Commercial fit out and renovation in Dubai, delivered around your trading
Offices, retail, restaurants, clinics, salons, showrooms and warehouses. Landlord and authority approvals handled, night and weekend works where the lease demands it, and phased handovers so you close for as little time as possible.
What a commercial fit out and renovation in Dubai involves
Abdulla Carpentry EST delivers complete commercial fit-out in Dubai — offices, retail units, restaurants and cafes, clinics, salons, showrooms and warehouses. We handle the landlord submission and fit-out drawings, Dubai Municipality, DEWA and Civil Defence approvals where required, then the build itself: partitions, ceilings, electrical and data, plumbing and drainage, HVAC alterations, flooring, finishes, glass and all the joinery, manufactured in our own Ras Al Khor workshop. One contract, one programme, and a twelve-month workmanship warranty.
Commercial work in Dubai lives or dies on two things that have nothing to do with building: the landlord’s fit-out guide and the calendar. Malls and towers publish a fit-out manual running to dozens of pages — permitted materials, ceiling heights, shopfront setbacks, signage rules, insurance levels, approved contractors, the hoarding specification, the hours you may work and the deposit you lose if you break any of it.
We read that document before we quote, not after. It changes the price, and a contractor who ignores it produces a number that cannot be delivered.
The calendar matters because every week a unit is closed is revenue gone. So we programme backwards from your opening date, work nights and weekends where the landlord permits it, and phase handovers so you can trade from part of the space while we finish the rest.
Since 1984Commercial and retail fit-outOffice fit out Dubai, retail and shop fit out and eleven more sectors
Each carries its own authority requirements, landlord conditions and reasons a programme slips. Shopfitting and retail interiors run to different rules than a clinic or a warehouse, and a commercial fit out and renovation in Dubai is priced sector by sector for that reason. These are the ones we work in regularly.
The permissions a commercial fit out in Dubai actually needs
This is the part that delays projects, and the part most contractors quietly leave to the tenant. It sits in our scope. Which of these apply depends on your unit, your trade licence activity and your landlord.
| Approval | When it applies | Typical lead time |
|---|---|---|
| Landlord fit-out approval | Every leased unit. Drawings assessed against the building’s fit-out guide | 1 – 3 weeks |
| Dubai Municipality building permit | Partitions, structural change, MEP alteration, most F&B work | 2 – 5 weeks |
| Civil Defence approval | Fire alarm, sprinkler or extract alterations; most restaurants and clinics | 2 – 6 weeks |
| DEWA application | New or upgraded supply, meter change, load increase | 2 – 6 weeks |
| Dubai Municipality Food Control | Any unit preparing or serving food | 2 – 4 weeks |
| DHA approval | Clinics and medical facilities, assessed on layout and finishes | 4 – 8 weeks |
| Free zone authority approval | Units in DMCC, DIFC, DSO, JAFZA and similar, in place of Municipality | 2 – 5 weeks |
| Hoarding and access permits | Mall and tower units; includes deposit and insurance evidence | 3 – 10 days |
Two things follow from that table. First, approvals routinely take longer than the building work, so the moment a lease is signed is the moment drawings should start — not the moment the handover date gets uncomfortable. Second, any contractor quoting a programme that begins on site next week, on a unit needing a Municipality permit, is either planning to start without one or has not read your lease.
We prepare the drawings, lodge the submissions, answer the comments and chase them. You are copied on everything, so you can see where each one sits rather than taking our word for it.
Office renovation and refurbishment around an open business
Refurbishing an operating business is a different exercise from fitting out an empty shell. The constraint is not the work; it is that customers and staff must never see, hear or smell it.
Where the landlord permits night working, we run it. Crews mobilise after close, the area is hoarded and sheeted, noisy work is done in the first hours, and everything is cleared, cleaned and made safe before opening. Your staff arrive to a space that looks as it did the previous morning, minus whatever we removed.
Where night access is not available, we phase. Half the floor at a time for an office, a section of seating at a time for a restaurant, one treatment room at a time for a clinic. It costs a little more in mobilisations and takes longer overall, and it is almost always cheaper than closing.
Either way, the programme names the dates the disruptive work happens. You get that before you sign, so you can warn staff, move bookings or plan around a quiet week rather than finding out on the morning it starts.
Commercial fit out prices in Dubai, per sq ft and per package
Commercial fit-out is quoted per square foot of the leased area, and the spread is wider than in residential because MEP density and authority requirements vary so much by sector. These are the ranges we work to; a firm figure follows a site visit and a read of your fit-out guide.
| Sector | Typical range | Indicative duration |
|---|---|---|
| Office, standard specification | AED 250 – 400 / sq ft | 4 – 8 weeks |
| Office, high specification | AED 400 – 600 / sq ft | 8 – 14 weeks |
| Retail unit | AED 400 – 700 / sq ft | 4 – 10 weeks |
| Cafe | AED 450 – 700 / sq ft | 6 – 10 weeks |
| Full restaurant with production kitchen | AED 600 – 900+ / sq ft | 10 – 18 weeks |
| Salon or spa | AED 400 – 650 / sq ft | 6 – 10 weeks |
| Clinic or medical | AED 500 – 850 / sq ft | 10 – 20 weeks |
| Showroom | AED 300 – 550 / sq ft | 5 – 10 weeks |
| Warehouse office and amenity areas | AED 180 – 350 / sq ft | 4 – 8 weeks |
Durations above run from site possession, not from the day you call us. Add the approval lead times from the previous section to get a real opening date, and build in a contingency for authority comments — they are normal, not a sign anything has gone wrong.
Where commercial fit out budgets are won and lost
Commercial projects rarely overrun because the finishes cost more than expected. They overrun in four predictable places, and all four are visible at quotation stage if you know to look.
MEP density is the real driver, not the joinery. Two offices of identical size can differ by two hundred dirhams a square foot purely on services — the number of power and data outlets, the lighting density, whether the existing FCUs can serve the new layout or need replacing, and whether the incoming supply can carry the load. Get the MEP scope pinned down before you compare quotations, because it is where the honest and the optimistic numbers diverge most.
Extract and drainage decide F&B budgets. A cafe serving cold food and coffee is a different project from a restaurant with a production kitchen, even at the same square footage. Kitchen extract routing, make-up air, grease traps and floor drainage with correct falls can account for a third of an F&B fit-out. If a unit was not previously food-use, establish early whether an extract riser exists at all — that single fact can make a lease viable or not.
Landlord conditions carry hard costs. Hoarding to a mall’s specification, out-of-hours access charges, lift bookings, waste removal through the building’s nominated contractor, insurance at the level the building demands and a refundable deposit that is only refundable if you leave the common areas as you found them. These are real line items. We put them on the quotation. A number that omits them is not cheaper, just less complete.
Decision delays cost more than variations. On a fixed programme with a fixed opening date, two weeks spent deciding on a finish has to be recovered somewhere — usually in overtime you pay for. We front-load the decisions: every material, colour and fitting is specified and approved before we mobilise, with a decision deadline against each one on the programme. It is less comfortable at the start and considerably cheaper by the end.
From lease signature to opening day
Unit survey and fit-out guide review
We survey the unit, read the landlord fit-out guide and list every approval the commercial fit out will need.
Drawings, visuals and a programme with approvals in it
Drawings, 3D visuals and a programme that shows the approval dates, not just the build dates, alongside them.
Submissions, permits and hoarding
We submit for the fit out permit and NOC, chase Dubai Municipality or the free zone, then hoard the unit off.
Build, with inspections passed as we go
We build, and each inspection is booked and passed as that trade finishes, so nothing waits for the next one.
Testing, completion certificate and handover
Testing, snagging and the completion certificate, then a handover with the keys, manuals and warranty papers.
Turnkey commercial fit out, design and build under one contract
As a commercial fit out company in Dubai we work as the main contractor, so the design, the joinery and the site team all sit under one contract. Turnkey commercial fit out, design and build, means you sign once and we carry the drawings through approvals, construction and handover, instead of passing you between commercial fit out contractors who each blame the last one.
Office interior design and fit out is the largest part of what we build: corporate office fit out, coworking space fit out, reception desks and feature walls, glass partitions and office partitions, workstations and meeting rooms, showroom fit out, and office renovation and refurbishment for units that are already occupied. False ceilings, flooring and lighting, MEP works (electrical, plumbing, AC, fire) and joinery and custom furniture for offices all come from our own workshop and our own trades.
Dubai Municipality, DDA and Trakhees approvals
Dubai Municipality, DDA, Trakhees, DMCC and JAFZA approvals are drawn, submitted and chased by our own staff.
Mall approvals, fit out permit and NOC
Mall approvals for Emaar Malls, Nakheel Malls and Majid Al Futtaim, plus the fit out permit and NOC you need.
Fast-track fit out with minimal downtime
Fast-track fit out with minimal downtime: night shifts, weekend works and phasing so your unit keeps trading.
Fit out cost per sq ft in Dubai
The fit out cost per sq ft in Dubai depends on the specification, so we price the drawings, not a round rate.
We work across Business Bay, DIFC, Downtown, JLT, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Al Quoz and Jebel Ali, and the first step is the same everywhere: a free site visit and quotation priced against your landlord’s fit-out guide, not against a guess.
What separates commercial fit out contractors in Dubai
Most tenders we bid against are decided on price alone, and a fair share of those projects then run late. These are the questions worth asking every contractor before you decide, ours included.
Ask whether they have read your fit-out guide. Not the lease — the landlord’s fit-out manual, which specifies permitted ceiling materials, shopfront setbacks, signage limits, insurance levels, hoarding details and working hours. A quote produced without reading it is a number that will change. Ask which clauses in your specific guide affected their price, and see whether they can answer.
Ask who is submitting the approvals. If the answer involves you appointing a separate consultant, that is a cost and a delay that is not in the number you are comparing. Approvals belong in the contractor’s scope, with the lead times shown on the programme.
Ask which trades are theirs. A fit-out assembled from six subcontractors has six margins in it and no single party accountable for the sequence. When the ceiling contractor and the MEP contractor disagree about a duct route, someone has to lose, and on a brokered job that someone is usually the programme. We employ twenty-four trades directly for exactly this reason.
Ask what happens if the landlord rejects the drawings. Revisions to satisfy landlord or authority comments should be the contractor’s cost, because the contractor produced the drawings. If that is chargeable, you have an open-ended commitment sitting inside a fixed-price contract.
Ask for the programme to include the approval period. A contractor showing an eight-week programme from site possession on a unit that needs a Municipality permit is not describing your opening date. Insist the programme starts at contract signature, so you are comparing like for like and can plan your staffing, stock and marketing against something real.
And ask what the payment stages are tied to. Stages should be tied to completed, inspectable work — not to calendar dates. A schedule that pays out on dates regardless of progress removes the only leverage you have if the job slows down.
Where the rules come from
Every commercial fit out in Dubai is priced against someone else’s rulebook. These are the authorities we submit to, and the pages worth reading before you sign a lease.
About commercial fit out and renovation in Dubai
How long does a commercial fit-out in Dubai take?
From site possession: four to eight weeks for a standard office, four to ten for retail, ten to eighteen for a restaurant with a production kitchen. Add two to six weeks before that for landlord and authority approvals, which are usually the longer half of the timeline.
Do you handle the landlord and authority approvals?
Yes, all of it. We read your fit-out guide before quoting, prepare the drawings, lodge the landlord submission and the Dubai Municipality, DEWA, Civil Defence, Food Control, DHA or free zone applications that apply, then answer comments and chase them. You are copied on everything.
Can you work at night or at weekends?
Where the landlord permits it, yes, and for occupied premises we usually recommend it. Crews mobilise after close, the area is hoarded and sheeted, noisy work is done first, and everything is cleared and made safe before opening.
Can we keep trading during the refurbishment?
Usually. We phase the work — half a floor at a time in an office, a section of seating at a time in a restaurant, one treatment room at a time in a clinic. It costs a little more in mobilisations and is almost always cheaper than closing.
Do you do warehouse and industrial fit-out?
Yes — office pods, mezzanine finishes, amenity areas, racking-compatible flooring and the associated power and lighting distribution. It is quoted the same way as any other commercial scope, typically AED 180 to 350 per square foot for the fitted areas.
Who is responsible if the landlord rejects the drawings?
We are, because we prepared them. Revisions to satisfy landlord or authority comments are part of our scope and carry no extra charge. What is not included is a change you make to the design after approval, and we price those in writing before proceeding.
Do you work with our own designer or architect?
Often. We build to consultant drawings as readily as to our own, and we will flag anything in a design that will not pass approval or cannot be built to the stated budget before we start rather than after.
What warranty applies to commercial work?
Twelve months on workmanship from handover, written into the contract, with manufacturer warranties on equipment, hardware and finishes registered in your company’s name.
Send us the unit and the fit-out guide
Share the lease drawings, the landlord’s fit-out manual and your target opening date. We will come back with a programme for your commercial fit out and renovation in Dubai that includes the approvals and an itemised quotation — free, and with no obligation.
