Do the prices for constructing an office in Japan make sense?Of course not. The problem really is that in most office buildings in Japan the building owner has a designated contractor in place. This means that when you want to partition off rooms, create a reception etc… you need to ask the building contractor to do the work. And guess what, this designated contrator is going to present you with inflated prices to do the work… This is obviously one of the reasons why most Japanese office look the way they do: in order to avoid considerable construction costs offices are designed (put into place) with the intention of not having to cost an arm and a leg. That is why most meeting rooms walls in these office will not go all the way up to the ceiling (to avoid moving air conditioners) or have very few partitioned rooms at all.

Designated contractors seem to be unavoidable, especially with rents going up again to bubble times. Does this mean that we are going to see more offices “designed” by the restrictions of the designated contractors? Probably.

So how can you make sure that you can still design a funky work environment without a spicy price tag?

1. Negotiate before signing the lease that some of the work can be outsourced to other contractors. Make sure that the designated contractor has competition!
2. The design should be well thought through, and drawings handed in should have all the necessary details so there is no need for any guessing on the contractor’s side. Remember they will always guess in their favour.
3.  Buy a thick red marker and scrutinize the estimates. Check for product prices, contractors should normally get 40-60% discounts, not providing discounts will drive their fees up twice as they will charge a percentage (usually 12%) on top of the construction costs.

4. Hire a professional. Actually that is what you should have done in the first place!