Commercial Projects

A commercial construction contractor covers the full lifecycle of a business premises project: new builds, structural A&A works, reinstatement, interior fit-outs, and renovations. That scope includes structural works, M&E coordination, authority submissions, and project management from the first site visit through to handover.

Kang Sheng Engineering has carried this scope across a range of commercial settings, from office and retail fit-outs to larger works such as Macpherson Road, Victory Center, and the Duty-Free outlets at Changi Airport Terminal 4. That range matters because an airport retail fit-out and a standard office renovation come with very different constraints, and a contractor who has only done one tends to struggle with the other.

Yes. We handle both sides of commercial work: structural A&A on commercial buildings, and full interior renovation of offices, shops and F&B spaces. Some clients come to us for a ground-up build, others for a retrofit of an existing unit, and the same project team manages both, so you are not handed off between a “construction” division and a separate “renovation” division partway through.

Because delays on a commercial project have a direct cost. Every week a retail unit or office sits unfinished is a week of rent paid on space that isn’t earning, or a launch date pushed back. An experienced commercial contractor plans around your business timeline from day one, not around their own convenience.

Experience also shows up in how smoothly the less visible parts of a project run: coordinating with your landlord, sequencing authority submissions so they don’t stall work, and anticipating the site issues that a first-time commercial contractor would only discover halfway through. Having handled sites ranging from standalone shopfronts to a live airport terminal, we plan for the constraints those environments create.

Commercial construction in Singapore typically runs between roughly S$200 and S$400 per square foot for a standard build, and that figure climbs with structural complexity, site access constraints, and the specification level you choose for finishes and M&E. A&A works are usually priced against the specific scope rather than a per-square-foot rate, since the extent of structural alteration varies so much from one building to the next.

Rate cards only get you so far with commercial work. We quote from your drawings and site conditions, not a generic figure, because two units of the same size can cost very differently depending on what’s already there and what needs to be undone first.

It depends heavily on scale. A straightforward commercial A&A typically takes 4 to 8 months, while a larger new-build project can run 12 to 24 months. Before any physical work starts, authority approvals usually add another 2 to 4 months, and that stage is easy to underestimate if it isn’t planned for early.

We build a realistic programme with clients at the outset and flag anything likely to put pressure on it, whether that’s a landlord approval, a specialist consultant, or a long-lead item, well before it becomes a problem on site.

Broadly, a commercial project moves through feasibility and design, authority submissions (URA, BCA, JTC and others depending on the intended use), demolition or site preparation, structural works, M&E installation, finishes and fit-out, inspections, and finally TOP or CSC, and handover.

The step most clients underestimate is approvals. Businesses tend to focus their planning on the visible construction stages, but a submission that starts late pushes the entire project back regardless of how fast the physical works go afterwards. Starting that process early is one of the simplest ways to protect your opening date.

Depending on the scope and use of the premises, a commercial project may need URA planning permission, BCA building plan approval and a permit to commence works, FSSD fire safety approval, and clearances from PUB or NEA where relevant. For projects on JTC land, JTC approval can matter as much as URA approval, and a change of use for the premises may need separate URA clearance too.

A properly set-up contractor manages all these submissions through the project’s Qualified Person, so you are coordinating with one team rather than tracking down approvals from several agencies yourself. You shouldn’t need to learn the acronyms to get your project approved.

Yes, under a design and build arrangement, one contractor manages design, approvals, construction, and handover as a single, continuous process. That gives you one point of responsibility and one point of contact throughout, rather than an architect, an engineer, and a builder who each need to be separately coordinated and who can each point to the others when something goes wrong.

Yes. Commercial A&A works, including structural alterations, extensions, and layout changes to an existing commercial building, sit within our regular scope, along with the BCA submissions those changes require. This is common in retail and F&B units, where the existing shell needs structural change before a new layout can be built out.