Commercial Installation
Offices, shops, medical suites, hospitality and light industrial across Geelong and the Bellarine. Mechanical and electrical from one contractor.
- Small to medium commercial
- Out of hours work available
- Master Electrician and ARC accredited
- One contractor, one set of certificates
Commercial work, sized to what we do well
Our commercial division installs and replaces air conditioning in small to medium commercial buildings around Geelong. That covers a lot of ground: a shop fit out on Pakington Street, a medical suite in Belmont, an office in the CBD, a childcare centre in Armstrong Creek, or packaged units on a warehouse in Breakwater.
What makes commercial different from residential is not the equipment, it is everything around it. Trading hours, staged handovers, other trades on site, building manager approvals, and the fact that a shop with no cooling in January is losing money every hour.
Retail and hospitality
Fit outs and replacements worked around trading. Kitchen and dining spaces have very different loads and both need to be right.
Offices and medical suites
Zoning that matches how the tenancy is actually used, and equipment quiet enough for consulting rooms.
Childcare and community
Compliance, noise, and controls that staff can operate without a manual. Scheduled outside operating hours where required.
Warehouse and light industrial
Packaged units and high level cassettes where the volume is large and the insulation is not. Sized honestly for the building fabric.
Breakdown response
Trading sites are prioritised over residential work. Ring the office rather than emailing, and tell us whether the site is still open.
What commercial clients actually need
The equipment decision is usually the simplest part of a commercial job. These are the four things that decide whether it goes well.
A program you can plan around
Dates for rough in, fit off and commissioning, given up front and updated if they move. Not a crew turning up when there is a gap.
Work timed around trading
After hours and overnight where the site needs it. We quote both so you can compare the labour premium against lost trading.
Coordination with other trades
On a fit out we work to the builder’s or shopfitter’s program and flag clashes with the ceiling grid, lighting and sprinklers before they become rework.
Electrical under the same contract
Switchboards, sub circuits, control cabling and the mechanical services all from us, so there is nobody to coordinate between.
How a commercial job runs
1. Site meeting
Use of the space, occupancy, trading hours, existing plant and electrical capacity. On a fit out, a look at the drawings and the program.
2. Design or tender response
Load calculations and an equipment schedule, or a priced response to the consultant’s specification.
3. Program and scheduling
Confirmed dates for each stage, with out of hours work priced separately where it applies.
4. Install, commission, hand over
Commissioning data recorded, controls set up with your staff, certificates issued, and a maintenance schedule proposed.
Fit out, replacement or plant failure?
Commercial work is time sensitive. Ring the office and we will get someone to site rather than putting you in a queue.
What commercial work costs
Commercial jobs vary far more than residential, so these are ranges for scoping a budget rather than anything resembling a quote.
Single cassette, small tenancy
$4,500 to $9,000
Small shop or office fit out
$12,000 to $30,000
Medical or childcare suite
$25,000 to $70,000
Packaged unit replacement
$15,000 to $45,000
Out of hours labour premium
typically 30% to 60%
Scheduled maintenance, per site
priced on schedule
Indicative only and current at the time of writing. Commercial activities exist under the Victorian Energy Upgrades program with their own equipment lists and evidence requirements. Whether a specific job qualifies depends on the equipment being replaced and the current program rules, which we check before quoting.
The commercial variables
Building fabric
A 1970s brick shop with single glazing and no roof insulation needs far more capacity than a modern tenancy of the same floor area. This is the biggest single input.
Electrical capacity
Three phase supply, spare capacity in the board and the distance from the board to the plant. On older buildings this is regularly the largest unplanned cost.
Access and craning
Rooftop plant, restricted street access and after hours crane bookings all add cost and need to be planned rather than discovered.
Trading hours
Working after close protects your revenue and raises the labour cost. We price both so the decision is yours with the numbers in front of you.
Where we work
Commercial work runs across Geelong, the Bellarine and the Surf Coast, including the CBD, the industrial areas around Breakwater and North Geelong, and the retail strips through Pakington Street, Belmont and the coastal towns.
Sites outside the main service area are considered on the scope and the program.
Where we work
- Geelong CBD and Geelong West
- Belmont and Grovedale
- Corio and Lara
- Ocean Grove and Torquay
- Armstrong Creek and Waurn Ponds
Commercial questions
Commercial enquiries are best handled by phone in the first instance. Tell us the building and the timeframe.
Related divisions: servicing and maintenance and residential installation.
What size commercial jobs do you take on?
Small to medium commercial: offices, shops, medical suites, hospitality venues, childcare, community buildings, warehouses and light industrial. That is where we are genuinely good. Very large plant rooms and high rise are not our division and we will say so rather than take a job we are not the right fit for.
Can you work outside business hours?
Yes, and for a lot of commercial sites it is the only sensible way. Retail and hospitality fit outs are commonly done after close or overnight. It costs more in labour and it costs less in lost trading, and that trade off is usually easy to work out.
Do you handle the electrical and the mechanical together?
Yes. We hold ARC accreditation, Accredited Master Electrician status, Energy Safe Victoria registration and ACRS Master Cabler accreditation. On a commercial fit out that means the refrigeration, the electrical, the switchboard work and the control cabling come from one contractor with one set of certificates.
Can you work to a consultant’s specification?
Yes. We install to specification and drawings where a consultant or architect is engaged, and we will raise buildability issues early rather than during commissioning. Where there is no specification we can design the system ourselves from the use of the space and the building fabric.
Do you offer maintenance after installation?
Yes, through our servicing division, and for commercial sites we recommend it. Equipment that runs long hours in a shop or kitchen environment fails earlier without scheduled attention, and most commercial warranties assume the equipment is being maintained.
How quickly can you respond to a commercial breakdown?
Same day where we can, and we prioritise trading sites over residential work for exactly that reason. Ring rather than email. Tell us the equipment type, roughly how old it is and whether the site is still trading, and we will tell you honestly when someone can be there rather than promising an hour we cannot meet.
Enquire about a commercial job
Tell us the type of building, the approximate floor area, the trading hours and the timeframe. Drawings or a specification if you have them.
We will come to site. Commercial jobs are not quoted from a floor area over the phone.
If plant has failed and the site is trading, ring rather than send this. We prioritise commercial breakdowns.
Phone (03) 5214 8711
Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm. Weekends by appointment.
Air Conditioning Geelong
Unit 2, 112 Balliang Street
South Geelong VIC 3220