A commercial electrical fitout is the electrical half of turning a bare or vacated tenancy into a working space. It covers the strip-out of the old installation, the distribution board and submains, the lighting, the power to every desk, counter, and appliance, the data cabling, and the testing and certification the fitout has to have before anyone moves in. The Conduction Company does that work across Auckland for tenants, landlords, and fitout main contractors, on office, retail, and shopfront tenancies. Most fitouts run to a fixed programme, so The Conduction Company prices off the fitout drawings and works to the main contractor's dates.
The electrical is on the critical path, and it is usually the last thing priced
On a commercial fit out the ceiling has to close before the joinery goes in, and nothing goes above the ceiling until the electrical rough-in is done. So the electrical sits early on the programme and late in the pricing, which is where fitouts come unstuck: the drawings show light fittings and not circuits, the tenant changes the layout after the grid is set out, and the existing board turns out to have no spare ways.
The Conduction Company prices commercial fitouts off the drawings and walks the tenancy first, because the two things that move a fitout price are what is already in the ceiling and what the existing distribution board can carry. Both are answerable in one site visit, and neither is answerable from a plan.
What a commercial electrical fitout covers
The Conduction Company's fitout scope on an Auckland tenancy normally runs to:
- strip-out of the redundant installation, safely isolated and certified
- the distribution board, submains, and any switchboard alteration the new load needs
- general lighting, feature and display lighting, and emergency lighting
- power to desks, counters, kitchens, plant, and signage
- data cabling reticulation and the patch panel at the rack
- access control and door hardware wiring
- mechanical services connections, so HVAC and extraction come alive with the rest
- testing, certification, and labelling of the finished installation
Commercial tenancy fitouts and strip-outs
A tenancy fitout starts with what the last tenant left. The Conduction Company isolates and strips out the redundant cabling, fittings, and boards, so the new installation is not built on top of somebody else's undocumented one. That matters more than it sounds: a fitout that reuses unlabelled existing circuits is a fitout nobody can safely alter later.
The load is the next question. AS/NZS 3000:2018 requires at clause 1.6.3 that “Consumer mains, submains and other electrical equipment of an electrical installation shall be designed and installed to meet the maximum demand”, so The Conduction Company works out what the new tenancy will actually draw before deciding whether the existing board will do. A tenancy going from a quiet office to a food operation, or picking up a server room and a heat pump, is a different installation, not the same one with more sockets.
At the end of a lease the job runs in reverse. The Conduction Company does make-good work too, taking the tenancy back to the condition the lease requires and certifying it.
Shop and retail fitouts
Retail is a fitout with a hard opening date and a lot of lighting. The Conduction Company works on shop and shopfront fitouts across Auckland: shopfront and sign lighting, track and display lighting over the merchandise, the counter and POS power, the back-of-house and stockroom, and the security and access control installation.
One requirement catches retail specifically. In New Zealand, AS/NZS 3000:2018 clause 2.6.3.3.2 requires that “Socket-outlets with a rating not exceeding 30 A, and supplies to directly connected hand-held equipment” installed in outdoor locations, and in locations that have easy or unsupervised public access, be protected by RCDs with a maximum rated residual current of 30 mA. A shop floor is exactly the kind of space that raises the question, and The Conduction Company settles it at design rather than at the final inspection.
Data cabling on a fitout
The Conduction Company runs the ethernet and fibre cabling on commercial fitouts, and is a Dynamix Structured Cabling Installer. On a larger commercial site where the client has a dedicated IT provider and their own network server, The Conduction Company runs the ethernet cabling reticulation to the positions and the patch panel at the rack, with every run labelled in the field and at the rack. The client's IT provider supplies the racking hardware, access points, routers, and switches, patches the runs in, and sets up the network.
On smaller commercial tenancies The Conduction Company does the full job, cabling through to access points, mesh wifi, and basic networking.
Commercial cabling is priced per job rather than per point, because the two things that decide it are how many cables run where, and how the building is built. A floating ceiling grid is straightforward, so panels lift, a catenary wire goes in, and the runs spread out. A fixed ceiling or a tenancy with restricted access adds real labour.
Working around a live building
Most Auckland fitouts happen in a building that is still trading. The Conduction Company works nights and weekends where a tenancy sits above, below, or beside an operating business, and coordinates isolations with the building manager rather than surprising them. The Conduction Company is a SiteSafe member and a Master Electricians member (24293), and works to the main contractor's site rules as a subtrade like any other.
How The Conduction Company runs a commercial job
Stage 1. Drawings, site visit, and a fixed price
The Conduction Company prices the fitout off the drawings and then walks the tenancy, because the existing ceiling and the existing distribution board decide most of the number. You get a fixed price broken into job sections, not a rate and a shrug.
Stage 2. Strip-out and rough-in, before the ceiling closes
The Conduction Company isolates and strips out the redundant installation, then runs the submains, circuits, data cabling, and lighting positions above the ceiling and through the walls. This is the stage the programme is built around, so it gets done to the main contractor's dates.
Stage 3. Fit-off, testing, certification, and handover
Fittings, switchgear, outlets, and access control go in, the board is labelled, and The Conduction Company tests, certifies, and hands over the installation with its documentation. Jordan Statham, who owns the company, is a registered Electrical Inspector (I 272615), so the certification does not wait on a third party.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does “commercial fitout” mean?
A commercial fitout is the work that turns a bare or vacated commercial space into one a business can trade from. The base build gives you the shell, the structure, the services to the boundary of the tenancy, and often a bare ceiling grid. The fitout is everything after that: partitions, ceilings, joinery, floor coverings, mechanical services, and the electrical installation. The Conduction Company's part is the electrical half, which is the distribution board and submains, the lighting, the power, the data cabling, the mechanical services connections, and the testing and certification. In New Zealand you will also hear it called a fit out or a fit-out, and a tenant fitout when the tenant is paying for it rather than the landlord.
What is a retail fitout?
A retail fitout is a commercial fitout for a shop, so it is the same trades with a different emphasis and a much harder deadline. The lighting does more work than it does in an office, because it is selling the product rather than just letting people see it, and the shopfront and signage are part of the electrical scope. The Conduction Company's retail fitout work across Auckland covers shopfront and sign lighting, track and display lighting, counter and POS power, back-of-house and stockroom power, and the access control and security installation. One New Zealand requirement bites here: AS/NZS 3000:2018 clause 2.6.3.3.2 requires 30 mA RCD protection on socket-outlets rated up to 30 A in locations with easy or unsupervised public access, which describes a shop floor. The Conduction Company designs that in rather than discovering it at inspection.
What is the best type of lighting for a retail shop?
The Conduction Company's answer for an Auckland retail fitout is LED throughout, in two layers. A general layer lights the space evenly so people can move and read a label, and a second accent layer on track or adjustable downlights puts brighter, tighter light on the merchandise and the shopfront window. The contrast between the two is what makes a product look worth buying, so a single flat layer of ceiling lights is the common mistake. Colour temperature is worth deciding rather than defaulting: warmer light flatters clothing, food, and timber, and neutral to cooler light suits electronics, cosmetics, and anything white. The Conduction Company's practical steer is to run the track and the circuits with spare capacity, because the fixture positions in a shop will move within a year and the track is what lets you move them without an electrician.
Who can carry out prescribed electrical work?
Only a person authorised to do it. Section 74 of the Electricity Act 1992 states that “A person must not do any prescribed electrical work, or assist in doing any prescribed electrical work, unless that person is authorised to do so under this section”, and it lists who is: a registered person working under a current practising licence, a person under a provisional licence, or a person authorised under an employer licence. Some of the work on a fitout is high-risk prescribed electrical work, which includes mains work on an installation, and regulation 70 of the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010 requires all of that work to be inspected. Regulation 65 goes further: high-risk work is not complete until a certificate of compliance and any record of inspection have been issued for it. The Conduction Company is a licensed electrical contracting business, and Jordan Statham, who owns it, holds both registrations, Electrician E 264206 and Electrical Inspector I 272615.
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What a great experience from start to finish. Jordan who came to quote was very helpful and knowledgeable, giving us great ideas for what we could apply in our home. The quote was thorough and detailed, booking was easy, kept us updated the whole time.
100% Best Electricians in Auckland, Great Communication, Very impressed with the Service. Excellent advice on healthy home compliance. Impressed with work done, completed to a high standard. Very professional and easy to deal with. Highly recommend TCCO.
Jordan was prompt to arrive & fixed many things for me that had gone haywire over L4 Lockdown - cooktop, expel-air, switches, lights, fusebox, even had a look at my dishwasher, etc. Professional, friendly & helpful - would highly recommend. Many thanks Jordan.
Needed a trustworthy electrician for my mother, TCC had lots of great reviews online so we called in and they made the process very easy. Mum loved the guys who showed up to do the job, the service & the work quality were both excellent. Thanks again and you'll hear from us soon.
Excellent work done by the extremely responsive team. Max attended to the job at our house and was extremely good and professional. Great job.
We have used these guys a couple of times and have been very pleased each time. They did what was requested, but also left an immaculate job, with extra touches like labels on the switches for our outdoor lights. We will definitely be using Jordan and the team again!
Top notch business. Service was A+++. Arrived on time. Technicians introduced themselves on arrival. Very polite. Extremely efficient. Quietly went about their work. Business booking system was great. Quick and well laid out. Payment system likewise, very smooth.
We had Ollie and Kegan install a hanging pendant light in our entry way. They were super professional and did a fantastic job. We had great communication with them, really easy to deal with, highly recommend.
Fitting out a commercial space in Auckland?
Send The Conduction Company the fitout drawings and the address, and one of the team will come back to you the same day. If the drawings are not done yet, that is fine, a walk through the tenancy is usually more useful anyway. Non-urgent work is typically booked in within seven days.