A single store refit is a project. A rollout across twenty, fifty or two hundred stores is a programme, and it needs a different kind of contractor. The things that make a shopfitter good at one store are still necessary, but they are not enough on their own. Here is what to look for before you appoint a contractor for a multi-site rollout, drawn from what we have seen go right and wrong on multi-year programmes for retail groups.
Consistency across every store
The whole point of a rollout is that every store ends up to the same standard. That depends on the fixtures being made the same way, from the same materials, every time. Ask where the fixtures will be manufactured. A contractor with its own workshop controls that directly. A contractor that subcontracts manufacture is relying on someone else’s consistency, and on their capacity when your programme is at its busiest.
Consistency covers the installation too. The same team, or teams trained the same way, fitting the same drawings produces the same result. Ask whether the installers are the contractor’s own people or agency labour hired store by store.
At Norsemen the fixtures for every store in a programme are made in our own workshop in Oadby, Leicester, and installed by our own team, so the last store in the programme matches the first.
Manufacturing capacity
A rollout needs fixtures made in quantity, to the same standard, on a predictable rhythm. Ask how many store sets the contractor can manufacture in a month and what happens if the programme accelerates or two phases overlap. A contractor with its own workshop can answer with a number. A contractor relying on subcontractors can only answer with a promise. [CONFIRM: Norsemen monthly manufacturing capacity]
A programme that holds
Rollouts are planned months ahead, store by store, usually with regional managers, landlords and other trades all working to the same dates. A slipped week in one store can push the next three. Ask how the contractor plans manufacture against the install programme, how much they can make ahead of each phase, and what happens when a store is handed over late by the previous trade. [CONFIRM: typical phasing and how far ahead fixtures are manufactured]
Out-of-hours working as standard
Most rollout work is done in live stores. Night working, early starts and clean handovers before opening are the normal pattern, not a special request. At Norsemen a refresh is typically completed over four nights. Ask the contractor how they manage noise, dust, security and the state of the store each morning, and who is on site to hand it back.
A supply-only option
Not every store in a programme needs the same service. Some clients have their own installers or a regional contractor they trust, and only need the fixtures manufactured to drawings. A shopfitter with a workshop can offer that. Norsemen supply fixtures to other contractors as well as supplying and fitting them ourselves, which gives you flexibility across a large estate.
Communication you can rely on
On a rollout you will be dealing with the contractor every week for a long time. You need one point of contact who knows every store, answers quickly and tells you about problems before they become delays. Ask who that person will be, and ask to meet them. At Norsemen the same person covers enquiries, the workshop and site, so the person who quoted the programme is the person who knows how it is going. [CONFIRM: named contact and how programme communication is handled]
Aftercare and day-to-day works
A rollout does not end at the last handover. Fixtures get damaged, stores get re-planned, units get moved. Ask what happens after completion. A contractor who made the fixtures can supply matching replacements years later and send a team for a small call-out. Our day-to-day works service covers display unit replacements and small call-outs, often a few hundred pounds, so a damaged unit does not need a full project to put right.
Ask as well for a single record of what was installed in each store, so that when a unit needs replacing in two years the contractor knows exactly what to make. [CONFIRM: handover documentation provided]
Paperwork before the first night
Every store in a rollout needs method statements and risk assessments before the team arrives, and some landlords ask for their own paperwork on top. Ask who prepares the documents, how quickly they can be turned around for each store, and whether the contractor has worked under the main retail landlords before. On a long programme, slow paperwork delays stores just as surely as late fixtures. [CONFIRM: typical documentation and landlord experience]
Experience with retail groups
Ask for references from comparable programmes. Norsemen have worked as a main contractor on multi-year refit programmes for retail groups, and we work with independents too. [CONFIRM: which clients may be named and referenced] Ask any contractor how many stores they have delivered in a single programme, how many teams they can run at once, and how they kept the standard up in the final stores.
A checklist before you appoint
- Where are the fixtures made, and who owns the workshop?
- How is manufacture planned against the install programme?
- What is the standard working pattern in live stores?
- Is supply-only available for stores with their own installers?
- Who is the single point of contact, and who covers for them?
- What does aftercare look like once the rollout is complete?
Get clear answers to those six questions and you will know whether you are talking to a rollout contractor or a one-store shopfitter with a bigger brochure.
Read more about our commercial shopfitting for retail groups and independents, manufactured in Leicester and installed nationwide, or contact us to discuss a rollout.