READY TO OPEN
Your shop is your best advert
What does a commercial fit-out involve?
A commercial unit isn’t a home: here the work has to sell. The layout has to guide the customer, the shopfront has to stop whoever walks past, the lighting has to flatter the product, and all of it has to meet the accessibility rules and whatever activity licence applies to you. On top of that, the calendar rules: every week of work is rent paid without takings. That’s why a shop fit-out is planned the other way round from a home renovation: first the opening date, and from there, backwards, everything else.
Everything your business needs
What our commercial fit-out includes
From closing the old shutter to opening the new business, this is what we handle for you.
Strip-out and new layout
We clear the unit and create the layout that best guides the customer towards the product and the till.
Shopfront and façade
We renew the shopfront, signage and entrance, always checking what the rules and the building's residents allow.
Services
Electrics, lighting, plumbing and air conditioning suited to the activity and ready for the licence.
Lighting and brand identity
Light sells: we design the lighting and the finishes so the space speaks your brand's language.
Accessibility
Ramps, clear widths and an accessible WC as required: compulsory for the licence and good for business.
WCs and staff areas
We resolve the areas nobody sees but the rules demand: WCs, stockroom and staff space.
Stay open during the work, or close?
If your unit is already trading, this is the big decision. Neither option is better in the abstract: it depends on your business, the scale of the work and your season.
The work is organised around the business.
- How it's doneArea by area, outside opening hours or at quieter times.
- TakingsUninterrupted: the business stays open.
- Overall timescaleLonger, because the work advances in stages.
- DisruptionControlled, but customers live alongside an area under work.
- When it suitsBusinesses that can't afford weeks without income.
Continuous work and an opening with everything new.
- How it's doneContinuously, with every trade coordinated at once.
- TakingsPaused, but the reopening is an event.
- Overall timescaleThe shortest possible: no putting up and taking down protection.
- DisruptionNone for the customer: it reopens with a fresh look.
- When it suitsDeep refits or the business's quiet season.
Not sure which fits your case? We'll visit the space, listen to how your business runs and tell you straight, at no obligation.
Before touching the façade, ask
Licences and the façade: what you need to know
Two warnings that save a lot of grief. The first: altering the façade or the shopfront of a unit isn’t always yours to decide; the façade is usually a communal element of the building and may need the residents’ association’s permission as well as the council licence. The second: building work and trading are separate licences, and it pays to plan them together so you don’t end up with the unit finished and shut, waiting on paperwork. On the visit we’ll point you towards what your case needs and in what order to move it, so the red tape doesn’t eat your opening date.
A quote made for you
How much does a commercial fit-out cost?
The price moves with the starting point and the activity. This is what matters most:
That’s why we don’t publish fixed rates: every business is different and we’d rather see the space before giving a figure. Write or call us and we’ll arrange a no-obligation visit, with a detailed quote broken down line by line, free of charge.
How we handle commercial units
A shop fit-out is planned backwards from the opening date. This is how we work.
Visit and survey of the unit
We measure, check the services and listen to how your business runs (or will run). No obligation and no cost.
Design, licences and quote
We design the layout and the look, point you in the right direction on licences, and you get a fixed quote with an opening schedule.
Coordinated work
Every trade in the right order, in phases or continuously as agreed, with the opening date as the priority.
Handed over ready to open
We go through every detail with you, finish off and hand you the unit ready to take customers from day one.
Commercial units: before and after
This is what the change looks like on a commercial fit-out. These examples show the kind of result we achieve; once we have photos of your own projects, we’ll add them here.
Frequently asked questions about commercial fit-outs
Here are the questions we get asked most in this sector. If you still have one, write to us and we’ll help, at no obligation.
It depends on the state of the unit, the floor area, the activity and the level of finish, so the same area can produce very different quotes. We don’t publish fixed rates: we look at your unit on a no-obligation visit and give you a detailed quote, broken down line by line.
Floor area is only one of the factors: a 100 m² shell unit for a clinic has nothing in common with the same metres for a shop where the existing services can be kept. That’s why we’d rather measure and hear about your project before giving a figure; the visit and the quote cost you nothing.
With permission, yes; on your own initiative, no. The façade is usually a communal element of the building, so as well as the council licence you may need the residents’ association’s authorisation. Before designing the shopfront we’ll point you towards what your case allows, so you don’t design something that then can’t be built.
As a general rule, the building licence for the work and the activity licence or responsible declaration to open, which depend on the municipality and the type of business. They’re separate procedures and it pays to run them in parallel; we’ll point you towards the right order so the paperwork doesn’t delay the opening.
A facelift is done in two or three weeks; a complete fit-out with a new layout and services usually runs between one and three months depending on the area and the activity. In the quote we give you a schedule with an opening date and work backwards from it.
Yes. When the business can’t close we organise the work in phases and outside opening hours, timing the most disruptive jobs (demolition, cutting off supplies) for when there’s no trading. We plan it with you around how your unit runs.
Both: our interior design team plans the layout, the lighting and the finishes with your brand in mind, and the same team carries out the work. One point of contact from the drawing to the opening.
We fit out shops, clinics, hair salons, training centres, street-level offices and all kinds of retail. If your activity has special requirements (health, acoustic, ventilation), we build them into the design from the start.