Interior design & fit-out · Design services across Pakistan and overseas
Interior Design and Fit-Out in Lahore and Islamabad
Avenir Developments plans, details and executes interiors for homes, offices and commercial spaces. We build interiors in Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and we design for projects anywhere in Pakistan and overseas. Either way the output is the same: a set of drawings a contractor can actually build from.
- Two officesDHA Phase 5, Lahore and Gulberg Greens, Islamabad
- One appointmentArchitecture, interiors and construction under one agreement
- Priced before agreedDrawings and a priced schedule before any figure is fixed
What interior design covers, and where it stops
Interior design is the planning, specification and detailing of the inside of a building: how the space is divided and used, where light and power sit, what every surface is made of, and what is built in rather than bought. It is not decoration, and it is not furniture shopping. Both of those happen at the end of it.
A complete interior scope has four parts. Space planning fixes how rooms are used, how people move between them, and where furniture will physically fit. Services coordination decides where switches, sockets, light points, air-conditioning outlets, water points and drainage runs sit, before walls are closed. Detailing covers ceilings, floors, wall finishes and joinery — the built-in carpentry such as wardrobes, kitchens, vanities and media units. Specification records exactly which material, in which finish, from which supplier, for every surface and fitting in the project.
Fit-out is the execution of all of that on site: the physical building of ceilings, partitions, joinery, flooring, lighting and services inside a shell that already exists.
Work that stops after mood boards and 3D views is concept design. It looks like a finished service and it is roughly a third of one. The remaining two thirds are the drawings and schedules that let someone build the thing, and the site work that confirms they did.
Interior design covers space planning, services coordination, detailing and material specification. Fit-out is the execution of that design on site. Avenir Developments provides interior design for projects across Pakistan and overseas, and interior fit-out execution in Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
Who this is for
Written for people who are past the inspiration stage and are deciding who to put in charge of the inside of a building.
- You are building a house in Lahore, Islamabad or Rawalpindi and want the interior decided before the electrician starts chasing walls
- You have taken possession of a house or apartment and it needs a full interior rather than furniture
- You have leased or bought office space and need it fitted out before a move-in date that has already been announced internally
- You are opening a retail unit, café, restaurant or clinic and the interior is the product, not the packaging
- You are building somewhere we do not execute — Karachi, Multan, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Quetta or elsewhere — and want the interior properly drawn for a local contractor to build
- Your project is outside Pakistan and you want it designed here and built there
- You already have an architect and need someone to take the interior to construction-issue drawings
- You are abroad and need the interior specified precisely enough that it can be built without you standing over it
Where we are not the right firm
Saying this plainly saves both of us time.
- We do not take single-room decoration, styling-only or furniture-only work. Our smallest sensible interior appointment is a complete floor or a complete property.
- We do not take labour-only fit-out. Our execution work is on a material-plus-labour or defined turnkey basis, because labour-only removes the material control that makes the specification meaningful.
- If your priority is the lowest per-square-foot number in the market, another firm will beat us on that number. We would rather say so now than after the joinery is ordered.
- We build interiors in Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Everywhere else — in Pakistan and overseas — we design and specify, and someone local builds. We will tell you which of the two applies to you in the first conversation rather than imply a site presence we do not have.
The cheapest moment to decide your interior is before the electrician arrives
Every interior decision has a point at which it is a line on a drawing, and a later point at which it is a channel cut into a finished wall.
A wardrobe 100mm deeper. A pendant moved 300mm along the dining table. An air-conditioning outlet that should not blow directly across a bed. Each of these is trivial while the drawings are open and expensive once plaster is on. The difference is not the design. It is when the design was made.
This is the single most useful thing we can tell you before you appoint anyone, including us: interiors planned alongside the architecture cost less than interiors applied afterwards, because switch positions, air-conditioning routes, ceiling drops, wardrobe depths and kitchen services are settled while they are still lines rather than site instructions.
The teal line is the point of no return for each decision.
None of this requires the interior to be finished early. It requires it to be decided early. A space plan, a reflected ceiling plan — the ceiling drawn as if you were looking down at it from above, showing lights, vents and levels — and an electrical layout are enough to protect every item above.
What you actually receive
“Concept to completion” is the industry’s most-used phrase and its least informative. Here is the package, itemised.
Design stage
- Measured survey of the existing space, or a check of the architectural drawings against site
- Space plan and furniture layout for every room in scope
- Reflected ceiling plans showing levels, coves, light points, air-conditioning grilles and access panels
- Electrical and data layouts: switching, sockets, circuits, dimming zones, TV and network points
- Plumbing setting-out for bathrooms, kitchens and utility areas
- Flooring layouts with pattern, direction, joint and threshold detail
- Wall elevations for every wall carrying joinery, panelling, cladding or a feature finish
- Joinery drawings — the built-in carpentry — in plan, elevation and section, with hardware noted
- Schedule of finishes: a room-by-room record of every material, finish, size, colour reference and supplier
- Lighting schedule with fitting types, colour temperature and beam characteristics
- 3D views for agreed spaces, produced against the drawings rather than in place of them
- Sample boards for physical approval before anything is ordered
Execution stage — where Avenir is appointed to build
- Bill of quantities (BOQ) — a priced, itemised list of every element of work — prepared against the approved drawings
- Vendor selection, sample submittals and material approvals against the schedule of finishes
- Site setting-out and dimensional verification before joinery is released for fabrication
- Ceiling, partition, flooring, joinery, painting and finishing works
- MEP coordination on site — mechanical, electrical and plumbing services routed to suit the interior, not the other way round
- Testing and commissioning of lighting circuits, controls and any installed equipment
- Snagging — the systematic defect list at the end of a job — worked through and re-inspected before handover
- Handover file: as-built drawings, approved samples, warranties, and the finishes schedule as executed
What is normally excluded
Loose furniture, soft furnishings, artwork, appliances, curtains and blinds, plants and styling accessories are usually outside an interior fit-out scope unless they are specifically included. So are structural alterations, façade work and anything requiring authority approval. We list exclusions in the proposal rather than leaving them to be discovered.
House and apartment interiors
Most house interiors in Pakistan are commissioned twice. The second commission is where money goes.
Once as an architectural drawing that shows rooms, and again — months later, usually under time pressure — as an interior that has to fit whatever the site produced. When the interior runs alongside the architecture instead, a set of decisions become free that are otherwise expensive:
- Wardrobe and dressing depths are set before the masonry, so a bedroom does not end up with a 550mm-deep wardrobe because that is what was left after the wall went up
- Bathroom layouts are drawn before embedded plumbing, so the vanity, the WC and the shower sit where the design wants them rather than where the pipe already runs
- The kitchen is planned as a working sequence — store, prepare, cook, serve, clear — with services, extract and appliance clearances resolved, instead of as a run of cabinets fitted to a room
- Ceiling zones are agreed with the structural beam layout and air-conditioning routes on the same drawing, which is the only way to know whether a flat ceiling is achievable at the height you want
- Daylight and privacy are handled together: which rooms need the glazing, which need screening from the neighbouring plot, and where the sun will actually be at four in the afternoon in June
Where we work on houses
We design and build house and apartment interiors in DHA Lahore and its phases, Lake City, Bahria Town Lahore, Bahria Orchard, Park View City, Valencia and LDA-approved schemes; and in DHA Islamabad, Bahria Town Rawalpindi, Bahria Enclave, Gulberg Greens, Gulberg Residencia, Park View City Islamabad, Capital Smart City and CDA sectors.
Beyond those markets we design house and apartment interiors anywhere in Pakistan and for projects overseas, with a local contractor executing the work. If your house is being designed or built by us, the interior runs inside the same appointment. If it is being built by someone else, we can be appointed for the interior alone.
Office and commercial fit-out
An office fit-out is not a large house interior. The constraints are different, the decision-maker is different, and the thing that goes wrong is different.
Is the shell a base build, or an office you are still working in?
A base build — a bare shell with core services brought to the floor and nothing else — is the simpler case. Fitting out around a working team is a different project: it needs phasing, out-of-hours working, dust and noise separation, and a sequence that leaves people somewhere to sit every day of the programme. Say which one you have in the first conversation, because it changes the programme more than the design does.
What does the building let you do?
Floor-to-soffit height determines whether you can have a flat ceiling, a services zone and the light fitting you want, or two of the three. Core and riser positions determine where washrooms, pantries and server rooms can go. Existing air-conditioning provision determines whether meeting rooms can be sealed. Permitted working hours and lift access for material determine your programme. These are checked before the space plan, not after it.
How many people, and how many in three years?
An office designed exactly for the current headcount is obsolete on the day it opens. An office designed for a headcount you never reach is paid-for empty floor. The useful question is which parts must flex — desks and storage — and which cannot: washrooms, pantry capacity, electrical distribution and air-conditioning tonnage.
Open plan or enclosed, and what happens to the noise?
Open plan needs absorption — soft ceilings, acoustic baffles, carpet — or it becomes unusable for concentrated work. Meeting rooms need separation, and the decision that determines whether a meeting room actually works is whether the partition runs to the underside of the slab or stops at the false ceiling. A partition that stops at the ceiling looks identical and performs entirely differently.
Where does power and data go?
Floor boxes, perimeter trunking and ceiling drops each commit you to a different degree of future flexibility, at a different cost. This decision is made once and is expensive to reverse. It should be made against how the team is expected to move, not against what looks tidiest in a render.
Is the air-conditioning sized for the floor or for the load?
Tonnage calculated from floor area alone will be wrong for a room holding twelve people, a screen and a wall of glazing. Occupancy, equipment load, glazing area and orientation all belong in the calculation.
What an office fit-out scope covers
Reception and waiting; open workspace; enclosed offices; meeting and board rooms; focus and call rooms; collaboration areas; pantry and break-out; prayer room; storage and print areas; server or hub room; washroom upgrades where permitted; signage and brand application; and the ceilings, partitions, flooring, lighting, power, data, air-conditioning coordination and joinery that make all of it work.
Retail, cafés, restaurants and clinics
Commercial interiors carry constraints an office does not: a customer route that has to work at the busiest hour rather than the emptiest, extract and grease management for any kitchen, wet-area waterproofing, cleanability of every surface a customer touches, lighting that flatters the product rather than the ceiling, and — for clinics — separation of clean and dirty flows and equipment loads that must be confirmed before the electrical design is fixed.
Three ways to appoint us
Not sure which applies? Send a plan and the current stage of the project and we will tell you which of the three is sensible — including the case where the answer is design only.
Design only
The complete drawing set, schedule of finishes and specification.
- Who builds it
- Your contractor, or one we help you appoint
- Accountable for a defect
- Split between designer and contractor
- Best when
- You have a contractor you trust, you want to tender the work, or you are outside our execution markets
- Available
- Anywhere in Pakistan, and overseas subject to scope
- Watch for
- The set must be complete enough to build from
Design and execution
The drawings, and Avenir builds the interior.
- Who builds it
- Avenir
- Accountable for a defect
- Avenir
- Best when
- You want one party answerable for the result
- Available
- Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi
- Watch for
- Fewer competitive prices; the BOQ is the control
Inside Design + Build
Architecture, approvals, construction and interior under one agreement.
- Who builds it
- Avenir
- Accountable for a defect
- Avenir
- Best when
- The building is not built yet
- Available
- Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi
- Watch for
- Interiors must start early enough to influence the services
Related: Design + Build services · Architecture services · Construction services
Where we work
Two things are true at once, and firms in this market usually blur them. We execute interiors in Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi, where we have offices, site teams and established suppliers. We design interiors for projects anywhere in Pakistan and for projects outside it.
| Location | Interior design, drawings and specification | Interior fit-out execution and site supervision |
|---|---|---|
| Lahore | Yes | Yes |
| Islamabad and Rawalpindi | Yes | Yes |
| Rest of Pakistan — Karachi, Multan, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Gujranwala, Bahawalpur and elsewhere | Yes | No — a local contractor builds to our drawings, and we will say so rather than imply a site presence we do not have |
| Projects outside Pakistan | Yes, subject to scope | No |
Swipe the table sideways to see all columns.
How a design-only appointment works when we are not on your site
A drawing set built on assumptions about a building nobody has measured will not fit it. So a remote appointment starts with dimensional certainty, and we are specific about who provides it.
- A measured survey is not optional. Either we arrange one, or you supply one to a stated standard. Rough dimensions taken with a tape and a phone are enough for a concept and not enough for joinery.
- What we need from you: the architectural drawings if they exist, a measured survey or dimensioned floor plan, photographs of every wall of every room in scope, ceiling heights including the underside of any beams, and the positions of existing services, doors and windows.
- What we produce is the same set as for a local project. Space plans, reflected ceiling plans, electrical and plumbing layouts, flooring, elevations, joinery drawings and the schedule of finishes.
- What we cannot do remotely is verify site dimensions before fabrication or inspect installation quality. Those stay with whoever is building. We can review photographs and drawings against the specification and tell you where something has gone wrong — but reviewing is not supervising, and we will not describe it as such.
- Material specification is written to what is available to you, not to what we can source in Lahore. If a specified finish is not obtainable in your market, tell us early. Substituting late is where remote interiors lose their coherence.
Projects outside Pakistan
Interior design work for overseas projects is taken on subject to scope. What changes is not the drawing set but the code and product environment: dimensional standards, electrical conventions, fire and accessibility requirements and available product ranges all differ, and compliance with local regulations rests with a professional licensed in that jurisdiction. We will say at the outset which parts of the work we can take responsibility for and which need someone licensed where you are building.
The process, stage by stage
Stages 6 and 7 apply where Avenir is appointed to execute. On a design-only appointment the set is issued at stage 5 and your contractor takes it from there.
Brief and survey
A conversation about how the space will be used, by whom, and what it has to do. We measure the space, or check the architectural drawings against site. Nothing is designed until the brief is written down.
You provide: the plan if one exists, the constraints you already know, and the date the space has to be usable. You receive: a written brief and our view on whether the programme is realistic.
Space planning
Layout options tested against the brief: circulation, furniture, storage, daylight, privacy and — for offices — headcount and acoustic separation. This stage settles the plan before anything is styled.
You receive: space plans, furniture layouts, and the reasoning for each option.
Concept design
Material direction, colour, lighting character and the design language for the project, developed against the approved plan. 3D views for agreed spaces.
You receive: concept package, sample direction and 3D views.
Detailed design and coordination
The stage most interiors skip. Reflected ceiling plans, electrical and data layouts, plumbing setting-out, flooring layouts, wall elevations, joinery drawings and the schedule of finishes — coordinated against structure and services so that the ceiling, the beam and the air-conditioning duct are not all trying to occupy the same 200mm.
You receive: the construction-issue set. This is what makes an accurate price possible.
Pricing
A bill of quantities prepared against that set, with inclusions, exclusions, client-supplied items and a stage-linked payment schedule written down.
You receive: BOQ, scope, exclusions, programme and agreement. Read the exclusions first — that is where quotations differ, not in the headline rate.
Execution
Site setting-out and dimensional verification before joinery is released for fabrication. Ceilings, partitions, flooring, joinery, services and finishes built against the drawings, with material approvals against approved samples.
You receive: progress records, material approval log and a priced variation log. No variation is executed until it has been priced and approved by you in writing.
Snagging and handover
Defect list agreed, worked through and re-inspected. Lighting circuits and controls tested. Handover file assembled.
You receive: the space, the snag closure record, as-built drawings, approved samples and warranties.
What drives an interior budget
We do not publish a per-square-foot interior rate, because a rate quoted before the scope exists is not a price. The variables, though, are knowable in advance.
The largest single line is almost always joinery. Wardrobes, kitchens, vanities and media units are made rather than bought, and the cost is driven by running metre, carcass material, shutter finish, hardware brand and how much of it is a special size.
Then, in roughly descending order of impact:
- Ceiling extent and complexity. A flat gypsum ceiling with recessed lights, a coffered ceiling with cove lighting, and a ceiling with concealed curtain pelmets and access panels are three different costs for the same room.
- Stone and tile selection, and the wastage that pattern-matching or large-format material forces.
- Whether services are being reworked or accepted as built. Moving electrical points, drains or air-conditioning routes in a finished space is the most common source of cost that nobody budgeted for.
- Lighting quality and control. Fitting quality, colour consistency, and whether the space has basic switching or dimming and scene control.
- Imported versus locally produced items, which affects both price and lead time — and lead time affects programme, which affects cost.
- Whether the space is occupied during the works, which forces phasing, out-of-hours labour and protection.
- Scope of loose furniture and styling, normally excluded and often assumed to be included.
How to compare two interior quotations honestly: put them side by side and check the schedule of finishes and the exclusions before you look at the totals. Two prices for “the same interior” usually describe two different interiors.
Related: architecture and design fee · house construction cost · cost calculators
Five ways interior projects go wrong
These are not hypothetical. They are the recurring pattern, and each one has a specific prevention.
The 3D view was approved and nothing underneath it was ever drawn.
A render is a picture of an intention. It contains no dimensions, no material specification and no services. When a project moves from render straight to site, every one of those decisions gets made by whoever is holding the tool that day.
Prevention — the render is produced from the drawings, not instead of them. Approve the plan and the schedule of finishes, not just the image.
Joinery was ordered from the architect’s plan instead of a site-measured survey.
Built walls are not drawn walls. A 20mm discrepancy across a 3.6m wardrobe run is normal, and it is also the difference between a flush installation and a scribed filler panel.
Prevention — dimensional verification on site before anything is released for fabrication.
The ceiling was designed without the services on the same drawing.
Beam soffits, air-conditioning ducts, drain runs and sprinkler pipework all live in the ceiling void. A ceiling designed in isolation gets rebuilt, or gets a bulkhead nobody wanted.
Prevention — the reflected ceiling plan is coordinated against structure and services before it is issued.
Finishes were chosen from a photograph rather than a sample under the actual lighting.
Colour temperature changes stone, timber and paint substantially. A finish approved on a screen under one light routinely looks wrong on site under another.
Prevention — physical samples, approved on site, under the lighting specified for that room.
Nobody wrote down which items the client is buying directly.
Client-supplied items — a particular tap, an imported light, an appliance — are the most common cause of a stalled programme, because responsibility for lead time was never allocated.
Prevention — a client-supplied items list in the scope, with who orders it and when it must be on site.
Questions clients ask
If your question is not here, send it on WhatsApp and we will answer it plainly.
What does an interior designer actually do?
Plans how a space is used, coordinates the services that run through it, details the ceilings, floors, walls and built-in joinery, and specifies every material and fitting. Decoration and furniture selection sit at the end of that, not at the start of it.
What is the difference between interior design and interior decoration?
Interior design changes the space: layout, services, ceilings, joinery, finishes. Decoration works within a space that is already fixed: furniture, fabrics, artwork, accessories. Design requires drawings and coordination with the building. Decoration does not.
What is a fit-out?
The physical execution of an interior inside a shell that already exists — ceilings, partitions, flooring, joinery, lighting and services. The term is used most often for offices and commercial spaces, where a tenant takes a bare or basic space and builds the interior inside it.
Do you take design-only work, or only design with execution?
Both. A design-only appointment produces the full drawing set and specification for your own contractor to build from, and is available anywhere in Pakistan and for overseas projects subject to scope. Design with execution puts the drawings and the building with one party, and is available in Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
Which cities and countries do you work in?
Interior design, drawings and specification: anywhere in Pakistan, and overseas projects subject to scope. Interior fit-out execution and site supervision: Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi, where we have offices and site teams. We will tell you plainly which of the two applies to your project rather than imply a site presence we do not have.
Can you design an interior for a project outside Pakistan?
Yes, subject to scope. The drawing set does not change; the code and product environment does. Dimensional standards, electrical conventions, fire and accessibility requirements and available product ranges all differ by country, and compliance with local regulations rests with a professional licensed in that jurisdiction. We agree at the outset which parts of the work we take responsibility for and which need someone licensed where you are building.
How do you design an interior for a space you have not visited?
On a measured survey, not on assumptions. Either we arrange one or you supply one to a stated standard, together with the architectural drawings, photographs of every wall in scope, ceiling heights including the underside of beams, and the positions of existing services, doors and windows. What we cannot do remotely is verify dimensions before fabrication or inspect installation quality — those stay with whoever is building, and we say so rather than describe drawing review as supervision.
How much does interior design cost?
It depends on the scope, the extent of joinery, the ceiling and lighting design, the material specification and whether services are being reworked. A rate given before those are known is an estimate of a project nobody has drawn. What we can do at first contact is tell you which variables will dominate your budget and roughly where the decisions sit.
Can you work with the architect I already have?
Yes. We are appointed for interiors alongside another architect regularly. What matters is that we receive the current drawing set and that responsibility for services coordination is allocated in writing to one party rather than assumed by both.
When should the interior designer be appointed?
Before the electrical conduiting is laid, at the latest. Ideally alongside the architectural design. Switch positions, air-conditioning routes, ceiling levels, wardrobe depths and kitchen services are all free to change on a drawing and expensive to change in a built wall.
Do you design offices as well as houses?
Yes. Office and commercial fit-out is a substantial part of our interior work: workplaces, retail units, cafés, restaurants and clinics. The constraints are different from a house — base-build limitations, acoustic separation, power and data distribution, air-conditioning sized to occupancy rather than floor area, and phasing when the space is occupied.
Can you fit out our office while we are still working in it?
Often, yes. It requires phasing, defined out-of-hours working, dust and noise separation, and a sequence that leaves every person somewhere to sit on every day of the programme. It also lengthens the programme relative to an empty shell, and that should be in the plan from the start rather than discovered in week three.
What is not included in an interior fit-out?
Usually: loose furniture, soft furnishings, curtains and blinds, artwork, appliances, plants and styling accessories, plus structural alterations, façade work and anything requiring authority approval. Anything you intend to supply yourself is listed as a client-supplied item with a date by which it must be on site.
Start with the space, not the style
Send a plan if you have one, the city or country and the property type, and tell us what the space has to do. We will come back with an honest view of what the scope should be, which appointment route fits, and what has to be decided first. There is no fee for that conversation.
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