Hotel fit-out contractor in Paris: making and installing the joinery of a high-end hotel

In Paris, a high-end hotel opens or is refurbished on a tight schedule, in constrained spaces, with difficult access and a standard of finish guests notice from the first night. The fit-out contractor taking on that job has to hold three things at once: volume (dozens of identical rooms), finish (that of a one-off piece) and the opening date. That is exactly the trade of Les Agenceurs: we make bespoke hotel fit-out in our factory in Portugal and install it in Paris with our own teams.

What a hotel fit-out maker actually produces

In a hotel, “fit-out” covers everything that is fixed or built in and designed for the place. In practice, a Parisian hotel project most often entrusts us with:

• Rooms: headboards, beds, bedside tables, built-in wardrobes and closets, desks, end-of-bed benches, screens and partitions.
• Bathrooms: vanity units, bath surrounds, stone or resin tops, storage suited to moisture.
• Lobby and reception: reception counters, waiting benches, screens, niches and display units — the pieces that give the lobby its character.
• Restaurant and bar: tufted banquettes, counters, dining furniture, screens, built for intensive use.
• Spa and wellness areas: welcome furniture, changing rooms, treatment cabins, with materials that take humidity.

The loose pieces that go with these fit-outs (tables, chairs, service stations) come under furniture in series, made in the same workshop with the same finishes. For catalogue seating, lighting and accessories, we work alongside the hotel's FF&E buyer rather than replacing them.

Why we make in Portugal to install in Paris

A good Parisian workshop can make an exceptional headboard. It usually stalls on the series: 40, 80, 120 identical headboards, with the same veneer, the same shade and the same hardware, delivered for the opening date. Our factory in Portugal, in Caldas de Vizela near Porto, is sized for that: 2,000 m² of workshop, 500 m² of buffer storage, 30 skilled workers (cabinet-makers, metalworkers, upholsterers, lacquerers, fitters), a CNC machine park and a dedicated lacquer booth. The same family has run it since 1950. We handle up to 150 rooms in series at once there, without dropping the standard of finish.

Everything is done under one roof: solid wood and veneer, metal (steel, stainless steel, brass), lacquer in any RAL shade, leather and fabric, glass, resin. No chain of subcontractors to coordinate, so no shade mismatch between the lacquered reception counter and the lacquered headboards. That is what makes it possible to deliver a complete hotel with consistent finishes from one space to the next. Read more about our factory.

On the Paris side, our head office is in Paris and our Île-de-France workshop in Montgeron. Our fitters work on site, in coordination with the building site and the other trades. One team follows the project from technical drawing to the last screw fitted.

How a hotel fit-out project unfolds

1. Estimate from your drawings or your FF&E book

You send us the architect's or designer's drawings, the specification and the schedule of pieces. We come back with a line-by-line estimate, with material options where relevant. On a finalised FF&E book, the quote is usually returned within one to two weeks. If the project is at an early stage, we support the design with technical solutions.

2. Mock-up room before the series

On series projects, we build a complete mock-up room before launching production. The hotel's management, the architect and the operator sign off on the actual piece: headboard height, drawer strength, veneer shade, feel of the upholstery. Adjustments are built in, then the series is launched against that reference. Allow 8 to 12 weeks for a prototyped standard room.

3. Series production, set to the opening date

After the mock-up room is approved, a series of 20 to 50 rooms takes 14 to 20 weeks. Beyond that, production is planned in successive batches set to your schedule. Lead times are committed in the quote, and the schedule is followed with your project management.

4. Delivery and installation by our teams

Batches are delivered and installed in phases if the hotel allows (floor by floor, for instance on a refurbishment in an operating hotel), or in a single block when the site is handed over. Our fitters are based in the Paris region and in Portugal. Fire-rating certificates (M1, M2, B-s2,d0 according to the project's public-building requirements) and technical sheets are provided for handover.

Hotel references drawn from our expertise

Among the hotels whose furniture and fit-out came out of our factory: the Sofitel Le Scribe Paris Opéra (rooms and common areas, Haussmann-era atmosphere), the T'aime Hotel in Compiègne (14 themed rooms, bespoke furniture in each), the Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort in Monaco, the Bairro Alto Hotel and the Altis Grand Hotel in Lisbon, the Troia Design Hotel (61 rooms and 144 apartments in series) and the Porto Palacio in Porto. The projects are shown in our work.

What to prepare before contacting us

• The architect's or designer's plans and elevations, even at an intermediate stage.
• The number of rooms and their types (standard, superior, suite).
• The target opening date and the site's constraints (operating hotel, access, working hours).
• The FF&E book if it exists, or the list of pieces to be made.

With these, we come back within 48 hours with a first exchange and a framing of the estimate. For large projects, a factory visit can be arranged in a day from Paris (direct flight to Porto, 30-minute transfer). You see the process first-hand and approve the pre-series pieces. Hotel groups will find the detail of how we collaborate on the page for hotel groups.