Commercial systems are designed for peak simultaneous demand rather than family use, are subject to water hygiene obligations that domestic systems are not, and have to be maintained without closing the building. Those three differences drive almost everything.
What makes it different
Demand patterns
A domestic system is sized for a household. A commercial one is sized for peak simultaneous demand, which in an office means everybody using the washroom at the same moment, and in a school means four hundred people in a five-minute break. Getting that wrong produces a building where the taps work fine at ten in the morning and not at all at break time.
Duty cycles
Commercial fittings are used tens or hundreds of times a day. Domestic fittings are not designed for that and fail quickly when subjected to it. Specifying commercial-grade taps, flush valves and cisterns is not gold-plating; it is the difference between a washroom that needs attention monthly and one that does not.
Water hygiene
Duty holders in non-domestic premises have legal obligations in respect of legionella risk that simply do not apply to a home. This affects design, temperature control, the avoidance of dead legs, and ongoing monitoring – see water hygiene and legionella.
You cannot turn the building off
A domestic job can drain the house down on a Tuesday. A commercial job frequently cannot, which means valved sections, temporary supplies, night work and phased isolation. This is usually the biggest single factor in how commercial work is planned and priced.
What we do
- Washroom installation and refurbishment – see washroom installation.
- Commercial kitchens – supplies, wastes, grease management, dishwasher and glasswasher connections, and the water treatment that protects them.
- High-demand hot water – calorifiers, water heaters and plate heat exchangers sized to real peak draw rather than to a rule of thumb.
- Mains and incoming services – upgrades, meters, boosting and pressure control where the supply is the limiting factor.
- Booster sets and pressurisation for multi-storey and long-run distribution.
- Above-ground drainage and soil systems, including alterations during fit-out.
- Backflow prevention to the correct fluid category, which is a genuine compliance matter in commercial premises and frequently wrong.
- Pipework alterations for fit-out and change of use, coordinated with other trades.
- Water treatment – softening and filtration for catering, laundry and process use in a hard water county.
- Leak detection and repair on live buildings, where finding it without opening the building up matters more than anywhere.
Backflow prevention, which is often wrong
The Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations classify contamination risk into fluid categories, and require backflow protection appropriate to the category present. In a house, almost everything is low category and a double check valve on an outside tap covers most of it.
In commercial premises the categories escalate quickly: a commercial dishwasher, a chemical dosing point, a cleaner’s sink, a laboratory, a hose union in a yard, a dental chair, a cattle trough. Each requires a specific level of protection, and the protection has to match the highest risk on that branch.
This is one of the most commonly non-compliant aspects of commercial plumbing, because fittings get added over the years without anybody reassessing the category. It is also one that a water company inspection will pick up. It is worth having looked at as a matter of course rather than after an inspection.
How commercial work gets planned
- Survey with the building in useUnderstanding the actual demand pattern, not the drawing. When are the peaks, what cannot be interrupted, and where is the isolation.
- Scope and constraints agreedWorking hours, access, noise, dust, isolation windows, and what has to stay live throughout.
- RAMSRisk assessment and method statement, produced in advance for sites that require them.
- PhasingWork sequenced so the building keeps functioning – half the washrooms at a time, night isolations, temporary supplies where needed.
- Execution with live-building disciplineIsolation valves proven before anything is cut, temporary capping ready, and somebody contactable throughout.
- Testing, chlorination and commissioningPressure testing, and disinfection where new pipework is being brought into use on a potable system.
- RecordsAs-fitted information, test results, and any certification the work requires.
The single most useful question on any commercial plumbing job is: what can actually be isolated, and does the valve work? A great many commercial buildings have isolation valves that have not been operated in fifteen years and will not close. Proving them – and replacing the ones that fail – is often the first piece of real work.
Sectors we work in
The constraints differ enormously by sector, and the sector pages set out what each one actually involves: offices, retail, hospitality, education, healthcare, agriculture, industrial and property management.
Fitting out, refurbishing or inheriting a building? A survey while it is in use tells you far more than a drawing does.
Questions we get asked about this
Can you work outside our trading hours?
Yes, and for most commercial clients it is the only practical option. Night and weekend working is normal for anything that requires isolation of services.
Do you provide RAMS and insurance documents?
Yes. Risk assessments and method statements in advance where required, and current insurance certificates on request.
What size of job do you take on?
From reactive repairs and washroom refurbishments through to fit-out plumbing packages. We are a regional business and we are honest about scale – if a project needs a contractor with more resource than we have, we will say so.
Do you do drainage below ground?
Above-ground drainage and soil systems, yes. Below-ground drainage, camera surveys and collapsed clay pipework are a drainage specialist’s work and we will tell you rather than guessing at it.
What about water hygiene obligations?
They apply to non-domestic premises and they are a duty holder responsibility. We can carry out the plumbing side and advise on how the system design affects risk – see the water hygiene page for what is actually required.
Can you coordinate with our other contractors?
Yes, and on fit-out work it is essential. Plumbing first fix has to land in the right order relative to electrical, ceilings and joinery, and somebody has to own that sequence.
Regulations and standards referenced on this page
- The Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999 (SI 1999/1148) — UK Statute Law Database
What happens when you call
Call and describe it
You speak to an engineer, not a call centre. Most jobs can be narrowed down on the phone.
We look at it properly
A real diagnosis before a price, and a straight answer if it is not worth doing.
A written quote
Itemised, so you can see what you are paying for.
The job, and the paperwork
Certificates where the work needs them, and what will need attention next.
Where we do this work
Across Norwich and the whole of Norfolk. If you are on the edge of the county, call and ask — we will tell you honestly whether we are the right people.
- Norwich
- Wymondham
- Dereham
- Attleborough
- Aylsham
- North Walsham
- Cromer
- Diss
- Loddon
- Long Stratton
- Watton
- King's Lynn
Need this doing?
Call and describe the problem — you will speak to an engineer, not a call centre. Written quotes, no estimates over the phone.