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Retail fit-out
in Dubai malls
Mall and street units built to the landlord's fit-out manual, inside the night working windows, against an opening date that does not move.
Scope of works
A mall unit is built at night against a fixed opening date, with a landlord checking every stage. We delivered 165 m² at Dubai Hills Mall on that basis.
Glazing, closures, signage substrates and the hoarding that stands while you build behind it.
Wall systems, gondolas, plinths and counters — finished to the tolerance a customer touches.
Track, accent and case lighting set to the merchandise, not to a reflected ceiling plan.
HVAC connection, power, data and fire systems tied into base build.
Landlord fit-out manual, mall authority drawings, night permits, handover inspection.
Mall retail fit-out in Dubai, from the inside
The part that decides your date is rarely the part on the mood board.
Mall retail is built to somebody else's manual
A unit in an Emaar, Majid Al Futtaim or Nakheel mall is not built the way a street shop is built. The mall issues a fit-out manual — hoarding design and graphics, permitted working hours, delivery routes and lift bookings, waste removal, contractor inductions, insurance levels, the refundable deposit and what you must do to get it back.
Read it late and you rebuild. We read it before pricing, because the manual routinely dictates things the tenant's designer never considered: shopfront line and setback, permitted signage depth, ceiling access, even the finish behind the display windows.
Night work is not a detail, it is the programme
Most malls will not let you make noise, cut, weld or move material while the centre is trading. That means the working day starts when the shutters come down and ends before the cleaners arrive — and every hour lost to a late delivery or a missing permit is an hour you cannot buy back the next morning.
Planning for that window is the whole job: prefabricate off site wherever possible, stage material in advance, book the service lift for the exact night it is needed, and keep a shift that can actually work through it.
Fixed opening dates and what they cost to hold
Mall leases attach the opening date to the lease, not to the goodwill of the contractor. Handover slips become penalties. We treat the date as a hard constraint and price the programme that holds it — including, where the date demands it, more men on fewer nights.
The honest version of this conversation happens before signing: if the date cannot be held with the drawings as they stand, we say so, and we say what would have to change.
The deposit comes back only if the last day is planned
Fit-out deposits are refunded against snagging, cleanliness, waste removal and handover documentation — as-builts, test certificates, warranties. That is paperwork, and paperwork gets forgotten by contractors who are already on their next site. We hand it over with the keys.
Send the drawings, or just the address.
We measure, check the services and tell you what the authority will require.
Questions we hear on every project
The mall gave us a fit-out manual we do not understand.
Send it. Reading it is our job, and the manual usually answers half the questions a tenant is about to ask their designer — shopfront line, signage depth, permitted hours, deposit conditions.
Can you work only at night?
Yes, and in most malls that is the only option. It changes the labour plan and the price, and we say so up front rather than discovering it in week two.
Will we get the fit-out deposit back?
That depends on snagging, cleaning, waste removal and handover documents. All four are planned into the last week of the programme rather than improvised.
Our opening date is fixed by the lease.
Then it is the first line of the programme. If the date cannot be held with the drawings as they are, you will hear that before you sign, together with what would have to change to hold it.
How fast can you start?
A site visit within 24 hours of your message. On a build-only job with approved drawings, mobilisation is usually two weeks. On design and build, the approval stage sets the start date — and we tell you honestly what it will take.
Do you handle the authority approvals?
Yes, inside the contract: Municipality and food control for restaurants, the landlord manual and mall authority for retail, building management for offices, community NOCs for villas.
How is payment structured?
Staged against progress on site, with a retention held to the end of the defects period. Nothing is invoiced ahead of work completed.
What happens if the programme slips?
You get the revised programme the week it happens, with the reason and the recovery plan — not on handover day. Most slips are born in the approval queue, which is why we run it ourselves.
Do you work with our designer?
Yes. We build to a third-party design as readily as to our own, and we flag anything that will not pass approval or hold on site.
Who owns the drawings and approvals?
You do. As-builts, permits and warranties are handed over with the keys — nothing is withheld.