Shop fit-out electricians who work to the builder's programme

Get the sparky in before the walls are lined. That one decision usually settles whether a fit-out runs to programme or blows out. Once we have seen the layout, the rough-in goes where the joinery and the equipment actually land, and fit-off week is fast. Bring us in after the shopfitter has closed everything up and we are chasing walls and running surface conduit you did not want. All the while you are paying rent on a shop that is not open.

BH has been wiring shops, cafes, bars, restaurants and resort refurbs around Port Douglas since 2007, and since 2020 alone we have done 8,998 jobs of every kind in Port Douglas, across 1,028 separate customers. The Court House Hotel and Central Plaza are both on the books, along with several of the other Macrossan Street venues and refurbishment work at two of the beachfront resorts. It matters on a fit-out, because we already know the buildings, the switchboards and what is sitting above the ceiling.

What a fit-out actually involves

Rough-in first. Cabling, points, circuits sized to the equipment schedule, data and Cat6 for the POS and Wi-Fi, and whatever the switchboard needs to carry the new load. Then the other trades cycle through and we come back for fit-off: light fittings, power points, exhaust and extraction, cool room and equipment connections, illuminated signage, exit and emergency lighting. On completion we issue a Certificate of Testing and Compliance for the installation work as the licensed electrical contractor. Your certifier, landlord and insurer will all want to see it.

The volume behind that: since 2020 we have logged 6,465 lighting jobs, 2,376 data and Cat6 cabling jobs, 1,957 power point jobs, 1,701 kitchen jobs, 1,006 switchboard jobs and 680 illuminated signage jobs. Commercial kitchens and bars are the ones people underestimate. The equipment schedule lands late and it is nearly always heavier than the original plan. We will tell you early if the existing board or supply will not carry it, because that is the change that moves a handover date.

Fit-outs up here are not fit-outs down south

Salt air is the real difference. A shopfront on Macrossan Street with the doors folded open is a coastal installation, and ordinary fittings and enclosures will corrode. We specify accordingly, particularly for exterior lighting, signage and anything on a deck or in a courtyard. Ants and geckos in outdoor enclosures are the other local one. They cause a lot of faults up here, so sealing outdoor gear properly during the fit-out saves you callouts later.

Then there is timing. Everyone wants to be trading before the dry season, which pushes fit-out work into the wet, when deliveries out of Cairns and site access both get tight. We factor that in when we tell you what is achievable, rather than discovering it in February.

Working to the builder's programme

We work to your programme, not ours. Four electricians and two apprentices means we can put more than one body on site when the programme compresses. We coordinate directly with the shopfitter, the plumber, the refrigeration crew and the air conditioning installer. Commercial customers get our Same Day Service Guarantee (ring by 2pm on a business day and we attend that day), which earns its keep in the last fortnight when a small thing is holding up a handover. Variations get priced and confirmed in writing before we do them, so the final invoice holds no surprises.

Send us the plans and the equipment list. Even a draft schedule is enough for us to tell you whether the supply and switchboard are adequate, and that is the answer most people need first.

Source: WorkSafe Queensland, issuing certificates of compliance.