Skip to content EVERY DAY IS A BLACK FRIDAY HERE AT THE OFFICE CHAIR MAN
SUMMER 2026 OFFER! (Ends 31 August 2026) Qty 1–5 5%, 6–10 10%, 11–15 15%,16–20 20%, 21+ 25% Saving.
EVERY DAY IS A BLACK FRIDAY HERE AT THE OFFICE CHAIR MAN
SUMMER 2026 OFFER! (Ends 31 August 2026) Qty 1–5 5%, 6–10 10%, 11–15 15%,16–20 20%, 21+ 25% Saving.
There is no single reliable UK figure for the cost of furnishing an office. A ten-person business needing simple desks and good task chairs will have a very different budget from a company specifying sit-stand desks, premium ergonomic seating and acoustic pods.
At The Office Chair Man, we recommend building a budget from the furniture you actually need. Refurbished office furniture makes that approach useful because prices vary by brand, specification, condition and available quantity.
This guide uses current examples from our stock to show how specification affects the total and how to budget for offices of different sizes.
Did you know? A £100 difference in furniture cost per workstation changes the budget for a 50-workstation office by £5,000. What specification would you prioritise when furnishing your workplace?
The simplest way to start is to calculate the cost of each workstation, then add shared furniture separately.
A workstation normally consists of a desk and task chair. Storage, meeting rooms, breakout areas, reception furniture and acoustic pods can then be budgeted separately as shared resources.
Current stock on our site shows how wide the range can be. At the time of checking, a Knoll Generation Task Chair was listed at £144 including VAT, while a Steelcase Think V2 Black with HA arms was £264 including VAT. A Herman Miller Aeron Polished Aluminium Posturefit Size B was listed at £690 including VAT.
For desks, an Elite 1200 x 600 desk was £144 including VAT, a Gresham Mesa bench desk was £168 including VAT, and selected electric sit-stand desks were available from £288 including VAT.
Using those products purely as examples gives the following workstation calculations:
| Example workstation | Chair | Desk | Approx. total incl. VAT |
| Cost-conscious example | £144 | £144 | £288 |
| Mid-range example | £264 | £168 | £432 |
| Higher-specification example | £690 | £288 | £978 |
These are not UK averages or fixed packages. They are illustrative calculations based on selected live products. Prices and stock can change, so check current listings before approving a project.
You can compare current options in our used office chairs range.
Two businesses with the same headcount can spend very different amounts on furniture. Before deciding whether a budget is high or low, look at what the office actually needs.
Headcount does not always equal desk count. A 50-person business may need 50 permanent desks, but a hybrid workplace could operate with fewer shared workstations.
Start with occupancy patterns, team schedules and how different departments work. Then decide how many fixed, shared and specialist workstations are required.
A standard desk can be one of the more economical parts of a workstation. Bench systems can also work well where teams need a consistent layout and multiple positions.
Sit-stand desks cost more because of their adjustable mechanisms and specification. On our current site, standard and bench desks include products in the £144 to £168 range, while selected electric sit-stand desks start at £288 including VAT and other models are higher.
Browse our used office desks to compare the different formats currently available.
The chair can change the workstation cost significantly. Entry-level refurbished task seating, adjustable ergonomic chairs and premium branded models sit at very different price points.
For employees spending much of the day seated, it often makes sense to prioritise chair quality rather than choosing solely on price. Consider adjustment, support, size, condition and suitability for the intended user.
The workstation is only part of the office. Depending on the layout, you may also need:
These shared items can be modest additions or major budget lines, particularly if enclosed acoustic spaces are part of the plan.
Rather than treating “office furniture” as one cost, it is more useful to break the project down by category.
Task-chair prices vary considerably according to manufacturer and specification. Our current stock includes large quantities of commercial chairs from manufacturers such as Steelcase, Knoll, Orangebox, HÅG, Herman Miller and others.
For budgeting purposes, think in terms of three broad choices:
The right choice depends on how the chairs will be used and the level of consistency required across the office.
Desks are usually easier to standardise than chairs. Single desks provide straightforward workstations, while bench desks can create consistency in larger open-plan areas.
Sit-stand desks need a larger allowance and can be introduced selectively where required.
For larger offices, check quantity as well as price. A desk may suit ten people but not a 50-person fit-out if matching stock is limited.
Storage is an area where businesses can often avoid overspending by looking carefully at actual requirements.
Our used office storage solutions include cupboards, tambours, lockers, pedestals and specialist filing products. At the time of checking, a Bisley desk-high double-door storage cupboard was listed at £132 including VAT, while other cupboards and specialist fireproof storage sat at different price points.
Instead of automatically giving every employee a pedestal, consider whether teams can share cupboards or use lockers. That can reduce both furniture expenditure and the amount of floor space used for storage.
Meeting rooms require a separate budget because both the table and seating need to be considered.
Our current conference room furniture stock includes conference chairs at several price levels. At the time of checking, selected Kinnarps conference chairs were listed at £48 including VAT, while other models were available at £72, £84, £96, £120 and above. Tables vary according to dimensions, manufacturer and format.
A small meeting room may therefore be relatively inexpensive to furnish if you choose simple stacking chairs and a practical table. A large boardroom with premium seating and a substantial conference table will require a much higher allowance.
Pods can transform the total furniture budget because they are a very different type of product from a desk or chair.
Our current used office pods range from simpler acoustic privacy products to enclosed single-user and multi-person booths costing several thousand pounds.
Budget pods as a separate workplace investment. Decide what they need to provide, such as private calls, focused work or small meetings, then select the size and specification accordingly.
The following figures show how quickly the workstation element of a project can change when the specification changes.
| Number of workstations | £288 example | £432 example | £978 example |
| 10 | £2,880 | £4,320 | £9,780 |
| 25 | £7,200 | £10,800 | £24,450 |
| 50 | £14,400 | £21,600 | £48,900 |
Again, these are illustrative calculations using the three example workstation combinations above. They do not include delivery, meeting areas, breakout furniture, pods or additional shared storage.
For ten workstations, decide whether everyone needs the same specification. A small business might use one chair and desk model throughout, then add a compact meeting area and shared cupboard.
Using our cost-conscious example, ten workstations would total £2,880 including VAT before shared furniture and delivery. A six-chair meeting area using chairs listed at £48 each would add £288 for the chairs, before the table is added.
At 25 people, layout efficiency and quantity become more important. Bench desks can simplify open-plan areas, while shared cupboards or lockers may replace individual storage.
Businesses can also mix specifications, using standard desks for most workstations and sit-stand desks where required.
With 50 workstations, small differences in unit price have a large effect. A £100 difference per workstation changes the furniture budget by £5,000.
Larger projects should therefore be planned around both price and stock depth. Matching quantities matter if you want a consistent look across departments or floors. Our guide to furnishing an office for 20 to 50 employees with refurbished furniture covers this type of planning in more detail.
Not necessarily. Standardising furniture can make purchasing, layout planning and future replacements simpler, but different roles may justify different solutions. A reception team, design department, touchdown area and executive office may not need identical desks or chairs.
The key is to avoid variation without a reason. Create a small number of approved workstation types, decide who needs each one, and cost those groups separately. This gives employees suitable furniture without turning the fit-out into dozens of individual purchasing decisions.
It also makes refurbished buying easier. If 40 matching chairs are available but you need 50 seats, you might use that model for one department and select another consistent model for the remaining team rather than forcing a mismatched order.
A furniture budget should not stop at the product subtotal.
Our product pages show prices including VAT. If your internal budget is normally managed excluding VAT, make sure you convert figures consistently when comparing options or preparing approval documents.
Delivery can affect the total, particularly on smaller purchases. Our current office furniture delivery information states that single-item purchases incur a standard one-off £65 delivery charge for mainland UK.
The standard £65 rate excludes the Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Scilly Isles and Scottish Islands. Northern Ireland and excluded areas can be quoted individually.
If you require more than two of a product, we ask customers to speak to us because a more economical quantity delivery solution may be available depending on the number required and the location.
Before ordering, consider practical access. Large tables, cupboards and pods need more planning than individual task chairs.
Check:
During a move or fit-out, furniture delivery may also need to align with contractors, IT installation and employee move dates.
Price matters, but comparisons should look at equivalent quality and specification. A refurbished ergonomic chair from a commercial manufacturer is not necessarily comparable with the cheapest new chair available online because mechanisms, materials and adjustment can differ.
At The Office Chair Man, our furniture is inspected and prepared for reuse. Every item we sell must pass a minimum 30-point quality checklist before sale. The process looks at areas such as structural condition, stability, adjustable elements and general condition.
You can read more about how refurbished office furniture is inspected and prepared for reuse.
In England, government policy places preparing for reuse above recycling in the waste hierarchy. Keeping suitable furniture in use for longer can therefore support resource-efficiency goals alongside budget control.
The most effective savings often come from planning rather than simply choosing the lowest-priced product.
Before purchasing, we recommend that you:
Our guide to cost-effective office refurbishments using pre-owned furniture provides more advice on reviewing what you already have and prioritising purchases.
We have over 25 years of experience supplying used and refurbished office furniture. Our current stock covers task chairs, desks, storage, conference furniture, collaborative seating and acoustic products from recognised commercial manufacturers.
For larger fit-outs, stock depth matters. Our live inventory includes some chair models in quantities well above 100 units, which can make it possible to furnish larger teams with matching seating when the required stock is available.
We also apply a minimum 30-point quality checklist to every item we sell. That combination of stock, established commercial brands and inspection allows customers to build a workplace around furniture that has been selected for continued professional use.
If you are at the early budgeting stage, our all used office furniture page is a useful place to see the breadth of stock currently available.
It can be, particularly when you compare refurbished commercial furniture with an equivalent new model or specification. The exact saving depends on the product, manufacturer, condition and current price, so compare like with like rather than assuming one percentage applies to every item.
There is no single reliable figure. A better method is to add the selected chair and desk cost for each workstation, then divide shared costs such as meeting rooms, storage and breakout furniture across the project.
Our current examples show workstation-only totals ranging from £288 to £978 including VAT depending on the products selected.
Our current product listings display prices including VAT. Always check the product page when preparing a live budget because prices and promotions may change.
Yes, where sufficient matching stock is available. Quantity is particularly important with refurbished furniture because inventory is stock-led. Confirm the required number before committing the wider office design to one model.
Our standard £65 charge covers mainland UK, subject to the exclusions listed in our delivery terms. Northern Ireland and excluded island locations can be handled on an individual quotation basis.
The cost of furnishing an office depends on what your workplace genuinely needs. Start with the number of workstations, choose the right chair and desk specification, then add meeting rooms, storage, breakout furniture, pods, delivery and any project-specific requirements.
Refurbished furniture gives businesses the flexibility to combine recognised commercial brands with a controlled budget, but the strongest plan is always based on current stock and a clear specification.
If you are planning an office move, refurbishment or larger fit-out, browse our current furniture range and build the budget around the quantities and products that suit your team.
