# Workstations & Custom Office Furniture

> Office workstations and furniture cover desks, storage, reception desks, boardroom tables and bespoke joinery, split between system products and custom-made pieces. What decides the outcome is matching the desk layout to floor boxes and data outlets, and ordering early, since furniture is usually the longest-lead item on a fit-out.

## What we deliver

**Workstations, storage, reception desks, boardroom tables and bespoke joinery**
— specified against the agreed layout and coordinated with the small power and
data design.

The coordination is the point. Furniture is normally chosen visually and priced
per unit, then discovered on site to sit two feet from the nearest floor box. The
desk layout and the power layout are the same drawing, and treating them
separately is what produces trailing extension leads under a new office.

## Scope of works

| Stage | What we deliver |
| --- | --- |
| Requirement | Headcount, desk sizes, storage, meeting and collaboration needs |
| Selection | System products where they suit, custom where they do not |
| Coordination | Desk layout against floor boxes, data outlets and containment |
| Manufacture | Custom joinery in-house; system products procured |
| Delivery | Sequenced after finishes, before handover |
| Installation | Assembly, levelling, power and data connection |
| Handover | Snagging, warranty documentation |

## What we cover

| Item | Notes |
| --- | --- |
| Workstations | Linear, cluster and bench, 4-6 ft per person |
| Storage | Pedestals, lockers, filing, tall units |
| Reception desk | Usually custom, brand-carrying |
| Boardroom table | Custom, with integrated power and AV routing |
| Meeting and collaboration | Tables, booths, informal seating |
| Cafeteria and breakout | Tables, seating, counters |
| Bespoke joinery | Wall panelling, feature units, wardrobes |

## Where projects go wrong

- **Furniture ordered late.** It is the longest lead item and it decides the
  handover date more often than site work does.
- **Desk layout not matched to floor boxes.** The result is visible from the day
  people move in and awkward to fix afterwards.
- **Customising the general workstation.** More expensive and slower than a
  system product that would have done the same job.
- **No power and data in the boardroom table.** Retrofitting it into finished
  joinery is ugly and rarely looks intentional.
- **Ignoring circulation around desks.** A layout that fits on paper can fail on
  the clearance behind a pulled-out chair.

## Why Hagerstone

**Customised furniture is part of our stated scope**, made in-house alongside the
fit-out — so a reception desk is built by the same organisation that builds the
wall it sits against and runs the power into it.

**15 carpenters in-house**, ISO 9001 / 14001 / 45001, 79+ quality checkpoints.

## Standards referenced

Work chairs under **IS 17631**.

## Frequently asked questions

### What workstation size should we plan?

Indian corporate offices commonly work between 4 and 6 feet of linear desk per person, with 5 feet a frequent middle ground for general staff and 6 feet where people work across multiple screens or handle documents. Below 4 feet the desk stops working for anything but a laptop. The right number comes from what people actually do, not from squeezing the seat count to a target.

### Custom or off-the-shelf furniture?

Off-the-shelf systems are quicker, come with published warranties and are easy to extend later — sensible for general workstations. Custom is worth it for reception desks, boardroom tables, storage that has to fit an awkward dimension, and anything that carries the brand. Most offices use both, and the mistake is customising the general workstation, where a system product would have been cheaper and faster.

### Why does furniture so often govern the handover date?

Because it is the longest lead item on the project. Site work compresses if you add labour; a manufacturing lead time does not. Custom joinery and imported chairs frequently need six to ten weeks, so the order date rather than the build programme determines when the office can actually open. Furniture selection has to be closed early.

## Sources

- [IS 17631](https://standards.bis.gov.in/website/published-standards/department-wise) — Furniture — work chairs — specification

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Source: https://hagerstone.com/services/interior-fit-out/workstations-and-office-furniture