We carry out the building work inside shops, offices, bars and shell units in Málaga province, with one contractor coordinating every trade. Licences, technical projects and specialist systems stay with the professionals you appoint; we build to their scope. Quotes are itemised and free, and photos plus the approximate floor area are enough to start.
Who is this site for?
This site is for people opening or moving a business on the Costa del Sol: shopkeepers, office tenants, restaurant and bar operators, clinics and studios, and landlords preparing a unit to let. Many are not Spanish and are dealing with a commercial lease, a town hall and a building site in a second language at the same time.
We focus on one part of that: the construction work. We are not a licensing agency, an architect’s practice or an interior design studio. We are the contractor who turns a drawing and a scope into finished walls, ceilings, floors and toilets, on a schedule that respects your opening date.
What does a commercial fit-out include?
The scope depends on the state of the unit and on your activity. On a typical job we organise:
- Strip-out of the previous tenant’s fittings and removal of debris.
- Plasterboard partitions for stockrooms, offices, fitting rooms or meeting rooms.
- Suspended ceilings with access hatches, lighting coves and space for services above.
- Plumbing and electrics, carried out by authorised partner installers under our coordination.
- Toilets for staff and customers, built to the specification your technician sets.
- Floors and wall finishes chosen for heavy foot traffic and easy cleaning.
- Painting, fitting and a final clean so the unit is ready for stock and furniture.
Shopfitting joinery, kitchen extraction, air conditioning and fire protection systems are specialist packages. We leave space and fixings for them and coordinate the timing, but they are supplied by the specialists you choose.
What does “local en bruto” mean, and why does it matter?
In Spain a new or vacant commercial unit is often let or sold “en bruto”: a concrete floor, block or brick walls, an exposed slab overhead and services brought only to the entrance. Rent may look attractive, but everything that makes the space usable still has to be built.
That changes the conversation with the landlord as much as with the contractor. Before you sign, it pays to know roughly what turning that shell into your shop involves. Our guide on what a shell unit means explains it step by step, and the article comparing a shell unit with a fitted unit looks at the trade-off.
Do I need a licence before the works start?
Usually there is paperwork, and it is the business owner’s responsibility, normally handled through an architect, an engineer or a specialist consultant. What applies depends on the activity, the size of the unit, the scope of the works and the town hall. In Andalusia some minor works without a technical project are notified through a declaración responsable under the regional planning law (LISTA); larger or structural works need more.
At national level, Ley 12/2012 removed the prior municipal licence for many retail and certain service activities below a sales-floor threshold, now 750 m², replacing it with a declaración responsable. Whether your activity is on that list, and what your town asks for, has to be confirmed for your case (to be verified). We do not file licences; we make sure the building work matches what has been approved. The licences guide sets out the verified basics and its sources.
Can we keep trading during the refit?
Sometimes. A refit can be split into zones so part of the shop stays open, or the noisy work can be moved to hours when the shop is closed. It needs careful planning: dust screens, a safe route for customers, and a clear agreement on what happens each day. It is not always possible, especially when floors or ceilings are replaced throughout.
Our guide to planning a refit around trading explains how we approach it without promising dates we cannot keep.
What does the owners’ community have to do with my shop?
Most commercial units on the coast sit on the ground floor of a residential building, governed by a comunidad de propietarios. Spanish horizontal-property law lets an owner modify the installations of their own unit as long as the building’s safety, structure and external appearance are not affected and the community representative is informed beforehand. Façades, shared pipes and the structure are a different matter.
Signage, extraction outlets and new openings in the frontage are the usual points of friction. Read our guide on shop works and the owners’ community before you plan them.
How do you price a fit-out?
We do not publish price lists: two units of the same size can need completely different work. The quote is itemised, with each task described and measured, so you can see what is included, what is excluded and what depends on your choices.
The factors that move the figure most are the state of the unit, the activity, the ceiling and lighting specification, the number of toilets, access for deliveries and debris, and whether work has to happen outside trading hours. The article on fit-out cost factors goes through them; our sister site presupuestoreforma.eu covers renovation pricing in general.
Can a shop be turned into a home?
In some places, under some conditions, yes — and it is a planning question before it is a building one. In Málaga city, an amendment to the general plan restricting ground-floor conversions received initial approval in July 2026, so rules there are changing (current status: to be verified). A Supreme Court ruling of June 2026, as reported by the architects’ council, confirmed that a change to residential use requires an architect.
We do the building work once your architect has confirmed the change is possible and defined the project. See commercial unit to home for what we take on and what we do not.
What do you not do?
Being clear about this saves time on both sides. We do not draw up technical projects, apply for licences or issue energy certificates. We do not build new premises from the ground up, install air conditioning or design kitchen extraction systems. If asbestos-cement panels or pipes turn up during strip-out, they must be removed by a registered specialist — see retiradauralitamalaga.eu.
What we do is the construction core of the fit-out, coordinated by one person, with materials sourced, the site kept tidy and the unit cleaned before you move in.
