There is no single answer to this question, and anyone who gives you one is oversimplifying. Responsibility on a strip out project is distributed across several legal roles at once, and more than one party can be liable for the same incident. Client, principal designer, principal contractor, individual contractors and workers all carry duties under UK law, and which one of them actually answers for a specific failure depends on where in the chain that failure happened. This guide walks through who holds which duty, what happens when things go wrong in practice, and what you can do as the person commissioning the work to make sure liability does not land on you unfairly. The legal framework in one paragraph Strip out work in Great Britain is governed by the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, known as CDM. CDM applies to all construction work, including strip out, refurbishment and demolition, regardless of the size of the project. It creates named duty holders, each with specific legal responsibilities, and critically, those responsibilities cannot be signed away in a contract. You can pay someone else to do the work, but you cannot fully hand off your own legal duty by writing a clause that says so. Sitting alongside CDM is the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, which places a general duty on employers and the self-employed to protect anyone affected by their work, not just their own employees. The Health and Safety Executive investigates serious incidents under both pieces of legislation and can prosecute companies and, in serious cases, individual directors or managers personally. The point most people missAppointing a contractor does not transfer all your legal responsibility to them. As the client commissioning the work, you have your own duties under CDM that exist independently of what your contractor does. If you fail to meet them, being able to point at your contractor's failure does not automatically protect you. The duty holders, and what each one actually answers for CDM defines five roles. On a strip out project, most of these apply regardless of size, though the paperwork scales with the complexity of the job. Duty Holder 1 The Client This is whoever is having the work done. It could be the building owner, the tenant commissioning a strip out, or a developer. The client has to make sure suitable arrangements are in place for managing the project, that sufficient time and resources are allowed, that relevant information about the building is provided to the contractor, and that welfare facilities will be adequate. For a notifiable project, the client must appoint a principal designer and principal contractor in writing. Domestic clients, meaning individuals having work done on their own home, have their duties passed automatically to the contractor or principal contractor. This exception does not apply to commercial clients. If you are a business commissioning a strip out, you carry client duties personally and they do not disappear just because you hired a contractor. Duty Holder 2 The Principal Designer Required on any project with more than one contractor. Responsible for planning, managing and coordinating health and safety during the pre-construction phase, identifying risks in the design and specification of the works before anyone sets foot on site, and compiling the pre-construction information that gets handed to the contractor. On a strip out, this often overlaps with whoever surveyed the building and scoped the works, and it is frequently the client's own consultant or the contractor themselves taking on this role formally. Duty Holder 3 The Principal Contractor Required on any project with more than one contractor working at the same time. Responsible for planning, managing and coordinating health and safety during the construction phase itself. This means preparing the Construction Phase Plan, managing the site, coordinating the different trades and subcontractors, ensuring welfare facilities are provided, and making sure only authorised people access the site. On most strip out projects, this is your main strip out contractor, and it is the role that carries the most day to day operational responsibility once work is underway. Duty Holder 4 Designers and Contractors Any individual or company carrying out construction work, including subcontractors and specialist trades. Each one has a duty to plan, manage and monitor their own work, to cooperate with the principal contractor, and to ensure their own workers are competent and adequately supervised. If a specialist subcontractor, such as an M&E isolation specialist or an asbestos removal contractor, causes a failure through their own negligence, that liability sits primarily with them, though the principal contractor still carries responsibility for having appointed and coordinated them properly. Duty Holder 5 Workers Individual operatives on site have a duty to look after their own health and safety and that of others who may be affected by what they do, to cooperate with their employer and other duty holders, and to report anything they identify as dangerous. In practice, individual worker liability rarely becomes the focus of an investigation unless there was clear and deliberate disregard for instruction, but it exists as a legal duty nonetheless. A role cannot be left vacantIf a client fails to formally appoint a principal designer or principal contractor on a project that requires one, the law does not let the duty simply disappear. It falls back on the client by default. This is one of the more common ways a commercial client ends up holding liability they assumed had been passed to their contractor, simply because the appointment was never formalised in writing. How liability actually plays out, by scenario The framework above is the legal theory. In practice, who ends up answering for a specific incident depends heavily on the facts. Here is how responsibility typically falls across common strip out scenarios. Asbestos found that wasn't on the survey Depends heavily on whether the survey was reasonably thorough. If the surveyor failed to access an area they should have, the surveying company may be liable for a negligent survey. If access genuinely was not possible and this was documented, liability is more limited. Either way, the principal contractor is responsible for stopping work immediately and managing the find safely once it is discovered, regardless of how it got missed. Structural wall removed that turns out to be load bearing Primarily the contractor's responsibility if they failed to verify structural status before removal, which is a basic and well established requirement. If a structural survey was commissioned and gave incorrect information, the structural engineer shares liability. The client can also carry some responsibility if they instructed removal of an element without allowing time or budget for proper structural verification. Worker injured on site The worker's direct employer carries primary responsibility for their safety, training and supervision. The principal contractor is responsible for the overall safety of the site and coordination between trades. If the injury resulted from a site-wide failure, such as inadequate edge protection or an unsafe access route, responsibility shifts more heavily toward the principal contractor regardless of who employed the injured worker. Damage to a neighbouring or retained part of the building Usually the contractor carrying out the works in that area, through their public liability insurance. If the damage resulted from the client instructing a change in scope or method against the contractor's advice, some liability can shift back toward the client. This is exactly why written instructions and a documented method statement matter. Waste disposed of illegally by a subcontractor The legal Duty of Care for waste sits with whoever produces it, which in practice usually means the principal contractor. If they subcontracted waste removal to an unlicensed carrier, they remain liable even though someone else physically dumped the waste. The client can also face scrutiny if they failed to check that their appointed contractor held proper waste carrier credentials in the first place. Fire caused by hot works or an electrical fault during strip out Depends on cause. If a hot works permit system was not followed or fire watch was inadequate, the contractor carrying out the hot works is primarily liable. If the fault relates to existing building services that were not properly isolated before work began, liability can extend to whoever was responsible for isolation, which may be the client's own facilities team if isolation was meant to happen before the contractor arrived. Project runs over programme, causing knock on cost to the client This is a contractual matter rather than a health and safety one, and is governed by the contract between client and contractor rather than CDM. Liability depends on whether the delay was caused by contractor performance, by a genuine unforeseen issue such as asbestos discovered mid works, or by the client changing scope. This is why a clear written contract with a defined programme and a change control process matters as much as the safety paperwork. Where personal, criminal liability applies Most of what happens when something goes wrong on a strip out is dealt with through insurance and civil claims. But CDM breaches, particularly serious ones, are criminal matters, not just commercial disputes. This distinction matters and it is worth understanding clearly. The Health and Safety Executive investigates serious incidents, including any incident that results in serious injury, and can prosecute the responsible company under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and CDM 2015. Individual directors and managers can be prosecuted personally, not just the company, where it can be shown the offence was committed with their consent, connivance or was attributable to their neglect. Unlicensed asbestos removal or a failure to survey before strip out is a specific offence under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, investigated and enforced separately from general CDM breaches. Illegal waste disposal, including fly tipping of strip out waste, can result in prosecution under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, with fines and in serious cases custodial sentences for individuals involved. Penalties scale with severity. Fines for corporate bodies are unlimited under sentencing guidelines and are set based on the size of the organisation and the seriousness of the breach. Custodial sentences apply in the most serious cases, particularly where there was a fatality. Why documentation is your actual protectionIn an HSE investigation, the paper trail matters enormously. A properly appointed principal contractor, a Construction Phase Plan that was actually followed, RAMS that were briefed to the workforce and signed, and evidence that surveys were commissioned and acted on all demonstrate that duties were taken seriously. The absence of this paperwork does not just look bad. It is frequently the thing that determines whether an incident is treated as an unfortunate accident or as a systemic failure to comply with the law. What insurance actually covers, and what it doesn't Insurance is not the same thing as legal responsibility, but it is how most incidents actually get resolved financially. Understanding what each policy covers helps you check your contractor is properly protected, and helps you understand what is not covered before you need to find out the hard way. Insurance type What it covers Who should hold it Public liability Injury to third parties or damage to third party property arising from the works. The most important policy for most strip out incidents. The contractor and any subcontractor operating independently on site. Employers liability Injury to the contractor's own employees. A legal requirement in the UK for any business with employees. Every employer on site, including subcontractors with their own staff. Contractors all risk Damage to the works themselves and materials on site, including accidental damage during the strip out process. Usually the principal contractor, sometimes arranged by the client for larger projects. Professional indemnity Negligent advice or design, such as an incorrect asbestos survey or a flawed structural assessment. Surveyors, engineers and any consultant providing advice the works rely on. Environmental liability Costs arising from pollution or contamination caused by the works, including improper waste handling. Increasingly required on larger commercial projects, particularly where hazardous materials are involved. What insurance will not fixA criminal prosecution for a CDM or asbestos breach proceeds regardless of whether insurance pays out on the financial side. Insurance settles the compensation question. It does nothing for the separate question of whether the HSE decides to prosecute. Do not assume a well insured contractor is automatically a well compliant one. Ask for both. How to protect yourself as the client You cannot eliminate risk on a strip out project, but you can make sure liability lands where it should rather than defaulting to you because something was not properly set up. This is the practical checklist. 1 Formally appoint your principal designer and principal contractor in writing Do not leave this informal or assumed. If the project requires these roles and they are not appointed in writing, the duty defaults back to you. 2 Check insurance and accreditation before appointing anyone Ask for evidence of public liability, employers liability and any professional indemnity relevant to the scope. Check CHAS, Constructionline or equivalent accreditation is current, not just claimed. 3 Provide accurate pre-construction information If you know about existing surveys, previous incidents, or known hazards in the building, share them. Withholding relevant information you hold is itself a breach of your client duties under CDM. 4 Allow sufficient time and budget for surveys before work starts Rushing the pre-construction phase to save time is one of the most common ways clients unknowingly increase their own liability. Time pressure that leads to a skipped survey is a client-level failure. 5 Keep instructions in writing If you ask for a change in scope or method during the works, put it in writing and get the contractor's acknowledgement. Verbal instructions given under time pressure are exactly what creates disputed liability later. 6 Do not instruct work to proceed against contractor advice without documenting it If your contractor raises a concern and you decide to proceed anyway, that decision and the reasoning behind it should be recorded. It protects both parties if something later goes wrong. Questions we get asked a lot If I hire a contractor, am I still liable if something goes wrong? What happens if asbestos is found that wasn't on the survey? Can a contract exclude a contractor's liability for health and safety failures? What should I do immediately if an incident happens on site? Does it matter if the work was done by a subcontractor rather than the main contractor? Is a small strip out project exempt from all of this? The key points Liability on a strip out project is not a single answer sitting with one party. It is distributed across client, principal designer, principal contractor, individual contractors and workers, and more than one of them can be liable for the same incident depending on what actually happened and why. Appointing a contractor reduces your exposure but it does not eliminate it, because your own duties as the client exist independently of theirs. Formally appoint your principal designer and principal contractor in writing, every time Check insurance and accreditation before appointing anyone, not after Share everything you know about the building before work starts Allow proper time for surveys rather than compressing the programme to save a few days Keep instructions and decisions in writing throughout the project Remember that insurance settles compensation, it does not prevent prosecution for a genuine breach ...

There is no single price per square metre for a strip out, and anyone who quotes you one figure without seeing the site is guessing. The type of strip, the building, the access, the waste volume and what happens if asbestos turns up all move the number independently of each other. This guide explains the real cost ranges by strip type, walks through the variables that move a quote up or down, and gives you a way to actually compare two quotes that look nothing alike on paper. Benchmark costs by type of strip These are UK-wide indicative ranges per square metre, covering labour, plant, skip hire and standard non-hazardous waste disposal. They do not include asbestos removal, which is always priced separately. Treat these as a sense check for a quote, not a quote in themselves. Soft strip£15 to £40 per m2Partitions, ceilings, floor coverings, fixtures and fittings. Structure and primary services untouched. Hard strip£30 to £70 per m2Soft strip plus M&E removal, raised floors, and non-structural block or stud walls. Full strip to shell£50 to £120+ per m2Everything back to the structural frame and slab. The top of the range where the building is complex. Asbestos removalPriced separatelyDepends entirely on type, quantity and location of the material. Get the survey done before pricing anything else. Why per m2 figures can misleadA small unit almost always costs more per square metre than a large one. Mobilisation, welfare, access setup and minimum labour day rates spread across less floor area. A 300 sq ft unit at the top end of the soft strip range and a 30,000 sq ft warehouse at the bottom end are both entirely normal outcomes, and neither means anyone is being ripped off. What is usually included in a strip out quote Before comparing prices, make sure you are comparing the same scope. A typical quote covers: Site setup including welfare facilities, protection to retained finishes and access routes Labour for the removal works themselves Plant and tools required for the specific scope Skip hire or grab lorry hire for waste removal Waste disposal at a licensed facility, with segregation of recyclable material streams Waste Transfer Notes as legal evidence of proper disposal A basic sweep clean on completion What is often not included, and needs to be checked line by line: Asbestos survey and any asbestos removal identified by it Making good after removal, such as patching walls or floors Redecoration Isolation and disconnection of live utilities by a qualified engineer Out of hours working premiums if required by the building Fire stopping reinstatement on disturbed service penetrations Specialist decommissioning, such as commercial kitchen extraction or server room equipment The most common cause of quote disputesTwo contractors quote for the same job. One includes asbestos survey and making good, the other does not mention either. The second number looks cheaper on paper and is not actually comparable. Always ask each contractor to state explicitly what is excluded, not just what is included. Exclusions are where the real cost differences hide. The variables that move the price These are the factors that explain why two buildings of similar size can come out at very different prices, roughly in order of how much they typically move the number. Asbestos The single biggest variable by far. A clean survey adds nothing to the cost beyond the survey fee itself. Licensed asbestos removal can add tens of thousands of pounds depending on the material, its condition and how much of it there is. Biggest driver Access Ground floor with a loading bay and vehicle access is the cheapest scenario. Upper floors served by a small passenger lift only, restricted street access, or a city centre site with no skip space all add cost through slower waste removal and more handling. Adds 15 to 40% Working hours Standard daytime working is the baseline. Out of hours or weekend only working, common in managed buildings, shopping centres and live healthcare sites, extends the programme and increases labour rates for unsociable hours. Adds 20 to 60% M&E complexity Basic lighting and power strips out quickly. Dense M&E including comms rooms, specialist ventilation, chilled beams, sprinkler systems or process equipment takes longer to isolate, disconnect and remove safely, and often needs specialist subcontractors. Adds 10 to 30% Waste volume and type A building with dense partitioning, raised floors and heavy ceiling systems generates far more waste per square metre than an open plan unit. Mixed waste that cannot be segregated on site costs more to dispose of than clean, sorted material streams. Adds 10 to 25% Protection requirements Working in an occupied building or one with retained finishes that must survive undamaged means slower, more careful work and more protective measures. This is common on CAT A strip outs where the landlord's base build has to stay intact. Adds 15 to 35% Programme pressure A tight deadline sometimes means a bigger team working in parallel, which costs more per day even if the total programme shortens. Rushed jobs are rarely the cheapest option even though they feel that way when you are trying to save time. Adds 10 to 20% Building type Retail units in managed centres, healthcare facilities and listed buildings all carry additional compliance, protection or working restrictions on top of the base strip out cost, regardless of the actual floor area involved. Varies by sector Costs by building type Type of building matters as much as size. Two projects of the same square footage can sit at opposite ends of the range depending on what they are. Building type Typical range What pushes it up Office, CAT A strip £20 to £50 per m2 Raised floor and ceiling protection, dense M&E, central London access restrictions. Office, full strip to shell £40 to £90 per m2 Multi floor buildings, structural elements, lift only access on upper floors. Retail unit £25 to £60 per m2 Shopping centre restricted hours, service yard access windows, security escort requirements. Warehouse or industrial £10 to £35 per m2 Lower per m2 due to scale, but machinery decommissioning and contaminated flooring add significant fixed costs. Restaurant or commercial kitchen £40 to £100 per m2 Grease extraction removal, gas isolation, drainage work. Small footprint but specialist heavy. Healthcare, live environment Highly variable, often 20 to 50% above standard rates Infection control containment, negative pressure setup, out of hours only working. How to actually compare two quotes The single most useful thing you can do before accepting any quote is put it through the same checklist as every other quote you have received. This is how to do it properly. 1 Confirm the scope is identical Ask each contractor to list exactly what is being removed, item by item. A quote that says strip out and one that lists partitions, ceilings, raised floor and M&E separately are not automatically pricing the same job. 2 Check what is excluded Ask explicitly whether asbestos survey, asbestos removal, making good and redecoration are included or excluded. A cheaper quote that excludes all of these is not actually cheaper once you add them back in. 3 Confirm waste disposal is included and licensed Ask for confirmation that the contractor is a registered waste carrier and that Waste Transfer Notes will be provided. Unusually cheap quotes sometimes cut corners here, and liability for illegally disposed waste can fall back on the building owner. 4 Ask how variations are priced Find out what happens if asbestos is found during the works, or if the scope changes once the team is on site. A fixed price quote with no clarity on variations can turn into an uncontrolled cost once work starts. 5 Check insurance and accreditation Public liability insurance, CHAS or Constructionline accreditation, and CDM Principal Contractor capability if the project needs it. These do not show up in the price but they matter if something goes wrong. 6 Get the programme alongside the price A lower price with a longer programme, or one that does not account for surveys and notifications, can end up costing more overall through delay, especially where you are working to a lease end date or fit out contractor handover. A genuinely useful testSend the same site survey information to every contractor you are getting quotes from and ask them to itemise the quote by task rather than give a single lump sum. This alone eliminates most of the confusion, because it forces every contractor to show their assumptions rather than hide them inside one number. Why the cheapest quote is often not the cheapest project This is worth saying plainly. A quote that comes in significantly below every other quote you have received is not necessarily a good deal. It usually means one of a small number of things: the scope has been priced narrower than the others, waste disposal is being handled informally rather than through a licensed route, the day rate assumes a smaller team than the job actually needs, or asbestos and making good have simply been left out on the assumption you will not notice until later. None of these save you money. They shift cost to a later point in the project, where it arrives as a variation, a delay, or in the worst case a liability that lands on you rather than the contractor. The way to protect yourself is not to always pick the most expensive quote either. It is to make every quote answer the same questions before you compare the numbers. Questions we get asked a lot Why did one contractor quote almost double another for the same building? Can I get an accurate quote without a site visit? How much does asbestos add to a strip out cost if it is found? Is waste disposal usually included in the quoted price? Do smaller strip out jobs really cost more per square metre? Should I get more than three quotes? The key points There is no fixed price per square metre for a strip out because there is no such thing as a standard strip out. The type of strip, the building, access, working hours and what is found once work starts all move the number independently. Benchmark ranges are useful for a sense check, not for budgeting a specific project. Get the asbestos survey done before finalising any budget Ask every contractor to itemise the quote rather than give one lump figure Check what is excluded as carefully as what is included Confirm waste disposal is licensed and Waste Transfer Notes will be provided Treat an unusually low quote as a reason to ask more questions, not fewer Compare programme alongside price, not price on its own ...

The stages of a commercial building, in order It helps to see all the terms laid out together, because they describe points on a single spectrum from bare structure to finished office. Shell and CoreDeveloper The structure, external envelope, roof, core areas, lifts, stairs and main plant. Landlord common parts are finished. The lettable floors are bare concrete with capped off services. Not usable and not lettable to most occupiers without further work. CAT ALandlord Raised access floors, suspended ceilings, basic lighting, distributed mechanical and electrical services, fire detection, and a blank painted finish to walls. Functional and lettable but nobody can actually work in it yet. No layout, no rooms, no furniture. CAT A+Landlord Sometimes called plug and play. The landlord adds basic partitioning, a couple of meeting rooms, a tea point, floor finishes, furniture and connectivity. A smaller tenant can move in and start working immediately. Increasingly common in London as landlords compete with flexible workspace operators. CAT BTenant The tenant's own fit out. Layout, partitioning, meeting rooms, kitchens, breakout areas, branded finishes, joinery, IT infrastructure, AV, furniture and everything else that makes it a specific company's office rather than a generic one. These are conventions, not legal definitionsThe British Council for Offices publishes widely used guidance on what each category should include, but CAT A and CAT B are market terms rather than defined standards. What counts for your building is the specification appended to your lease or building contract. Two buildings in the same street can be marketed as CAT A and have meaningfully different specifications. Always check the document rather than assuming the label. What is actually included in each CAT A Usually landlord funded Raised access flooring Suspended ceiling grid and tiles Basic lighting throughout, usually LED Mechanical services distributed to the floor plate Electrical distribution and small power Fire detection and alarm systems Fire sprinklers where required by the base build Blank plastered and painted walls Basic finishes to the demised area only CAT B Usually tenant funded Internal partitioning and room layout Meeting rooms and private offices Kitchens, tea points and breakout spaces Floor finishes such as carpet, vinyl or timber Feature lighting and ceiling alterations Data cabling and IT infrastructure AV and meeting room technology Joinery, reception desks and storage Branding, graphics and decorative finishes Furniture and loose fittings Why this matters for your strip out This is the part most CAT A and CAT B guides skip entirely, and it is the part that costs tenants money. When your lease ends, your reinstatement obligation is usually expressed as returning the premises to CAT A condition, or to the condition recorded in the Schedule of Condition, or to the state described in your licence for alterations. In practice that means stripping out everything in the CAT B column above and putting back anything from the CAT A column that you altered or removed during your occupation. That second half catches people out. Tenants think of reinstatement as taking things away. But if your CAT B fit out removed part of the suspended ceiling to expose services as a design feature, or took out sections of the raised floor, or reconfigured the landlord's lighting and mechanical layout, you are also liable for putting those back. Reinstating a CAT A element is often more expensive than removing a CAT B one. Element Whose scope What happens at lease end Partition walls you installed Tenant Removed, walls made good, floor and ceiling patched where partitions met them. Carpet and floor finishes Tenant Lifted and removed. Adhesive residue on raised floor panels usually needs cleaning back. Raised access floor Landlord Stays in place. But any panels you cut, removed or damaged have to be replaced to match. Suspended ceiling Landlord Stays. If you removed sections for an exposed services look, you reinstate the full grid and tiles. Lighting Landlord Original CAT A lighting stays or is reinstated. Feature and decorative lighting you added comes out. Data cabling and comms Tenant Removed entirely, including containment and anything left abandoned in ceiling and floor voids. Kitchen and tea points Tenant Stripped out. Water and waste connections capped off properly back to the riser. Air conditioning you added Tenant Removed. Refrigerant recovered by an F Gas registered engineer, which is a legal requirement. Fire detection alterations Depends If you moved or added detection heads to suit your layout, the system usually needs reinstating and recertifying. The expensive mistakeTenants routinely budget for removing what they installed and forget about reinstating landlord elements they altered. Putting back a suspended ceiling grid across an open plan floor, or replacing cut raised floor panels to match an obsolete original system, can cost more than the entire soft strip. Get this into the scope at quotation stage rather than discovering it when the surveyor inspects. The problem with returning to CAT A Here is where it gets genuinely difficult. Your lease says return the premises to CAT A condition. Fine. But CAT A as at when? If you took the space in 2010, the CAT A specification of the day might have included T8 fluorescent lighting, a particular raised floor system and a specific ceiling tile that is no longer manufactured. Reinstating that exact specification may be impossible or absurdly expensive. Meanwhile the landlord may argue the space should come back at current CAT A standard, which is a higher spec than what you were given. Neither position is automatically correct. It depends on the lease wording, the licence for alterations and whether a Schedule of Condition exists. This is exactly the sort of thing that a dilapidations surveyor negotiates, and it is why appointing one early is worth the fee. If a Schedule of Condition exists You are in a strong position. The schedule records the actual state of the property when you took it, with photographs. Your obligation is limited to that baseline and you cannot be required to hand back something better. If the licence for alterations is specific Also good. A well drafted licence lists exactly what you installed and states clearly whether each element must be reinstated. Read it before planning anything, because some licences let you leave alterations in place. If neither exists This is the difficult scenario. The lease wording alone governs, and both sides will interpret CAT A to suit themselves. Get a surveyor involved early and gather any evidence you have of the original condition, including old photographs and the original fit out drawings. If the landlord is refurbishing anyway Worth exploring before you spend anything. If the landlord plans to strip the floor back and redevelop, Section 18 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 may limit or eliminate what they can recover from you for works that would be pointless. Strip out to CAT A versus strip out to shell When you commission a strip out, be clear about the end point. These are two different jobs with different costs and different programmes. A strip out to CAT A removes the tenant fit out and leaves the landlord's base build intact. Raised floor stays, ceiling stays, primary services stay. It is a more careful job because you are working around elements that have to survive undamaged, and any damage you cause becomes your problem to make good. A strip out to shell removes everything down to the structural frame and slab. Ceilings out, raised floors out, all services stripped back to the riser. Faster per square foot because there is less to protect, and often what a landlord wants when they are planning a full refurbishment and a new CAT A themselves. Ask this before accepting any quoteAsk the contractor to state in writing what condition the space will be in at completion, item by item. Does the ceiling grid stay or go? Are the raised floor panels being lifted or left? Is making good and redecoration included or priced separately? Vague scope is where disputes start, and clarifying it takes one email. Questions we get asked a lot Who pays for CAT A and who pays for CAT B? Do I have to strip my CAT B fit out out at lease end? What is CAT A+ and does it change my reinstatement obligation? Can I leave my fit out in place if it is in good condition? Is a CAT A strip out cheaper than a strip out to shell? The lease says CAT A but does not define it. What now? The points that matter CAT A and CAT B are useful shorthand, but they are conventions rather than standards. What binds you is the specification in your lease and licence for alterations, not what the industry generally means by the term. CAT A is the landlord's lettable base. CAT B is your fit out on top of it At lease end you usually remove CAT B and reinstate anything you altered in the CAT A base Reinstating landlord elements you changed is often more expensive than removing your own A Schedule of Condition is your strongest protection. If you have one, use it Get any agreement to leave the fit out in place documented in writing before lease end When commissioning a strip out, specify the end condition item by item rather than just saying back to CAT A ...

The short version: a standard office floor takes one to four weeks to strip out.But that number is close to useless on its own, because the strip out itself is often the shortest part of the whole process. Surveys, notifications and asbestos removal all sit in front of it, and they are where programmes actually slip. This guide gives you realistic durations for the physical works by size and building type, then explains the front end properly so you can plan the whole thing rather than just the noisy bit in the middle. Quick answer by building size These are indicative durations for the physical strip out only, assuming a vacant building, standard access and no asbestos removal required. Read them as a starting point, not a quote. 2 to 5 daysSMALL UNIT UNDER 2,000 SQ FT 1 to 2 weeksSINGLE FLOOR 2,000 TO 5,000 SQ FT 2 to 4 weeksOFFICE FLOOR 5,000 TO 15,000 SQ FT 1 floor per weekMULTI FLOOR BUILDINGS, PHASED The multi floor figure is the one worth paying attention to if you are planning a larger project. With a full team working through a building floor by floor, roughly one floor per week is a sensible planning assumption for standard commercial floor plates. It goes faster with more labour and multiple work fronts, and slower where access is restricted or the M&E is complex. Timelines by building type Size matters, but building type often matters more. A 10,000 sq ft warehouse and a 10,000 sq ft hospital ward are not remotely the same job. BUILDING TYPE TYPICAL STRIP OUT DURATION WHAT DRIVES THE PROGRAMME Office, single floor 1 to 4 weeks Partitions, ceilings, raised floors and M&E. Raised access floors and dense M&E add the most time. Multi floor buildings run roughly a floor a week. Retail unit 3 days to 2 weeks Usually quicker because shopfittings come out fast. Shopping centre units are slowed by restricted delivery windows and out of hours only working. Warehouse or industrial 1 to 6 weeks Racking and mezzanine removal is quick per square foot. Machinery decommissioning, overhead cranes and contaminated flooring are what add weeks. Restaurant or commercial kitchen 1 to 3 weeks Small footprint but heavy on extraction, grease ducting, gas isolation and drainage. Specialist disconnections drive the programme more than floor area. School or education 4 to 6 weeks Almost always constrained to the summer holiday window. The date is fixed and immovable, so the programme is built backwards from term start. Healthcare, live environment Highly variable Physical works may be short but infection control, phased decanting and out of hours restrictions can triple the calendar duration. Lease surrender or dilapidations 3 to 5 weeks Strip out plus making good plus redecoration. The making good and redecoration usually take as long as the strip out itself. WORTH KNOWING ABOUT LEASE SURRENDER PROJECTSPeople planning a dilapidations strip out routinely budget time for the strip out and forget the making good and redecoration that follows. Patching walls, filling floor slab penetrations, reinstating fire stopping and two coats of paint throughout is not a weekend job. On a 10,000 sq ft floor it is usually one to two weeks on top of the strip out. If you are working backwards from a lease end date, build that in from the start. The part people forget: what happens before site Here is the thing that catches most people out. The strip out itself is rarely the long pole. What sits in front of it usually is, and it is entirely predictable if you plan for it. PHASE 1 Site survey and quotation 3 TO 10 DAYS A contractor visits, walks the space and prices the works. Straightforward jobs turn around inside a week. Larger or more complex buildings take longer, particularly where the M&E needs a specialist look or where the scope is not yet fully defined by the client. PHASE 2 Asbestos R&D survey 1 TO 3 WEEKS A Refurbishment and Demolition asbestos survey is a legal requirement before strip out in any building where asbestos may be present, which in practice means anything built or refurbished before 2000. Booking the surveyor, carrying out the intrusive survey and waiting for lab analysis and the written report typically takes one to three weeks. This cannot be skipped and it cannot run alongside the strip out. PHASE 3 Asbestos removal, if required 1 TO 4 WEEKS If the survey finds licensed asbestos, a licensed removal contractor has to be appointed. Licensed work requires 14 days written notification to the HSE before it starts, and that notice period is fixed. Add the removal itself and the air clearance testing afterwards, and this phase alone can add a month to the programme. This is the single biggest cause of strip out delays. PHASE 4 Service isolations and disconnections 1 TO 3 WEEKS Electrical, gas and water supplies need formal isolation before strip out begins. Where supplies are being permanently disconnected rather than just isolated, utility providers set their own lead times and those are outside your control. Gas disconnections in particular can take several weeks to schedule. Start this early. PHASE 5 CDM setup and mobilisation 3 DAYS TO 2 WEEKS Risk assessments and method statements prepared and approved, Construction Phase Plan issued, F10 notification submitted to the HSE if the project is notifiable, permits and access arrangements agreed with the building manager, and welfare and site protection installed. On a simple project this is a few days. On a managed building with a formal contractor approval process it can be a fortnight. THE REALISTIC TOTALA 10,000 sq ft office floor with a two week physical strip out will usually take six to ten weeks from first call to completion once surveys, notifications and mobilisation are included. If licensed asbestos removal is required, add another three to four weeks on top. Anyone quoting you a two week programme is quoting the site works only. What actually makes a strip out take longer Two buildings of identical size can have wildly different programmes. These are the factors that make the difference, roughly in order of how much time they add. Asbestos By far the biggest single variable. A clean survey means no delay at all. Licensed asbestos means a 14 day HSE notification period plus removal plus clearance testing before strip out can even start in that area. ADDS 3 TO 5 WEEKS Occupied or live buildings Working around staff, patients, residents or trading tenants means restricted hours, phased zones and dust and noise controls. The same works can take two or three times as long in calendar terms. DOUBLES OR TRIPLES DURATION Access and logistics Upper floors with one small goods lift, restricted loading bay slots, city centre locations with no skip space. Waste removal becomes the bottleneck rather than the strip out itself. ADDS 30 TO 50% Out of hours restrictions Managed buildings, shopping centres and live healthcare sites often restrict noisy works to evenings and weekends. A five day job becomes a three week job on a two hour nightly window. ADDS 50 TO 200% M&E complexity A simple office with basic lighting and power strips quickly. Dense M&E with comms rooms, specialist ventilation, chilled beams or process equipment takes considerably longer to isolate and remove safely. ADDS 1 TO 2 WEEKS Structural elements Removing mezzanines, structural walls or floor slabs moves the job from strip out into demolition territory. That means engineer involvement, temporary works design and Building Regulations approval. ADDS 2 TO 6 WEEKS Listed building status Listed Building Consent has a statutory decision period of around 8 weeks and must be obtained before works start. This runs entirely in front of the programme and cannot be compressed. ADDS 8 TO 12 WEEKS Scope changes mid project Deciding to remove something extra once the team is on site sounds efficient but usually is not. It means revised method statements, possible new surveys and waste stream changes. VARIES, OFTEN DAYS What happens during the strip out itself The site works follow a fairly consistent sequence regardless of building type. Understanding it helps you see where your project sits at any point. Site setup, day one. Welfare facilities, protection to lifts, floors and retained finishes, hoarding or screening, waste routes established and signage in place. Soft strip first. Furniture, loose fittings, floor coverings, wall coverings and anything that comes out without tools. This is the fastest phase and clears the way for everything else. Ceilings and partitions. Suspended ceiling grid and tiles, then partition walls. This is where most of the waste volume comes from and where skip logistics start to govern the pace. M&E strip. Lighting, containment, cabling, ductwork, pipework and terminal units. Requires proper isolation certification before it starts. Usually the slowest phase in an office. Raised floors and screed. Raised access floor panels and pedestals lift quickly but generate significant volume. Any adhesive residue or screed removal underneath adds time. Making good. Patching, filling, fire stopping reinstatement and preparing surfaces. Frequently underestimated, particularly on dilapidations projects. Final clean and handover. Sweep clean or better depending on the specification, waste transfer documentation issued, and a joint inspection with the client or surveyor. HOW TO COMPRESS A PROGRAMME PROPERLYThe legitimate ways to speed up a strip out are more labour, multiple work fronts running in parallel across different zones, and extended working hours where the building allows it. What does not work is skipping surveys, shortening notification periods or running trades on top of each other in the same space. Those save days on paper and lose weeks in practice. Questions we get asked a lot Can a strip out be done over a weekend? Why does the asbestos survey take so long? Can the strip out start in one area while asbestos removal happens in another? How much notice does a strip out contractor need? Does a bigger team always mean a faster strip out? What is the most common cause of strip out delays? Planning your programme If you take one thing from this, make it this: plan backwards from your fixed date, not forwards from today. Whether that date is a lease expiry, a term start, a fit out contractor mobilising or a tenant moving in, work back through making good, strip out, mobilisation, asbestos removal, surveys and quotation. Then add contingency, because something will take longer than expected. The physical strip out is the predictable bit. A good contractor will give you an accurate duration for site works after a proper survey and they should hold to it. What you cannot control as easily is what sits in front, and that is exactly where the time gets lost when projects run late. Commission the asbestos survey first, before anything else Start utility disconnection requests early because their lead times are not yours to control Ask any contractor whether their quoted programme includes surveys and mobilisation or just site works Build in contingency for asbestos found during the works On dilapidations projects, budget time for making good and redecoration separately from the strip out Need a realistic programme for your project? We survey the space, tell you honestly how long it will take including the front end, and give you a fixed price. London and the South East. ...

Most tenants underestimate their lease end obligations. They focus on moving out, returning the keys and getting on with the next thing. The dilapidations claim arrives weeks later, often for a sum that could have been significantly reduced or avoided entirely with earlier planning. This guide explains what a lease surrender strip out involves, what your lease obligates you to do, when it makes sense to do the works versus negotiate a settlement, and what the process looks like from start to finish. What is a lease surrender strip out? A lease surrender strip out is the process of clearing and reinstating a commercial property before handing it back to the landlord at the end of a lease. It differs from a standard commercial strip out in one important way. The scope of the works is not defined by what you want to do next. It is defined by what your lease says you have to do. Commercial leases typically contain obligations around repair, redecoration and reinstatement. Reinstatement means returning the building to the condition it was in before you moved in, which usually means removing the fit out you installed. How far that obligation extends depends entirely on the specific wording of your lease and any licences for alterations you signed during the tenancy. The financial stakes are real. If a tenant fails to carry out the required works, the landlord can issue a Schedule of Dilapidations and pursue a claim for the cost of the works plus loss of rent during the period it would have taken to carry them out. Landlord instructed contractors are rarely the cheapest option, and by the time the claim arrives you have lost all control over the programme and the cost. 12 moIDEAL LEAD TIME BEFORE LEASE END TO START PLANNING 56 daysTENANT'S TIME TO RESPOND TO A QUANTIFIED DILAPIDATIONS DEMAND 3xTYPICAL COST UPLIFT WHEN LANDLORD APPOINTS THEIR OWN CONTRACTORS S18STATUTORY CAP ON CLAIMS MOST TENANTS NEVER USE What your lease actually requires No two leases are identical. But most commercial leases in the UK impose obligations in three areas, and all three are relevant to a lease surrender strip out. OBLIGATION 1 Repair Most leases contain a covenant to keep the premises in good repair or good and substantial repair. This is not about the condition you received the property in. It is about the standard of repair at the end of the term. Depending on the wording, this can require you to make good any disrepair that accumulated during the tenancy. Fair wear and tear is typically excepted, but the scope of what qualifies is narrower than most tenants assume, particularly on longer leases. OBLIGATION 2 Redecoration Most leases require redecoration at specified intervals during the tenancy and again in the final year of the term. The obligation is usually absolute, meaning it applies even if the existing decoration looks fine. Tenants who miss the final year redecoration cycle create an easy and legitimate claim for the landlord. It is one of the simplest obligations to satisfy and one of the most consistently overlooked. OBLIGATION 3 Reinstatement This is where the strip out comes in. If you carried out any alterations during the tenancy you almost certainly needed a Licence for Alterations from the landlord. That licence will specify whether you are required to remove those alterations at the end of the lease or whether you can leave them in place. Many tenants either cannot find their licence for alterations or have not actually read what it says. Find it and read it before you plan anything. IMPORTANTIf your lease contains a Schedule of Condition recording the property's state at the start of the tenancy, your repair obligations are limited to that baseline. You cannot be required to return the property in better condition than you received it. If no Schedule of Condition exists there is no baseline, and repair obligations are assessed against the standard required by the lease wording alone. Do the works yourself or negotiate a settlement? When a lease is approaching its end, tenants face a real choice. You can carry out the required works before handing back, or you can negotiate a financial settlement with the landlord instead. There is no universally right answer. It depends on the situation. But understanding what drives the decision matters. The case for doing the works yourself If the landlord intends to re-let the property without significant refurbishment, and the required works are well defined and reasonably priced, doing the strip out and reinstatement yourself is almost always cheaper than paying a settlement based on the landlord's own quotes. You control the programme, you control the cost, and you hand back a property that meets your obligations cleanly. DOING THE WORKS YOURSELF You control the contractor and the cost Typically 30 to 50% cheaper than landlord contractor rates Clean handover with no outstanding liability Avoids prolonged post-lease negotiation Demonstrates good faith if you have an ongoing relationship with the landlord NEGOTIATING A SETTLEMENT Better when the landlord plans to refurbish anyway Avoids disruption in the final months of occupation Can result in a lower payment if a Section 18 valuation is obtained Useful when the scope of required works is genuinely unclear The right call if the building is shortly to be demolished or structurally altered The Section 18 cap most tenants never use This is one of the most important protections available to commercial tenants and one of the least used. Section 18(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 limits the damages a landlord can claim for breach of a repairing covenant to the amount by which the value of their interest in the property has actually fallen as a result of the disrepair. This is called the diminution in value. In plain terms: if the cost of the works is £100,000 but the actual reduction in the value of the landlord's interest is only £60,000, the maximum claimable is £60,000. Not the cost of the works. The landlord will not tell you this. It is the tenant's responsibility to obtain a Section 18 valuation from a chartered surveyor and use it in negotiations. The second limb of Section 18 goes further. If the landlord intends to demolish or make substantial structural alterations to the building shortly after the lease ends, no damages can be recovered for repairs that those works would render pointless. If your landlord has planning permission for redevelopment or has indicated refurbishment plans, explore this with a surveyor before paying anything. WORTH DOINGBefore agreeing any financial settlement, appoint a chartered building surveyor who specialises in dilapidations. They will review the Schedule of Dilapidations, advise on your actual liability and negotiate directly with the landlord's surveyor under the RICS Dilapidations Protocol. This almost always results in a lower settlement than the initial claim figure, often significantly lower. What the strip out actually involves The scope of the strip out depends on what you installed during the tenancy and what your lease and licence for alterations requires you to remove. In a typical commercial office or retail tenancy the works fall into a few clear categories. Reinstatement of alterations Everything installed during the tenancy that the licence or the lease requires to be removed: Partition walls and glazed screens installed during the tenancy Raised access floors if not present at the start of the lease Suspended ceiling systems including grid and tiles Additional mechanical and electrical services including lighting, power, data, air conditioning and ventilation Specialist fit out elements such as server rooms, reception desks, kitchenettes and shower facilities Mezzanine floors or structural platforms installed by the tenant Signage, branding or applied finishes not part of the original building Making good Once alterations are removed, the surfaces beneath need to be made good to the standard required by the lease: Patching and making good floor slab where raised floor pedestals have been removed Filling and making good walls after partition removal, including patch plastering, skim and prime Making good ceilings after suspended ceiling removal Capping off or reinstating M&E services to the original base build specification Making good any penetrations through walls, floors or ceilings made during the tenancy Fire stopping on all service penetrations using intumescent materials Redecoration The final step before handover. Repainting walls, ceilings and joinery to the standard required by the lease, typically two full coats of a neutral colour throughout. Landlords inspect and reject redecoration done poorly or to the wrong specification. Redoing it after handover is a common and avoidable source of disputes. Waste removal All strip out waste must be removed from site and disposed of legally. Waste Transfer Notes must be provided for all waste streams. Leaving waste in the building is a breach of the lease and will be charged back by the landlord at commercial clearance rates. From lease end planning to handover: a realistic timeline The biggest mistake tenants make is starting this process too late. There are more moving parts than most people expect. Finding the licence for alterations, appointing a surveyor and getting quotes all take time you will not have if you leave it until the final few weeks. 1   12 MONTHS BEFORE LEASE END Read the lease and find the licence for alterations Pull out the lease and every licence for alterations signed during the tenancy. Identify your repair, redecoration and reinstatement obligations. If you cannot find the licence for alterations, request a copy from the landlord's solicitor now and not later. 2   9 TO 12 MONTHS BEFORE LEASE END Appoint a dilapidations surveyor Appoint a RICS accredited building surveyor experienced in commercial dilapidations. They will review your obligations, carry out a dilapidations assessment and advise on your position relative to what the landlord is likely to claim. This is the most valuable thing you can do at this stage and it almost always pays for itself. 3   6 TO 9 MONTHS BEFORE LEASE END Decide whether to do the works or settle With your surveyor's advice, decide whether to carry out the works before handover or negotiate a financial settlement. If the landlord has indicated plans for refurbishment or redevelopment, explore the Section 18 position now. If you are doing the works, start getting contractor quotes and building a programme. 4   3 TO 6 MONTHS BEFORE LEASE END Appoint your contractor and finalise scope Appoint your strip out contractor. Agree the scope in detail with your surveyor and make sure it covers all reinstatement, making good and redecoration obligations. Commission an asbestos R&D survey of the areas to be stripped. Get the landlord's written consent for any works that require it under the lease. 5   FINAL 6 TO 8 WEEKS Carry out the strip out and reinstatement works Strip out proceeds according to the agreed programme. Keep your surveyor involved. They should inspect during and after the works to confirm the standard before handover. Snagging issues are far easier to deal with before the keys go back than after. 6   LEASE END Handover and vacant possession Hand back the keys with the property in lease compliant condition. Retain all documentation including waste transfer notes, contractor invoices, surveyor sign off and before and after photographs. If the landlord raises issues later, this is your evidence. 7 POST HANDOVER Respond to any Schedule of Dilapidations The landlord may still serve a Schedule of Dilapidations after handover even if you carried out works. Respond within the 56 day window required by the RICS Dilapidations Protocol. Your surveyor handles this and negotiates any residual items. Having done the works properly and being able to prove it puts you in a strong position. The most common mistakes tenants make Most dilapidations disputes come down to the same handful of things going wrong. These are the ones that consistently cause problems. Leaving it too late. Starting six weeks before lease end instead of twelve months means rushed decisions, rushed appointments and no time to negotiate properly. The landlord's surveyor knows this and prices accordingly. Not reading the licence for alterations. Assuming you can leave something in or take something out without checking what the licence actually says. Some require full reinstatement. Others permit the tenant to leave alterations in place. Getting this wrong in either direction is expensive. Missing the final year redecoration. Most leases require redecoration in the last year of the term. Moving out with decoration done three years ago gives the landlord a legitimate and easy claim. Leaving waste in the building. Landlords charge commercial clearance rates for removal, which are always higher than managing it during your own strip out programme. Not getting a Section 18 valuation when it matters. Accepting the landlord's claim at face value without checking whether the statutory cap applies. On larger claims this can make a significant difference to the outcome. No documentation. Works were done but there are no photographs, no invoices and no surveyor sign off. When the landlord queries something post handover, there is nothing to point to. Poor making good. The strip out is done but patching walls, filling floor penetrations and reinstating fire stopping is done to a poor standard. This creates legitimate follow on claims and undermines the credibility of everything else you have done. What landlords typically claim for and how to challenge it When a landlord serves a Schedule of Dilapidations it usually goes further than the tenant expects. Understanding the standard structure helps you push back effectively. ITEM TYPICALLY CLAIMED WHO IS USUALLY LIABLE HOW TO CHALLENGE IT Reinstatement of tenant alterations Tenant Check the licence for alterations. Does it specifically require reinstatement? If not, the obligation may not exist. Repair of fabric damage Tenant Check the Schedule of Condition. The fair wear and tear exception may apply. Dispute items that reflect normal use rather than actual damage. Redecoration Tenant If decoration was completed in the final year and is in good condition, challenge it with photographic evidence from handover. M&E servicing and compliance Depends on lease Check whether the lease actually imposes servicing obligations on the tenant. Not all leases do. Loss of rent during works Landlord claim Only claimable if the property was genuinely unlettable due to disrepair. Challenge with evidence the property could have been re-let during that period. Professional fees Landlord claim Claimable in principle but must be proportionate to the claim. Excessive fees can be challenged. VAT on claimed works Complex Depends on whether the landlord has opted to tax the property. If not, VAT may not be recoverable and should not be claimed. THE RICS DILAPIDATIONS PROTOCOLThe RICS Pre-Action Protocol governs how dilapidations disputes are handled before anyone goes near a court. It requires the landlord to serve a quantified demand setting out the financial sums sought. The tenant then has 56 days to respond. Both parties are expected to negotiate in good faith. Tenants who respond promptly with a well argued counter position, supported by their own surveyor's evidence, consistently achieve better outcomes than those who ignore the process or respond late. Questions we get asked a lot Do I have to strip out everything I installed during the tenancy? What is a Schedule of Dilapidations and when does it arrive? Can I negotiate a settlement rather than doing the works? What does Section 18 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 actually mean for me? How long does a lease surrender strip out take? What if I just hand the building back without doing any works? The key points Lease end is the point where not reading your lease properly, or not starting early enough, becomes very expensive very quickly. The tenants who come out of dilapidations well are the ones who start twelve months out, get a surveyor involved early and understand their actual obligations rather than what they assumed those obligations to be. A lease surrender strip out is not complicated when it is planned properly. The scope is defined by the lease and the licence for alterations. The programme is defined by the lease end date and the time needed to do the works to the required standard. The cost is something you can control, but only if you are the one appointing the contractor. Start twelve months out and not six weeks Find your licence for alterations before planning anything Appoint a dilapidations surveyor early Get contractor quotes and build a realistic programme Do the redecoration in the final year of the lease as required Document everything before, during and after the works If the claim arrives, respond within 56 days with your surveyor's counter position Approaching lease end on a commercial property? We carry out lease surrender strip outs and reinstatement works across London and the South East. We work alongside dilapidations surveyors and can help you define the scope from day one ...