YouTube · Instagram · our Google reviews
How we run a fit-out
Project Study
A free site visit to survey the unit, read the landlord's or community's fit-out rules and understand how you will use the space.
Plan
Layout, scope, exclusions and the approvals the unit needs, set out in writing. We apply for the approvals ourselves.
Visualization
The space is designed in 3D, including the joinery, so you can check layout, finishes and branding before anything is built.
Execution
Our own team carries out the work and the joinery is made in our in-house workshop. One project manager is your contact from start to handover.
Questions and answers
How do I choose a fit-out company in Dubai?
What is the difference between a fit-out company and an interior designer?
Should a fit-out company have its own joinery workshop?
Which approvals does a fit-out in Dubai need?
Why do fit-out quotes for the same unit differ so much?
Is this list a ranking?
Does OutMazed Design do commercial and residential fit-outs?
More guides
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