Furnish your Tulum condo before the keys arrive.
A new condo can take its first guest the day it is ready, not the day it is handed over. We plan the furnishing backward from your possession date, so the design is signed, the orders are placed and the install window is booked before you collect the keys.
Why furnish a condo before possession
Most owners think about furnishing after they have the keys. By then the schedule is already behind.
A condo in a new building has two dates. The first is possession, when the developer hands the unit over. The second is the day it can take a guest. Everything between them is time the unit cannot be booked, and most of it is waiting: for pieces to be made, for imports to clear, for the building to offer a delivery slot.
Almost none of that work needs the keys. A floor plan is enough to design from, and orders can be placed against it. This holds for a presale or pre-construction purchase as much as for a unit that is already built. Only measuring, the punch list and the install have to wait for access. So the plan runs the other way. You choose the date you want guests, and we count back from it.
A pre-delivery furnishing schedule, counted backward
A worked example. A two-bedroom condo, possession in the last week of October, guest-ready by mid-December. That is about eleven weeks from design sign-off to the first available night, with roughly seven of them after the keys. Your dates will differ. The order of the stages will not.
- 01.
Design sign-off
11 to 9 weeks before guest-readyWe work from the developer's floor plan and unit specification. You receive a specification book, every item and every price, and approve it line by line. This stage sets the whole date. A sign-off that slips two weeks moves guest-ready by two weeks.
- 02.
Ordering
9 to 3 weeks beforeWorkshops receive their orders, trade pieces are bought, and anything imported goes to the customs broker as a single shipment. Soft goods, kitchenware and lighting are bought in the same stretch. Everything is delivered to our team and held for the install.
- 03.
Possession and measure
About 7 weeks beforeThe keys arrive. We measure on site, walk the unit for defects, and book the delivery window with the administración. Defects go on a punch list now, so they are fixed before the install and not found during it.
- 04.
Installation
3 to 1 weeks beforeOne window and one crew. Furniture is built and placed, beds are made, kitchens are stocked and art is hung.
- 05.
Photography and listing
The final weekThe unit is photographed once it is finished and not before. The listing is published and the calendar opened.
These dates are an example, not a promise. Custom commissions run longer. Imports clear on customs' schedule, not ours, and a developer's delivery date can move. Working backward means that when a date moves, we can see which stage it moves and tell you the same week.
What does not need the keys
Design, specification and approval all run from the floor plan. So does sourcing. The regional workshops that build beds, tables and casework need lead time that has nothing to do with the building. Imported pieces can be ordered and cleared while the unit is still a shell. For the full scope of what is ordered, see our Tulum furniture packages, and for a larger brief, Tulum interior design.
The listing can be prepared in parallel. Description, house rules and channel setup are written while the furniture is being built, which is why the listing can go live the week the photographs are ready and not three weeks later.
Building paperwork belongs here too. Buildings set delivery windows, elevator rules and contractor requirements, and the administración needs notice. We contact them before possession, not after, because the first available slot can be weeks out.
What has to wait for possession
Field measurements wait for access. Anything that depends on an exact opening, such as curtains, built-in casework and fitted pieces, is confirmed at possession and produced after it. This is the one place the schedule can pinch, which is why those items are scoped early and ordered last.
The punch list waits for access too. New units often arrive with small defects: a door that binds, a cracked tile, an outlet that does not work. Those are for the developer to fix, and they should be fixed before furniture goes in. We record them on the first walkthrough and send you the list so you can raise it with the developer.
Installation and photography wait for the unit to be finished. Neither can start earlier.
What moves the date
Three things. The first is sign-off. Everything downstream is scheduled from the day you approve the specification book, so the fastest thing an owner can do for the date is decide.
The second is the building. A delivery date that moves, a delivery window that is booked solid, or a defect that stops the install will push the finish. We cannot control any of them. We can know about them early.
The third is imports. A unit furnished from regional workshops and local stock has the shortest and most predictable schedule. A unit that needs trade pieces from abroad takes longer, and customs clearance runs on its own clock. Before you approve the specification we tell you which pieces carry that risk, so you can choose between the piece and the date.
What we need from you
Four things start the work: the developer's floor plan, the unit specification or finishes list if the developer has issued one, your possession date, and the date you want guests. If the building has published rules for deliveries and contractors, send those too. If the unit is a lock-off, say so. Everything else we can find out.
You do not need to have decided on a style. The specification book is where that gets decided, and nothing is bought until you approve it.
Pre-delivery furnishing in Tulum and Playa del Carmen
A one- or two-bedroom condo is furnished as a single package. A lock-off unit, which divides into two parts that can be rented separately, is furnished and equipped as two rentable units, so either side can be booked on its own.
Most of this work is in Aldea Zamá, La Veleta and Region 15, where new buildings deliver on a developer's schedule. In a building, every owner shares one layout, so the finish is what separates one unit from the next. The same sequence applies to the Bahía Príncipe residences at Tulum Country Club, which are delivered empty. We also furnish condos in Playa del Carmen with the same team and suppliers, and with drive time built into the schedule: see furnishing in Playa del Carmen.
Furnishing a condo from abroad
Most of our owners live outside Mexico. We run the walkthrough by video and you sign off on the specification from wherever you are. Our team is at the building for every delivery. At possession you receive a walkthrough video and the punch list, and during the install you receive progress photographs. Many owners first see the finished unit in the handover photography. If you are weighing a purchase from outside the country, our guide for American and Canadian owners in Tulum covers the rest of it.
What you receive at handover
A furnished, photographed and documented unit. That means furniture for every room, kitchen and glassware for a full house, three sets of linens per bed, art and styling, and a first-turnover supply. You also receive a written inventory with sources for replacements, a turnover styling guide, and the listing photography done to the standard we describe in that guide. Our note on what actually books explains why the photographs come last and carry so much weight, and our Airbnb styling package covers units that arrive furnished but unfinished.
If you want the unit operated afterward, Virestia offers Tulum property management, including maintenance. If you do not, the furnishing stands alone.
Before you send the floor plan.
Can I furnish a condo before I have possession?
Yes. Design, specification and ordering all run from the developer's floor plan, so most of the work is finished before the keys arrive. That includes presale and pre-construction purchases. Only measuring, the punch list, installation and photography need access to the unit. Starting early means the clock does not start at the keys.
How long does it take to furnish a condo after possession?
About seven weeks from the keys to guest-ready, when the design is signed and the orders are placed beforehand. Started from the walkthrough, the same job takes eight to fourteen weeks, with custom commissions and imports toward the longer end. The difference is the work done before the keys arrive.
When should I start if I want guests soon after possession?
Count back about eleven weeks from the date you want guests, and sign the design at that point. A unit furnished from regional workshops and local stock holds that schedule best. Imported pieces and custom commissions need more time, and we tell you which pieces carry that risk before you approve the specification.
What if the developer delivers late?
The schedule moves with it, and we tell you which stage it moves. Orders already placed are delivered to our team and held until the install window, so a late key delays the install and nothing else. Design and ordering are not lost. We re-book the building's delivery window as soon as the new date is confirmed.
Do I need to be in Tulum for possession?
No. Most of our owners live abroad. We attend the building, measure the unit, walk it for defects and send you a video and a written punch list to raise with the developer. You approve a written specification, and you see the finished unit in the handover photography.
My developer offers a furniture package. Do I still need you?
Possibly. Send us the developer's inventory list and the floor plan, and we will tell you what it covers and what the unit still needs to take guests, such as linens, kitchenware, outdoor furniture, styling and photography. You can build on the developer's package or furnish independently. Either way, you decide with the full list in front of you. If you are still weighing the package, what to ask before you accept it is set out in our guide.
How much does it cost to furnish a condo before possession?
We quote a single fixed figure after reviewing the floor plan, against a specification book you approve line by line before anything is bought. We do not publish rates, because the finish level and how much is commissioned change the figure far more than the size of the unit does. Nothing is added to the figure after you approve it.
Can you furnish a condo you will not manage?
Yes. Furnishing is a standalone service, and you can hire us purely to furnish and photograph the unit. If you want the unit managed afterward, that is a separate decision you can make later. Either way, the specification and the handover documents are yours.
Send the floor plan.
Share the building, the unit type and your possession date. We come back with a specification, a schedule counted backward from the day you want guests, and a single figure, at no cost. If the date cannot be met, we say so before you commit to anything.