With great communication, honesty and open book costings, Design District can work on projects of all sizes.

Our Director Shane has over ten years of experience and Design District is a registered Building contractor for shop fit outs so, you’re in capable hands when our team is in control of your project.

Our services include:

Approvals

Planning approvals can have many facets depending on the location of your shop. Often Design District will need to seek design approvals from multiple representatives prior to commencing site works. These can include:

·         Landlord.

·         Shopping centre management.

·         Reviewing Design Manager (RDM).

·         Project management company.

·         Franchise / company / brand approvals.

Building Applications

Building application starts well before you are ready to send drawings to local council for a building permit. It all starts in the design stage where Design District is conscious of complying with Building Code of Australia (BCA) standards. This includes disabled access, energy efficiency and fire egress amongst other things.

Once these plans have been finalised and approved by the client, Design District will engage a registered building surveyor to assess the plans for compliance. Once approved and stamped, we get issued a Certificate of Design Compliance as part of our package to lodge to council. Secondly, you need a registered building contractor to be able to sign and lodge certified plans to the local council. Any works in excess of $20,000 inc GST require you to engage a builder.

Quoting

When building a shop, Design District can engage upwards of 20 sub-contractors to complete 1 fit out. This is why it is important to have access to experienced trades and multiples of each to give the client options moving forward.

Design District will not only liaise with each contractor regarding the scope of work for the job, but collate that in our open book costings format. Simply put, Design District will list all quoted amounts as actual amounts on your quotation. There will then be figures that will cover, design, building permits / approvals and project management costs.

This allows the client to access any quotation or invoice throughout the fit out with no hesitation.

Project Planning

Once again with anything from 5-30 different contractors needed to complete a job the planning becomes extremely important. Some clients underestimate the importance of this stage of the fit out. Design District will produce a schedule of works that will outline who comes in when, in what order and for how long. This all needs to fit into time frames set by the landlord / shopping centre or client. There is a logical order that needs to be followed to ensure each trade can complete their works to allow each other trade to continue on.

You can imagine the domino effect of just one trade not completing their scope of works in their allocated time. I see this happen often when a client chooses to project plan / manage the project themselves to save money. In most cases it will actually cost them more than paying us to take control of this task for you.

Project Management

Design District has a very hand on approach when it comes to project managing your job. Project management is the implementation and supervision of your projects schedule of works. With daily visits conducted once site works commence, this allows us to answer questions the client or contractors may have. It also gives Design District the ability to resolve any potentially costly issues that may arise throughout the build.

For example: We have had a fire sprinkler put in the wrong position. If we didn’t pick it up straight away the accumulated cost to move that one sprinkler later could really add up. You would need to cut the ceiling open to move, isolate, drain the entire system, relocate, patch ceiling & paint.

If you have 2 or 3 of these types of issue with a job, there not only cost implications, but also negative impact to your schedule.

Completion Documentation

As per the compliance documents you need to need to provide proof that your project has been built according to Australian Standards. This normally requires licenced trades such as electrical, plumbing, mechanical and fire services to give certificates of compliance. This will then allow Design District to obtain a certificate of construction compliance from the certifier & the ability to lodge a notice of completion with the local council.

Often shopping centres and landlords may also request copies of these documents for their records. In some cases, you are also required to provide as constructed drawing for future reference. Before a new shop can officially open to the public and trade, it will require an occupancy permit from the local council. This is the client’s responsibility, but we are more than happy to remind you and guide you through the process.

De-fits

Design District also offers a de-fitting service. Whether this is part of a fit out we are completing or a stand-alone project we can assist you to transform your current tenancy back to base build ready for the next shopfitter. This typically entails ground concrete floors with patched tenancy walls. Design District can work in with your particular project and customise the scope of works.

Remedial Works

Design District has also built ongoing relationships with our willingness to undergo Cat 1 and remedial works to empty tenancies. This includes concrete scanning, cutting, reinstatement, floor grinding, floor prep (screeds / feather coats) etc. Relocation of all services, electrical, plumbing, telephone / data, air con, and wastes pipes.