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Shops, salons, small offices and takeaways
We are a small-premises contractor rather than a large-plant one, and being clear about that is more useful to you than pretending otherwise.
Buildings with one to four units on the roof
Packaged rooftop units and split systems on shops, salons, small offices, professional suites, cafes and light industrial units. We find every unit, identify it by model and serial number, match it to the area it actually serves, and measure it: airflow and static pressure, refrigerant charge, filter condition and the pressure drop across it, belt condition, condensate drainage, and a combustion analysis on gas heat.
Then a maintenance schedule timed to what the premises actually does. A takeaway wants its work done before summer and not during it. A salon wants a visit before opening rather than at two in the afternoon.
Where a building is bigger than that, we will say so. A roof with a dozen units, a central plant room or a building management system is a different size of contractor, and taking it on would not be doing you a favour.
Four kinds of small building, four different problems
Shops and salons
A door standing open is a trading decision and not ours to argue with, but it does mean the unit is conditioning the sidewalk. In a salon the heat is being made inside — dryers, styling equipment, lighting and people — and that is a load nobody counted when the unit was sized. We measure it at the hour it actually matters.
Small offices and professional suites
Nearly always a zoning problem rather than a capacity one: one thermostat governing a space with a glass front and an interior back room. Rebalancing, a second sensor and a schedule set to the hours the place is used will fix most of it, and all three are cheaper than plant.
Cafes and takeaways
Make-up air balanced against hood exhaust, measured rather than assumed. A kitchen out of balance pulls conditioned air from the front and from the street, which makes the front of house impossible and the line unbearable. We work on the air. We do not clean hoods, certify fire suppression or touch refrigeration.
Light industrial units
Usually a tall space with the warm air at the roof and the people on the floor. Air movement, ventilation and spot cooling at the fixed work positions will move the number at head height further than plant would. Where extraction is dealing with dust or fumes rather than heat, that is an industrial hygiene question and we will say so.
What we do in premises
- Unit survey and records
Every unit found, identified, measured and mapped to what it serves, in a folder rather than a note in somebody’s phone.
- Planned maintenance
Timed to what the premises does, with the same readings each visit and a written record per unit.
- Repair and replacement
Repair diagnosed and costed first. Replacement sized from the load the premises carries now.
- Make-up air and kitchen balance
Extraction measured against supply, with the figures written down.
- Zoning and controls
Sensors where the complaints are and schedules set to the hours the place is actually open.
- Ventilation and air movement
Fans, extraction and spot cooling where moving the air beats cooling more of it.
Work we turn down
| We decline | Who it belongs to |
|---|---|
| Large multi-unit roofs and plant rooms | Beyond about four units, a central plant room or a building management system, this is a bigger contractor’s job and we will say so at the first visit rather than after. |
| Commercial refrigeration | Walk-ins, display cases and ice machines are adjacent and are a different trade. |
| Hood cleaning and fire suppression | Separate licensed jobs. We do the air balance around the hood. |
| Chiller plant and cooling towers | A different discipline with different tickets. |
| Process extraction for dust or fumes | Where extraction is a containment question rather than a comfort one it needs an industrial hygienist. |
| Clinical certification | Where a space must be certified to a clinical standard we hand it to a specialist rather than sign something we are not qualified to sign. |
Tell us the premises
What it is, how many units are on the roof, when you open, and where the complaints come from. 2916 Tapo Canyon Rd, Simi Valley. Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.