Commercial Refurbishment and Fit-Out Across London and the South East
Every day a unit stays shut is money lost — so a commercial refurbishment needs one firm that turns up, keeps moving and hits the date. Pub, bar and hospitality fit-out is the work SG Refurb does most and does best, for national operators and their estates teams, alongside offices, shops and retail units.
We have been fitting out commercial premises since 2005. One firm stays answerable from first survey to handover, so there are no gaps between trades and no finger-pointing when a date comes under pressure. We work right across the South East — Surrey, north London, Essex, Kent and Sussex; on a fit-out we go wherever the estate is.
From a single bathroom all the way to a full house renovation, the approach is the same: professional, planned and priced before work starts. And as reactive contractors we handle the urgent, unplanned jobs too — whatever the size of the project.
Offices and workplaces
Cat A and Cat B fit-out, reconfiguration, partitioning, ceilings, lighting and the decoration that follows. Most office work happens around people still trying to work, so it is phased and sequenced around occupation — floor by floor, or out of hours where the programme needs it. Dust protection, protected routes and a handover that leaves a floor ready to sit down in, not a snagging list.
Shop fronts and retail units
Frontages, shopfitting, unit strip-out and refurbishment. Retail runs to a date that is rarely movable — a lease start, a landlord handback, an opening. We price it as a programme against that date and work back from it, including the out-of-hours and early-morning shifts a parade or a centre usually requires.
Educational facilities
Classrooms, halls, corridors and washroom blocks in schools and colleges. Nearly all of it is programmed into the holidays: a fixed window, a hard return date and no possibility of overrun. Safeguarding requirements shape how the site is run — segregated access, signed-in operatives and hoarded work areas kept away from pupils where any part of the site stays open.
Hospitals and medical facilities
Wards, clinics, treatment rooms and GP surgeries. The constraints are different again: infection control, live services that cannot be interrupted, and departments that have to keep seeing patients while the work goes on next door. Sequencing, isolation and clean handover matter more here than anywhere else we work, and the programme is written around the department, not around us.
Industrial units and warehouses
Strip-out, tenant make-goods, repairs and redecoration between tenancies, through to a unit the next tenant can take. Every week a unit stands empty costs somebody money — so we price the works and the programme together before anything starts, and work back from the handover date.
Inside the building, the trades concentrate in the built-out part — the offices, mess rooms, WCs and welfare areas that make a warehouse somewhere people can work. We cover the partitioning, ceilings, flooring, decoration and joinery with our own team, and bring in and manage the specialists for the electrics, plumbing and heating as part of the same job.
Where the operation keeps running, the work is phased around it. Racking, stock and vehicle movements decide the sequence, work areas are kept segregated from the working floor, and anything that has to interrupt the operation is planned for the hours it costs least. One firm stays answerable from first survey to handover, the same as on every other job we take.
Sustainability
The most useful thing a refurbishment does is keep the building. Working within the structure that already stands, rather than demolishing and starting again, reuses the fabric, the foundations and most of the material that went into them — that is what refurbishment is, and it needs no dressing up. Because the works open up floors, ceilings and services anyway, a refurbishment is also the cheapest moment to improve how a building runs: insulation, better glazing, heating upgrades and LED lighting go in as part of the programme, not as a separate project later.
The rest is practical: materials chosen to last rather than to be replaced soon after handover, and waste kept down and separated on site. We do not attach numbers to any of this and we do not make claims we cannot show. If an energy or waste target matters to your project, put it in the brief and we will price and programme against it.
Pub, bar and hospitality fit-out
This is the core of what we do. We are trusted with fit-out and refurbishment work by national pub companies including Greene King, Star Pubs & Bars and Shepherd Neame — the bar, the trade areas, the kitchen and the letting rooms, handed back ready to trade. Licensed trade work runs to an operator's standards and to a trading programme, which usually means a fixed closure window and a hard reopening date:
We price the programme as well as the works, so an estates manager can see the closure window before committing to it. Where a scheme comes with a design pack and a brand standard, we build to it and hand back to it.
- Trade areas — bar servery and back fitting, fixed seating, panelling, floors and lighting
- Back of house — cellars, trade kitchens, stores and staff areas
- Customer WCs — full strip-out and rebuild to current standards
- External works — frontages, signage, gardens, smoking areas and terraces
- Decoration and finishing — the details that decide how the room reads on the first night back
Offices, retail and the wider commercial scope
The same discipline applies across the rest of the commercial work: strip-out, structural and partition work, ceilings and flooring, electrics, plumbing and heating, decoration and joinery, plus the finishing details that get a space open and trading.
- Pub, bar and hospitality refurbishment
- Office refurbishment and office fit-out
- Shop and retail unit fit-out
- Partitions, suspended ceilings and flooring
- Commercial electrics, plumbing and heating
- Decoration, joinery and finishing
SG's own team covers the building work — brickwork, carpentry, plastering, groundworks and the fitting. The specialist trades are brought in and managed by us, so the standard stays the same from strip-out to handover.
How we work
Survey
We visit the unit, measure up and talk through what you need the space to do and when you need it back.
A price for the job
You get the price as a schedule of works — priced element by element, nothing vague, nothing added later.
One firm on the job
SG's own team and the specialists we manage carry out the work, sequenced so the job keeps moving and your downtime is kept short.
Handover
We finish, clean down and hand back a space that's ready to trade, with the certificates and paperwork you need.
One firm answerable for the whole fit-out
Most of the risk on a commercial refit comes from too many separate firms blaming each other when something slips. We don't work that way. SG Refurb runs its own team on the building work and manages the specialist trades a fit-out needs, so one company is accountable for the programme, the quality and the date. For an estates or facilities manager that means fewer hold-ups, one point of contact, and a finish you can sign off with confidence.
Reactive call-outs and emergency repairs
Alongside planned programmes we take reactive call-outs across the South East — the urgent jobs that cannot wait for the next scheduled visit. A leak into a trading area, storm damage to a roof or a shopfront, a failed WC block, water damage after a burst, a cellar that has flooded, or a security repair that has to be made good before you open. On a trading site the cost is rarely the repair itself, it is the hours the doors stay shut, so we come out, make it safe, and tell you plainly what it needs.
For operators and estates teams running several sites, reactive work can sit alongside planned maintenance under the same arrangement, so there is one firm and one number rather than a scramble for whoever answers. Ring 01883 337 700 and ask for the commercial side. Office hours are Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.
Where we work
Our base is 27 High Street, Godstone, Surrey, RH9 8LS. Day to day we work across Surrey, West Sussex and the South East, close enough to be on site quickly and to stand behind the work afterwards.
Commercial fit-out is different, because an estate is rarely all in one county. For fit-out work we travel to the site, including London, Kent, Essex and the coast. Tell us where the unit is and we will tell you straight whether we can run it properly.
We have been doing this since 2005.
Enquiring about a commercial programme
The quote form on this site is built for homeowners.
For a fit-out, a refurbishment programme or a tender, it is quicker to send the detail straight to the office and we will come back to you.
Email officeadmin@sgrefurb.co.uk or ring 01883 337 700 and ask for the commercial side.
What is useful to send:
- The site or sites, and where they are
- Your programme — target closure window and the reopening date you need to hit
- Scope or spec if you have one, and any brand standard pack
- Whether the premises stay trading, or partly trading, during the works
- Anything already known about access, out-of-hours restrictions or licensing
If you only have a date and a rough scope, that is enough to start. We will survey it and come back with a written schedule of works and a programme.
The kind of fit-out we take on
Indicative of the commercial fit-out work we take on — not photographs of an SG job. Replaced as soon as we have our own.
Common questions
Q.01How much does a commercial refurbishment in Surrey cost?
It depends on the size of the unit and the scope of work, so we don't quote blind. We survey the premises, then give you the price before anything starts, broken down element by element so an estates team can check it against their own numbers — no vague allowances.
Q.02Do you work for pub and hospitality operators?
Yes — that is the core of our commercial work. We carry out trading refurbishments and full fit-outs for national pub, bar and hospitality operators, working to their standards, their programme and their reopening date. References from comparable schemes are available on request.
Q.03How long does a commercial fit-out take?
A single office refurbishment can take a couple of weeks; a full pub or retail fit-out runs longer, and licensed trade work is normally planned around a fixed closure window with a hard reopening date. Because SG coordinates every trade — our own team and the specialists we manage — the work is sequenced tightly with fewer hold-ups, and we give you a realistic programme with your quote.
Q.04Do you use subcontractors?
SG runs its own team on the building work — brickwork, carpentry, plastering, groundworks and the fitting — and brings in trusted specialists where a fit-out needs them, all managed by us. One company stays accountable for the quality, the programme and the date, so there is a single firm answerable for the whole unit.
Q.05Which areas do you cover?
Our base is Godstone, Surrey (RH9 8LS) and we work right across the South East — Surrey, north London, Essex, Kent and Sussex. On a fit-out we go wherever the estate is — north London, Essex, Kent, Sussex and along the coast.
Q.06Do you take emergency call-outs on commercial sites?
Yes. We take reactive and emergency call-outs across the South East alongside planned work — leaks into trading areas, storm damage, failed WCs, flooded cellars and making good after a break-in. Ring 01883 337 700 and ask for the commercial side. Office hours are Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.
Q.07Can reactive repairs sit alongside a planned maintenance arrangement?
Yes, and for an operator running several sites that is usually the sensible way round it. The same firm handles the planned upkeep and the urgent jobs, so there is one number to ring rather than finding someone new each time.
Q.08Are you insured for commercial work?
Yes — SG carry £5 million public liability cover and £5 million employers' liability cover. We can provide both certificates for your records before work starts, which most estates teams and managing agents ask for as a matter of course.
The folio continues
The next sheets — the same firm, the same paperwork, on every one.
Planning commercial work?
Tell us what you are thinking. We come out, look at the job properly and give you a price for it.