Fit-Out Contractors in Dubai

There are three separate costs and most quotes blur them into one number. First the design fee: design-only work is charged at AED 120–550 per square metre — about AED 11–50 per square foot — or as 8–15% of the build cost, sometimes up to 20% when the firm is supervising a full turnkey job. Fixed per-room packages run AED 3,000–15,000, and 3D visuals are usually AED 1,500–5,000 per room. Second the build, which is where the AED 80–300+ per square foot sits: basic and functional at AED 80–150, mid-range at AED 150–300, premium at AED 300–600+. Third the furniture, fixtures and equipment, which adds another 20–40% on top of the build.

Worked example: 750 sq ft at AED 160 per square foot is about AED 120,000 for the build, AED 12,000 for design at 10%, and roughly AED 30,000 in furniture. All-in, about AED 162,000. If someone quotes you AED 120,000 for “everything”, ask which two layers they dropped.

By property, build only: a studio around 450 sq ft lands AED 35,000–120,000. A 750 sq ft one-bed in Dubai Marina or JVC, AED 60,000–200,000. An 1,100 sq ft two-bed in Business Bay or Downtown, AED 90,000–330,000. A 1,600 sq ft three-bed, AED 140,000–480,000. A townhouse around 2,500 sq ft in Dubai Hills, AED 200,000–650,000. A four-bed villa near 4,500 sq ft in Al Barsha or Jumeirah, AED 350,000–1.2 million. Palm Jumeirah and the larger Dubai Hills villas start above AED 1.2 million and climb from there.

Then hold back 10–15% of your total as contingency. Not because contractors are dishonest — because walls open up and nobody knows what is behind them until they do.

This is the single biggest reason identical apartments get wildly different quotes, and almost nobody explains it plainly. CAT A is the base build the developer hands over — the shell brought up to a basic, usable standard. CAT B is everything that makes the space yours: partitions, joinery, the kitchen, designed lighting, flooring, finishes. In Dubai, CAT A work sits around AED 80–150 per square foot in value. CAT B is where AED 150–600+ per square foot goes.

Why it decides your budget: if your handover already included decent flooring, a kitchen and finished bathrooms, you are buying CAT B only — and a contractor quoting from scratch is pricing work you do not need. If your unit came close to bare, a suspiciously cheap quote has probably assumed a CAT A base you do not have, and the difference reappears later as variations. Before you brief anyone, walk the unit and write down exactly what is already there: flooring, kitchen units, wardrobes, AC outlets, light points, bathroom fittings. Then send that identical list to every firm. Same brief, same baseline, comparable quotes.

The other half of this is MEP — mechanical, electrical and plumbing. Moving a kitchen, adding a bathroom or shifting a wall means re-routing MEP, and that is where tens of thousands of dirhams appear mid-project. Anything touching MEP or structure needs sign-off before work starts, so a quote that moves your plumbing but has no line for approvals is not a finished quote.

Nothing derails a Dubai fit-out faster than approvals, and the delay lands on you, not the contractor. In practice there are two layers. The community layer comes first: your building’s owners association or the master developer issues an NOC before anything starts — budget AED 500–3,000+. In several communities the OA is run by a third-party facilities manager rather than the developer, so ask who actually signs before you assume. Then the authority layer: depending on which community your property sits in, that is Dubai Municipality or the Dubai Development Authority, and some master-planned communities sit under their own authority entirely. Confirm which one applies to your address before you sign anything.

Two things hold everywhere. Only a properly licensed contractor can apply — check the DET trade licence actually covers fit-out or decoration work, not just general maintenance. And anything structural or touching MEP needs sign-off before work begins, not after. If a firm tells you they will sort the approvals later, that is not confidence. That is a firm that has not priced them.

Tower work carries costs nobody mentions at the quoting stage. Service lift booking plus a damage deposit runs AED 2,000–10,000 in most Marina, Downtown and Business Bay buildings, and many towers restrict working hours, which stretches both the schedule and the labour bill. If your building runs on district cooling, your designer works around the system rather than replacing it — that is simply not on the table. Villa communities in Jumeirah, Al Barsha, Dubai Hills and Palm Jumeirah trade lift bookings for tighter external rules instead: facades, extensions and anything visible from outside get scrutinised hard.

Ask one question before you sign, and get it answered in writing: which authority is this property under, who submits the drawings, and is the approval cost inside this quote or on top of it?

Design-only means you pay a designer for drawings, 3D visuals and a specification, then hire a separate contractor to build it. Design-and-build means one firm does both. Most homeowners choose on price, and that is the wrong test — the real difference is who is accountable when something comes out wrong.

With two firms, a bad joinery finish turns into a debate. The designer says it was built wrong, the contractor says the drawing was wrong, and you sit in the middle funding the argument. With one firm, there is nobody to point at. That is worth real money. Design-only earns its keep when you already have a strong view of what you want, a contractor you genuinely trust, or a project large enough that independent oversight of the builder is worth the 8–15%. For a standard apartment refresh in Dubai Marina, JVC or Business Bay, design-and-build is usually the cleaner call.

Whichever route you take, the paperwork is identical. Demand an itemised bill of quantities with design, build broken out by trade, MEP, approvals and furniture as separate lines — a lump sum with no BOQ is how scope quietly shrinks after you have paid. Structure payment as a deposit, then milestone payments, then a final holdback released only once snagging is signed off. Anyone asking for 70% or more upfront is asking you to fund their cash flow. And send the same brief to three firms: if the three come back within 15–20% of each other, you are looking at honest pricing. If one lands 40% under the others, that is not a bargain, it is a variation order with a delay attached.