These complexes are owned unit by unit with everything else held in common, and that shapes a shopfront or partition fit-out more than the construction does. What you may change at your own frontage, and what belongs to the complex, is worth establishing before a design is drawn rather than after it is built.
Where your unit ends
In a complex like these the frontage line, the walkway in front of it and anything above the opening are usually common rather than yours.
So a frontage that projects past the line, a sign fixed above the opening, or a step built onto the walkway will attract objection even where nobody minds the shop itself.
We ask what neighbouring units have been allowed and design within it. Being asked to cut back a finished frontage is an expensive way of finding out where the line was.
Working in a building that trades around you
The complex stays open while your unit is fitted out, and the walkway outside your door is how everybody else's customers arrive.
So materials cannot be staged on it, waste cannot stand on it, and cutting cannot happen on it.
We bring the partition glass finished, carry it in one movement and keep the walkway clear. Where a job genuinely needs the frontage open for a period, we screen it properly rather than leaving an open unit facing the mall floor.
Making an older unit feel current
The bones of these units are usually fine and what dates them is the shopfront: heavy framing, small pane divisions and a deep recessed entrance.
Opening that up with larger glass and a slimmer frame changes how the unit reads without touching anything structural.
It is also usually within what the complex permits, because it does not project or alter the opening. So it is the cheapest substantial improvement available in these buildings, and it is what we would suggest first.
How the job works
- Tell us about the jobSend a few photos, rough sizes and what you need. Use WhatsApp or the form. For a repair, a short video of the door moving helps a lot.
- We call you back in about 2 minutesWe confirm what you need and a time to visit. Where we can, we give you a rough price on the call.
- We come and measureWe measure the opening and check the walls, floor and ceiling around it. Anything made to size is made to these measurements, so they must be right.
- You get a written priceIt lists each item, with GST as its own line. If anything about the job changes, we tell you before we go ahead.
- We fit itYou approve the price and pay the advance. Our own team fits the work, checks that every door and window opens and closes properly, and clears up. Most jobs are done in 3 to 4 days.
