Office and retail fitouts across south-east Melbourne and the CBD
The joinery is ordered, the opening date is set, and the electrical is the trade everyone assumes will fit around the others. It usually can, provided somebody checked the supply before the lease was signed.
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The lease is signed and the equipment list is longer than the supply
Fitout electrical is usually straightforward work on an unforgiving programme. What goes wrong is sequence, not wiring.
- A new tenancy that has never been provisioned for the equipment you intend to run.
- A cafe or kitchen going into a space that used to be retail.
- A fitout programme with a fixed opening date and no electrical scope yet.
- Data, power and lighting all needed and being coordinated by three different people.
- A make-good obligation at the end of a lease that nobody has priced.
- A landlord's base building supply that has never been tested against the tenancy load.
- Equipment specifications that arrived after the layout was locked in.
- A previous fitout left in place that needs stripping before anything else happens.
What a fitout actually covers
Scope depends entirely on what the tenancy already has. We assess that against your equipment schedule before quoting anything.
- Supply and capacity checked first, before the programme depends on it.
- Full tenancy electrical: power, lighting, data pathways and mechanical connections.
- Coordination with the builder, the joiner and the mechanical contractor to a programme.
- Distribution boards, sub-circuits and isolation designed for the equipment schedule.
- Emergency and exit lighting to suit the new layout, not the previous one.
- Three phase supplies for kitchen and plant equipment.
- Strip-out and make-good at end of lease, to the landlord's requirements.
- Testing, certification and a circuit schedule handed over at completion.
About Office and retail fitouts
The electrical decides whether the space works
By the time most tenants call an electrician, the lease is signed and the joinery is ordered. The question that should have been asked first is whether the tenancy can actually carry the equipment going into it.
A cafe moving into a space that used to be a clothing shop brings a three group coffee machine, a dishwasher and refrigeration into a tenancy provisioned for a till and some downlights. That is a supply problem, not a wiring problem, and it is far cheaper to discover before the lease than after.
Sequencing is the real risk
The electrical work on a fitout is rarely difficult. What causes delay is sequence. Rough in has to happen before linings go up, and the equipment schedule has to be settled before rough in. When either slips, the cost is not our labour, it is your opening date.
Give us the programme early and we will tell you where it is going to bind. We would rather have that conversation in week one than in the final fortnight.
What the scope usually covers
- Supply and capacity assessment against the equipment schedule.
- Distribution boards, sub circuits and isolation for plant and kitchen equipment.
- Power, lighting and data pathways coordinated with the builder and the joiner.
- Emergency and exit lighting to suit the new layout rather than the previous one.
- Three phase supplies where kitchen or plant equipment requires them.
- Testing, certification and a circuit schedule handed over at completion.
Make good at the end of the lease
Most leases require the tenancy to be returned to base building condition, which means stripping out the electrical work that was installed for you. It is worth pricing at the start rather than discovering it in the final month, because it is a real cost and it is almost always forgotten in the original budget.
Working with your other trades
We install pathways and coordinate with your data contractor rather than claiming registered cabling work we do not hold the registration for. Where the mechanical contractor needs connections for plant, we coordinate that directly rather than through you.
We quote the job in front of us
No rate card, because the honest number depends on things nobody can see from a website. Estimates are free.
03 9889 3341Not urgent? Send the details and we will come back to you within one business day.
Standards this work is held to
Fitouts are wired and tested to AS/NZS 3000 and coordinated with the National Construction Code requirements for the space. Emergency and exit lighting has to follow the new egress paths under AS 2293.1, which is the item most often missed when a layout changes.
The commercial risk on a fitout is almost never the electrical work itself. It is sequencing. Electrical rough-in has to happen before linings go up, and equipment specifications have to be settled before rough-in. Where those slip, the cost is not our labour, it is your opening date. We will tell you early when the programme is not going to work.
How long it takes
- Pre-lease capacity check
- A short visit, and the cheapest hour you will spend on the project.
- Quote
- Three to five business days from a drawing and an equipment schedule.
- Rough-in
- Coordinated to the builder's programme, before linings.
- Fit-off and handover
- In the final week, with testing, certification and a circuit schedule.
Rated 5.0 across 216 Google reviews
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Symon did a brilliant job replacing my bathroom fan. He quoted me $700 when another company quoted me over $2k for the same job! Symon was easy to communicate with, performed the job quickly and tidied up after himself. Would…
Aretha Peethamparam, Google review -
We recommend Simon unreservedly. Tired of overpriced superficial service and competency? Don’t look any further than Simon @ STL Electrical. And to boot, he’s a good guy. Simon will now be our go-to sparky.
Nigel Bird, Google review -
Highly recommend Simon and STL Electrical. One of our mains tripped during a freak thunderstorm resulting in no power to part of our kitchen (incl fridge) and internet. Simon was a lifesaver and kind enough to respond to an after…
Nat Chen, Google review
Office and retail fitouts questions we get asked
When should we involve an electrician?
Before the lease is signed, if possible. The supply question decides whether the space works at all, and it is far cheaper to answer then than after the joinery is ordered.
Can you work to our builder's programme?
Yes, and we would rather see it early. Rough-in has a fixed place in the sequence and the whole programme moves if it slips.
What happens at the end of the lease?
Make-good, which usually means stripping the tenancy work and returning the space to base building condition. Worth pricing at the start rather than discovering in the last month.
Do you do the data cabling too?
We install pathways and coordinate with your data contractor. Registered cabling work is a separate registration and we will tell you plainly where that line sits.
What if the equipment list changes mid-project?
It usually does. Tell us as soon as it happens. A change before rough-in is minor, and the same change after linings go up is expensive.
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Talk to an electrician now
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03 9889 3341Not urgent? Send the details and we will come back to you within one business day.