Pre-design budget opinion · Canada
Know what your project should cost before anyone draws it.
An independent conceptual estimate built from your needs, headcount, location and building. You get a cost range with its basis stated, so the budget you take to finance starts from your needs, not from the first drawing.
No drawings needed · Typical turnaround: under 6 business days after we receive your information
Office relocation, 15,000 sq ft
Class 4 · no drawings
What you provide
Project cost range
Low$3.8M
Likely$4.9M
High
Exclusions stated: IT and AV, furniture, moving. Top risk: base-building HVAC capacity not confirmed.
Xenofan, since 2026
The budget is decided before the drawings. Not after.
Once design starts, the budget follows the drawings: every option added, every finish chosen, every extra square foot. Before design is when your decisions are cheapest to change.
A budget opinion sets the number from your needs, before a broker, designer or contractor sets it for you.
When a budget opinion helps most.
Before you sign a lease
Compare fit-out costs across two or three buildings, and see what the landlord's allowance really covers.
Before the capital request
Take finance or the board a number backed by a written basis, not a cost per square foot.
Before you hire a designer
Give the designer a realistic target budget, so design starts from the right number.
For the capital plan
Put a number on next years' projects before they are even launched.
What you receive
A report your finance team can use as is.
- A cost range (low, likely, high), with its basis stated
- A cost breakdown by UniFormat
- The estimate class, and the decision it can support
- The assumptions and exclusions that matter: IT, AV, furniture, moving
- The top cost risks, ranked
- Options compared, when you have more than one
- The questions still open before approval
What we need from you
No drawings. Just your needs.
- Your current and expected headcount
- Your space programme, or a simple wish list (we can build the programme)
- The location, or the buildings you are considering
- Any base-building information you have
- Your target move-in date and any landlord allowance offered
Missing something? That is fine: we replace it with a written assumption, and we tell you.
From the first call to a defensible number.
- 01 · Call
Understand the decision
What you need to decide, by when, and who approves it.
- 02 · Information
Gather the inputs
Your needs, headcount and location. No drawings needed.
- 03 · Estimate
Build the range
Conceptual estimate, assumptions, exclusions and ranked risks.
- 04 · Decision
Walk through the findings
A written report, and a meeting to walk your team through it.
Typical turnaround: under 6 business days after we receive your information.
An independent opinion, with a name on it.
- 15 years in cost estimating
- Both sides of the table: owner and contractor
- Halved budget-at-completion variance across a national portfolio
- Fee not tied to the outcome
- Our fee is the same whether your project proceeds or not.
- One project. One role. Never both.
- If we give the cost opinion on a project, we do not bid on it, build it or manage it.
- Principal-led
- From the first call to the final report.
How accurate is a budget opinion?
Without drawings, an estimate is usually Class 5 or 4 (−30% to +50%, or −20% to +30%). We always state the class and the range, so no one mistakes a first number for a final one.
How is this different from Forecost?
Forecost is an online tool you use yourself to get a first number. A budget opinion is prepared and signed by the principal, fitted to your building and situation, with ranked risks and a meeting to discuss it.
Do we need a test-fit?
No. If you have one, we use it and the accuracy improves. If not, we start from your headcount and needs.
Can you work alongside our broker?
Yes. We stay independent of the broker, the landlord and contractors, and we are paid only by you.
What does a budget opinion cost?
The fee depends on the size of the project and the information available. You receive a written proposal before we start, and the fee stays the same whether the project proceeds or not.
Tell us about your project
Before anyone draws, set the right number.
Tell us what you are planning, where, and by when. If you have no drawings and no budget yet, this is the right time to start.
Or write to info@xenofan.ca
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