What a fit-out actually costs, line by line

A quotation is not a price. It is a claim about scope, and the only way to test it is to know what the job physically contains before anyone puts a number on it.

Take a 1,450 sq ft apartment. The flooring is roughly 1,450 sq ft of material plus wastage. The false ceiling is perhaps 60% of that. Wall finish runs to about 2.6 times carpet area once you account for both faces of internal walls. Those are quantities, and they do not change because a contractor is feeling competitive.

What changes is the rate, and what disappears is the line item. The cheap quote is rarely cheaper per square foot. It is missing waterproofing under the bathroom screed, or counting eleven electrical points where the drawing shows nineteen, or quoting a counter in running feet while the drawing calls for a waterfall edge on both returns.

Build the quantities first. Then ask each contractor to price against your list rather than their own. Two quotes on the same schedule are comparable; two quotes on different schedules are a guess dressed as a decision.

The cheap quote is rarely cheaper per square foot. It is missing a line.