For design-build firms in the office sector, this is a signal that the market is opening up to a new test for model. Flexible lease structures and ready-to-build asset configurations are changing how office build outs are scoped, priced, and delivered.
Newton Offices is a prime example. By shifting their commercial model to support faster tenant onboarding, they’re not just offering space—they’re creating a plug-and-play framework that invites rapid design-build collaboration. Explore their approach here.
For design-build firms, this means opportunity—specifically, to step into pre-lease discussions armed with build-out-ready assets and win projects earlier in the leasing funnel. But there’s a catch: traditional architectural workflows simply don’t move fast enough.
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Why Speed and Scalability Are Your New Differentiators
Design-build teams are stuck in a paradox. You’re asked to provide rapid, customized proposals to win deals—but the architectural process to get there is slow, expensive, and speculative. Most early-stage planning still relies on AutoCAD workflows, where spatial validation happens one line at a time. That might work for one-off boutique projects, but it’s structurally incompatible with high-volume, multi-location tenants.
The firms winning in this environment aren’t the fastest drafters—they’re the ones who’ve rethought the planning stack entirely.
Enter qbiq: From Bottleneck to Build-Ready in 24 Hours
qbiq’s AI-powered planning engine was built for this exact tension. It enables design-build companies to generate test fits, 3D walkthroughs, and code-compliant layout alternatives in under 24 hours. This isn’t concept art—it’s buildable data, delivered with quantity takeoffs and multiple fit-out options that match tenant requirements to the square foot.
Newton Offices use qbiq to scale planning across multiple sites and present tenants with build-ready layouts that shortened negotiation cycles and improved occupancy rates. You can see the floor plans created with qbiq for Newton here (PDF).
For design-build firms, this unlocks a new role: instead of waiting for lease agreements to finalize before engaging, you become a proactive player in space configuration. That means more volume, earlier client touchpoints, and lower per-project planning costs.
In one case, Contract Workplaces used qbiq to visualize and develop an entire plug-and-play office in record time, enabling the landlord to lease out the space quickly with full build confidence.
Strategic Advantage: Reclaiming Margins in the Planning Phase
If you’ve ever lost margin to unpaid test fits or redline revisions, qbiq turns that cost center into a margin-positive capability. You can scale preliminary planning without scaling your headcount—freeing your architectural team to focus on materiality, brand, and execution.
It also reduces risk. Early-stage quantity takeoffs generated by qbiq give GCs and clients cost visibility far earlier in the cycle.
The market is already moving. The design-build firms that adopt generative architectural planning tools now will be the ones shaping the next decade of office build out.
qbiq.ai Ltd operates as a software company. The Company develops proprietary architecture AI engine that utilizes deep-learning technology for generative design, image processing, and 3D solutions to automate and optimize architectural services for the real estate market. qbiq serves customers around the world.
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