Commercial fit planning is a fast, affordable way to determine whether a potential office space can actually accommodate your team, workflows, and rooms before you commit. Robin Pasley of Pasley Commercial Interiors explains how fit planning differs from full space planning and why commercial real estate agents rely on it to keep deals moving. Businesses can get answers in as little as seven days at roughly 10 cents per square foot — a fraction of what a traditional space plan costs.
[Randi Lynn Johnson]: Okay, so Robin, today we are talking about fit planning. This is something I'm actually excited for because I feel like I don't know very much about it. My very first question to you is, what is fit planning?
[Robin Pasley]: Some people call this fit testing. The idea is, for someone who's investigating a new space — maybe they're working with a commercial real estate agent and looking at moving into a larger space, or they're looking at a space for the first time. Either way, they know they've got 30 employees and they need a certain number of private offices, co-working space, group working space, break rooms, conference rooms. They've got a list of spaces they need to accomplish, and they just don't know if it's going to fit in this 5,000 square feet. What we do is take models and work with them to see how they'll best fit into that space — especially if they're on a growth curve, or it's a startup and it's all new to them. This is especially helpful. Historically, commercial real estate agents have reached out to architects to help with this. In our city, those architects are busy all the time. There's sometimes a two-week lag just to get into their pipeline. And if you know anything about real estate, you know time is everything. If you wait too long, you might lose that spot.
[Randi Lynn Johnson]: So you can help save time by connecting with commercial real estate people. You can go into a building and say, "We need to be able to fit 25 people, desks, walls" — you're able to do all of that?
[Robin Pasley]: That's exactly what we do with fit planning. It's not space planning — that's a totally different thing. Space planning is actually laying out the specifics of how a space needs to work: applying code, life safety, all those elements. Fit planning is a general check — with all of that in mind — to answer, can you get everything you need into this space and make it work?
[Randi Lynn Johnson]: That's awesome. So it's a very much preliminary first step — "Is this even a possibility?"
[Robin Pasley]: Exactly. And this is super helpful when a client is looking at five spaces, or they've narrowed it down to three, but they're asking, "Which one will actually work for us?" Instead of spending all the money to get a full space plan done — working with an architect and going through permitting — we do the preliminary step: will it fit, period?
[Randi Lynn Johnson]: I want to ask you a little more detail. You mentioned architects are busy and it can be hard to get them in for weeks. How quickly are you able to provide a fit plan?
[Robin Pasley]: We can usually provide a fit plan within seven days.
[Randi Lynn Johnson]: Amazing!
[Robin Pasley]: This all depends on what we have to work with. We're hoping they have some kind of floor plan as a PDF — we can start with that. If we have nothing, there's a little more time involved, because we have to do a site visit.
[Randi Lynn Johnson]: Great. So you can save them time. You also mentioned saving money. Can you tell me a little more about that, and what your rates are compared to bringing in an architect?
[Robin Pasley]: Sure. I'm not certain, but I don't believe many architects even do fit planning. They mostly do space planning, which is different. A space plan typically starts on the short end at around $1 per square foot. For a 10,000-square-foot building, that could be anywhere between $7,000 and $10,000 — which is very normal. But just to see if it's going to fit, that's a lot of money to invest. We're talking 10 cents a square foot for a project like that.
[Randi Lynn Johnson]: Wow. That's a significant difference in cost. You're saving around 90%. I get excited when I hit the 90% off deal at Hobby Lobby. This is a big deal. How are you able to come in that low?
[Robin Pasley]: To begin with, it is not space planning — it's fit planning. We're not going down to the square inch, applying life safety, ADA compliance, code studies, all of that. We're first just making sure that the basic sizing of probable spaces will work. There are standards for bathrooms, the sizes needed for a private office, benching, group workspaces, conference rooms — things like that. We start with those and lay them in to make sure they're going to fit with a probable layout. This is not built to any specifications that would come through our normal methods — a full discovery meeting with the client, learning about their company, how they function, all of that.
[Randi Lynn Johnson]: So it's a 10,000-foot view — up high, looking down, just seeing how things land.
[Robin Pasley]: Exactly. A 10,000-foot view.
In an increasingly competitive market, the merits of using interior design as a strategic growth tool can make all the difference in not just surviving but thriving.
Pasley Commercial Interiors — designed to help your business grow.
PASLEY COMMERCIAL INTERIORS is Colorado's trusted partner for growth-focused commercial interior design. As a woman-owned, NCIDQ-certified firm based in Colorado Springs, we blend spatial branding, client experience design, and turnkey interior solutions that help businesses make powerful first impressions and win their ideal clients. Our direct-to-manufacturer dealership simplifies the commercial furniture procurement process — reducing costs, cutting lead times, and delivering measurable ROI for every client. With deep expertise in workspace strategy, branded environment design, and commercial space planning, we transform business identities into client-converting spaces that inspire loyalty and drive revenue. From boutique and medical aesthetics buildouts to hospitality, multi-family, and franchise commercial projects, PASLEY COMMERCIAL INTERIORS delivers both impactful aesthetics and bottom-line results — because your space should work as hard as you do.
H.B. Pasley, Branding & Business Growth Advisor
616 N Tejon St
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
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