People usually come to us in one of two states. First: they've leased a space, keys in hand, and there's barely any time left before opening — help us make it. Second — after the first crew did it "like a home job," and it turned out the extractor can't cope with the smell from the kitchen, and the equipment trips the electrics because nobody counted the sockets for it in advance. The second case is almost always more expensive: what's already done has to be opened up and redone.
The reason is the same in both — they treated a commercial space like a flat. But the approach here has to be different, and it starts not with tile and wall colour, but with a simple question: what does this space have to withstand, and how fast do you want to open?
How commercial renovation differs from a home job
If we keep it short — three things, and each one changes the whole approach.
Timelines cost more than looks. Every extra week on site is a week the unit sits closed while the rent still has to be paid. At home a week either way doesn't matter; in business it hits the wallet.
The finish works under wear. A café or shop sees more people in a day than a flat does in a month. What lives quietly for years at home wears, scratches and peels far faster here — so the materials have to be a different class.
And rules appear that a home doesn't have. Fire safety, food-service requirements, signing off the signage and facade with the landlord — all of it is part of the work, not an annoying formality at the end.
Why the price isn't only the quote
Asking "how much per metre" is natural, but for a business unit that's only half the answer. The real cost of a renovation has two parts: what the work itself costs, and what you lose while the space is closed.
Which leads to a point people miss: the cheapest crew often turns out to be the most expensive. It saves you on the quote but drags the job out, and the lost weeks of downtime eat the saving — with interest. So owners who count their money look not only at the per-metre figure, but at who works in an organised way and opens them on time.
Engineering: where the timelines hide
At home the priciest part is the finish. In commercial work it's what's hidden behind the walls and above the ceiling. That's where timelines slip and do-overs appear: it doesn't show on the pretty render, and it's easy to forget at the start.
Electrics and capacity
The old building stock in central Tbilisi often just isn't built for the appetite of a café or salon. Coffee machine, oven, air conditioners, water heater — and the allotted capacity isn't enough, it trips at peak. You can add more through the utility, but that's not a couple of days: it needs technical conditions and time. So we work out the capacity right at the start, before the finish, so we don't run into it just before opening.
Ventilation
For a café or restaurant this is knot number one: a proper extractor over the kitchen, air intake, a grease trap. Skimp on it and the smell drifts to the neighbours upstairs — then come complaints, a soured relationship with the landlord and, in a bad case, a closed unit. For a beauty salon it's the same story: the fumes from the products have to leave, not sit in the room.
Water and drainage
Salons, barbershops, food service — each has its own sinks, outlet points, falls. All of it is set before the screed and before the tile. A mistake here doesn't show at once: it surfaces later, when water stops draining somewhere and you have to open up a finished floor.
What you'll have to sign off
It's important not to scare you, but not to hide it either. Fire safety — escape routes, finish materials, equipment — for a place people walk into, that's no formality. Food service has its own sanitary requirements for the kitchen and sinks. Signage, facade and any interference with the building's shared systems are almost always signed off with the owner, and sometimes the management company. And an opening or a shift in a load-bearing wall can't be done by eye — it needs a project and a calculation.
The engineering and technical part we take on and do to code. Sign-offs are a shared zone: who signs what, we talk through and lock into the contract in advance, so nothing unpleasant surfaces at opening.
A finish that survives the traffic
The main mistake in a commercial finish is taking materials "like for home, only cheaper." A year on they look wrecked, and the unit is back in for another renovation. The logic should be the opposite: not prettier, but tougher.
In practice that's commercial porcelain tile or moisture-resistant vinyl instead of household laminate, washable paints instead of ordinary ones, protected corners where people walk and roll trolleys, hard-wearing solutions in customer bathrooms. It looks no worse — it's just built for the load, not for a nice photo a week after handover.
How we run a commercial job
Our approach is always the same, and it's built around exactly what any unit owner fears — a blown deadline and a budget that drifts.
- The price for the work is in the contract, before we start. It doesn't grow along the way: if something comes up through our fault, we finish it at our own cost.
- We work in stages. If there's a live business next door or the unit is in a mall, we move the noisy work to nights and weekends, so we don't kill the neighbours' revenue or blow your schedule.
- A photo report every week on WhatsApp. You see the progress even if you're in another country — which matters especially to anyone opening a unit in Tbilisi remotely.
- The deadline and the guarantee are on paper. The deadline is in the contract, not in the foreman's head; on the finished work we give a one-year guarantee.
Alongside apartment renovation we do offices, cafés, shops and salons — from the shell stage to handover for opening. The types of work are on the services page, examples of jobs are in the portfolio. And if you're still eyeing a space, the best moment to show it to us is before you sign the lease: sometimes the engineering is what decides whether the unit is worth taking at all.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a commercial renovation in Tbilisi cost?
There's no single per-metre price here: an office with a light finish and a café with a kitchen and ventilation are very different budgets. So we price the quote after we've seen the space, and lock it in the contract so it doesn't drift as the work goes on.
How long does an office or café renovation take?
It depends first of all on the engineering. An office without complex systems is done noticeably faster; a café or restaurant takes longer — ventilation, water and sign-offs need time. We name a real deadline after the visit and put it in the contract as an obligation, not a wish.
Can I keep the business open during the renovation?
Often yes. If the work is in part of the space or there's a live unit next door, we split the renovation into stages and move the noisy work to nights and weekends. It doesn't always work with no pauses at all, but the downtime can be cut a lot.
Who handles fire safety, electrics and sign-offs?
We do the engineering to code and prepare the technical side. Sign-offs with the landlord, the utility and for food service we handle together with you — who's responsible for what, we put in the contract in advance so nothing unpleasant surfaces at opening.
Do you give a guarantee and fix the price?
The price for the work is fixed in the contract before the start and doesn't grow along the way. On completed work we give a one-year guarantee. Materials are bought against receipts, payment goes by completed stages.
Planning to open a place in Tbilisi?
We'll look at the space, tell you straight about the engineering and timelines, and put together a quote with a fixed price. No upselling — only what you need to open on time.
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