An office or shop remodel differs from a flat renovation in one main respect: there is almost always a hard deadline. A lease begins, an opening has been advertised, a team has to be able to move in on a particular day. The process has to fit around that date — not the other way round.
Typical process
It starts with a survey of the existing situation: what is there in terms of partition walls, electrics, lighting and floor coverings, what has to go and what stays? Next comes the outline planning of the trades — for a tenant fit-out, these are usually drywall for new partition walls, electrical work for lighting and connections, and painting for the interior finish, supplemented by floor coverings depending on the property. With us, these trades are run by one site management team, so that, for example, the electrical cables are fully installed before the drywall partitions are closed — a sequence that, in our experience, often gets mixed up on sites where several independent tradespeople have to be coordinated.
Schedule certainty while business continues
Many commercial remodels take place outside business hours or in premises that have not yet opened. Both allow faster work than in an occupied flat, but they call for clear arrangements with the landlord, neighbouring tenants and, where applicable, the building's management regarding noise, deliveries and access. We record a fixed opening date in the contract; we report delays with materials or preceding trades as soon as they become apparent, rather than just before the deadline.
Cost control for GCs and property managers
For general contractors and property managers who look after several properties at once, one thing matters above all: an invoice that matches the quote. Our quotes are broken down by item (trade, quantity, rate); change orders arise only from actual changes to the original situation and are confirmed in writing before the work is carried out — not only on the final invoice. Where there is recurring demand across several locations, we bundle rates in a framework agreement, which simplifies costing for future properties.
What you need for a first estimate
Because office space, standard of finish and technical requirements (fire protection, ventilation, electrical capacity) vary widely from property to property, we do not give a flat per-square-metre figure for commercial remodels, but a figure after a site visit — within 48 hours of walking through the premises.