Commercial Flooring Contractor
Commercial wood floors — fit-out grade craftsmanship.
Foyers, offices, retail, hospitality and sports halls. Same family team, same finish standards, scheduled to your fit-out programme.
RAMS supplied · £5M public liability · CSCS-carded · BREEAM material specs available on request
5M
£ public liability
29+
years contract experience
5.0
★ · 215 reviews
About commercial installations
A residential standard of finish, delivered on a contract programme.
Most commercial flooring contractors are organised around volume — big crews, framework agreements, machine-laid square metres. Forrestal is the other shape: a small, time-served team that brings the residential standard of finish into commercial spaces, and integrates into a wider fit-out without dropping balls. Specifiers, project managers and end-clients tend to come to us for the jobs where the floor is meant to be noticed — foyers, member's clubs, hospitality, listed-building refurbishments, premium retail.
We carry £5M public liability and £10M employer's liability, RAMS supplied as standard, CSCS-carded operatives, and we work to BREEAM material specifications where the building is being scored. The work itself is the same as our residential side — solid timber acclimatised on site where the floor calls for it, dimensionally-stable engineered boards, traditional sub-floor preparation, hand-applied hardwax oils or a commercial-grade Bona lacquer where the wear specification demands it. The difference is the wrapper: programme integration with M&E and joinery, overnight and weekend phasing in occupied premises, dust-isolation that lets the next trade in on schedule, and a defect liability period that puts you at the front of the queue for the year after handover.
RAMS, method statements & insurance certs supplied at tender stage
Acoustic underlay & sub-floor flatness to BS 8204 spec
Bona commercial-wear lacquer for high-traffic areas
Overnight & weekend phasing in occupied premises
BREEAM-aligned timber sourcing (FSC / PEFC) on request
12-month defect liability post-handover
Most common
Office & Workplace
Engineered oak, walnut and ash for reception areas, boardrooms and breakout spaces. Acoustic underlay (LVT-equivalent IIC ratings), a commercial-grade Bona lacquer, and we sequence the work around occupied floors so trading isn't interrupted. Ideal for partner offices, premium fit-outs, member's clubs.
Brand-driven
Retail & Hospitality
Boutique retail, restaurants, hotels and pubs. Period-style boards, painted pine, oiled oak, smoked planks — whatever the brand book calls for. We work fit-out hours including overnights, and we'll mock-up board samples in-situ under the actual lighting before the main install commits. For restaurant- and café-specific work (slip-rated finishes, food-safe sealers, overnight phasing) see our restaurants & cafés page; for country pubs, coaching inns, gastropubs and brewery tap rooms (reclaimed boards, listed-building consent liaison, trading-day phasing) see our pubs, bars & inns page; for multi-room boutique-hotel, country-house and B&B programmes (phased install around occupancy, IIC-rated acoustic underlay, batch-matched timber) see our hotel & hospitality flooring page; for barn wedding venues, country-house wedding hotels, marquee-company permanent dance floors and estate event spaces (Bona commercial-wear lacquer, seasonal install in the Oct–Feb closure window, spot-repair protocol) see our wedding & event venue flooring page.
Specialist
Sports Halls & Studios
Sprung sports floors — installation, refinish and re-line. Compliant with surface specifications for the relevant sport (basketball, badminton, dance, multi-use), audited annually if required. Game-line painting in two-pack polyurethane to your governing body's spec.
Heritage
Listed & Heritage Buildings
Sympathetic restoration in churches, halls, museums and listed commercial buildings. Conservation officer liaison included — we've worked under Grade II and Grade II* consents, with sympathetic species matching, traditional fixings, and reversible methodology where the consent demands it.
Mid-programme
Fit-out Phasing & Snagging
Coming in late on someone else's programme — taking over a stalled install, snagging a previous contractor's defects, or fitting around a tight handover window. We'll quote on programme as well as on cost, and we don't down-tools at 5pm if the weekend handover needs to happen.
How we run a commercial job
From specification to handover & defect liability.
Commercial work rewards process discipline. Our job-running rhythm slots into a wider fit-out without becoming a noisy interface for the project manager.
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Tender & specification review
Drawings, finishes schedule, NBS spec, programme. We respond on a like-for-like basis if the spec's tight, or with sympathetic alternatives where there's room — same wear class, lower carbon, better lead-time. Insurance certificates, RAMS template, COSHH register and example QA pack supplied at tender.
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Pre-start: sample-mock & sub-floor survey
Once awarded, we'll mock up a 1m² sample on-site under the actual lighting before the main material order commits. Sub-floor tested for moisture (Tramex hygrometer to BS 8203) and flatness (3m straight-edge to SR2). Anything out of tolerance gets self-levelled or floated before timber arrives.
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Acclimatisation
Solid timber delivered to site ahead of installation, broken from packaging, and acclimatised in the conditioned space — engineered boards are dimensionally stable and don't need the same window. Where acclimatisation applies, we log temperature and RH daily and the certificate goes into the QA file, protecting your warranty if there's ever a movement claim.
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Install — fit-out hours
Glue-down, secret-nail, or floating per spec. We'll sequence around the joiners, M&E and decorators on a normal fit-out programme, and we'll go on overnights or weekend shifts where the building's occupied. PPE and noise discipline to the principal contractor's site rules — no surprises at the morning briefing.
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Sand & finish
On solid and parquet jobs the install is followed by a three-pass sand with HEPA-extracted dust, then your specified finish — typically a Bona commercial lacquer for high-traffic wear, hardwax oil where the brief calls for matt period look, or two-pack polyurethane for sports surfaces. Cure schedule shared with the PM so the next trade has clean dates.
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Handover, QA pack & defect liability
Final walkthrough with the PM and end-client. QA pack delivered on handover — material certificates (FSC/PEFC, BREEAM evidence where applicable), moisture logs, finish data sheets, maintenance regime card, photographic record. 12-month defect liability period as standard; longer warranty available on request.
Recent commercial installations work
A few of our commercial installations projects.
Real homes where this work has just gone in — across Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire.
Petersfield area, GU31
Strand bamboo floor and step
Warm golden strand bamboo run as long planks across a commercial retail floor, carried up over a low step to a raised display area behind glass — a hard-wearing, fine-lined timber finished to a clean gloss. The kind of durable shop floor we’d lay in the Petersfield area.
Chichester, PO19
Natural oak herringbone floor
Natural oak laid in a classic herringbone pattern across an open-plan kitchen and dining space — a light honey tone with gentle grain, finished in a low-sheen oil that keeps it bright and easy to live on. The kind of warm, sociable floor we’d lay in Chichester.
Haslemere, GU27
Whitewashed oak herringbone floor
Pale grey-brown oak herringbone laid around a black granite hearth — a soft whitewashed tone with quiet grain, finished matt so it stays calm and contemporary against the dark fire surround. The kind of light herringbone floor we’d run through a Haslemere home.
Midhurst, GU29
Walnut-toned oak plank floor
Rich walnut-toned oak laid as wide boards through a garden room opening to the patio — a deep warm brown with clear grain, finished to a soft satin sheen that catches the light from the glazing. The kind of dark, characterful floor we’d lay in Midhurst.
Commercial Installations across the region
Commercial Installations from Chichester to Emsworth.
Commercial Installations is the bread and butter of the workshop. You’ll see our van rolling out of Bognor Regis most weeks toward Chichester, Haslemere, Petersfield, Midhurst, Arundel, Petworth and Emsworth — the postcodes across Sussex, Surrey & Hampshire where commercial installations keeps the diary full. Foyers, offices, retail, hospitality, sports halls — traditional methods, modern tooling, delivered on schedule.
Whether the brief is a Georgian terrace in Chichester, a 1930s semi out near Haslemere, or a converted barn off the lanes around Emsworth, the spec and the standard don’t shift. Darren surveys on-site, sample boards stay with you for a fortnight under your own lighting, and the install runs in a single solid stretch — no day-trip back-and-forth, no chain of phone numbers, flat-rate quotes by the job not the mile. Family team since 1997, covering Sussex, Surrey & Hampshire from the same coastal base.
“My experience with Forrestal was upfront and transparent from the start to finish, they promised champagne and delivered champagne, with no nasty additional costs at the end. I would have no hesitation in recommending.”
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Frequently asked
Questions about commercial installations.
Are you fully insured for commercial work?
Yes — £5M public liability, £10M employer's liability, and method statements / RAMS supplied for every job. We're CSCS-carded and can work to BREEAM material specifications where the building is being scored. All certificates available at tender stage as standard, and we'll happily complete a PQQ for the principal contractor.
Can you work to a fit-out programme?
Always. Most of our commercial work is sequenced into a wider fit-out — we coordinate with the M&E, decoration and joinery trades, and we'll work overnights or weekends in occupied premises if the programme needs it. We respond on programme as well as on cost at tender stage, and we hold to the dates we sign up to.
Do you supply a QA pack at handover?
Yes. As standard you'll get material certificates (including FSC/PEFC chain-of-custody and BREEAM evidence where applicable), sub-floor moisture logs, sub-floor flatness records, finish data sheets, the agreed maintenance regime, and a photographic record of the install. On listed-building work the conservation officer's correspondence is included too.
What's your defect liability period?
12 months as standard, running from the practical completion date. Longer warranties (up to 5 years on the timber, 10 years on certain finish systems) are available on request — we'll tie that into the manufacturer's product warranty so you've got a single point of contact if anything ever needs revisiting. Most clients never call us back inside that window.
Can you re-finish or re-line a sports hall floor?
Yes — sprung sports surfaces, full sand-and-refinish in two-pack polyurethane, and game-line repainting to the relevant governing body specification (basketball, badminton, multi-use). We'll work to your annual maintenance window, including school holidays for education clients. Surface friction and shock-absorption testing arranged via specialist sub-consultants where the certification cycle requires it.
What's your typical lead time on a commercial project?
From a confirmed PO, we'll usually mobilise within 4–6 weeks for a standard fit-out. Tighter turnarounds are workable where we can hold material in stock — we'll be honest at tender about which combinations of species, finish and grade have stock-on-water lead times that affect the date. Where you're chasing a hard handover (lease expiry, brand launch), we'll re-shape the programme around the immovable dates rather than promise something we can't hold.
Do you work in Grade II or Grade II* listed buildings?
Yes — regularly. We'll liaise directly with the conservation officer (and your heritage consultant if appointed), put forward methodology that meets the consent conditions, and sympathetically match species, fixings and finishes to the building's period. Reversible methodology is offered where the consent requires it. Nothing leaves site without conservation sign-off where listed-building consent applies.
Ready to start?
Talk to Darren direct
07973 658149
Mon–Fri, 8am–6pm
Get a free survey for your commercial installations.
Darren will visit, measure up and walk you through species, finishes and lead times. No pressure, no hard sell — just specialist advice.
