The finish changes.
Everything under it stays.
Architectural film is a printed, textured, topcoated vinyl applied over the surface you already have. Cabinet boxes, hinges, jambs and elevator returns stay where they are. You pick a finish off the chip deck, we wrap what is already in the building.
- Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach
- Occupied buildings, floor by floor
- Substrate stays intact, film is removable
Replacement is a project. The finish was the only thing you wanted to change.
Tearing out sound casework to change how it looks starts a chain nobody asked for. The boxes were fine. The doors closed. The cab ran. What dated was the surface, and the surface is four thousandths of an inch thick.
Film is applied over the existing substrate and it comes off again, so what is underneath stays intact.
- PermitsDrawn, submitted and waited on before a single fastener moves.
- Lead timesCasework and cab panels are made to order. The quote is not the calendar.
- DemolitionDust containment, negative air, protection of everything you are not replacing.
- DumpstersA container in the loading zone and sound material going into it.
- Stacked tradesDemo, carpentry, electrical, paint and punch, each waiting on the last.
- Dark spaceFloors, cabs or kitchens nobody can use while the work runs.
What gets wrapped
Scope is a count, not an estimate. Every item below is measured, numbered and priced as its own line. Timing sits in the notes because it belongs to the surface, not to a brochure.
| Surface | Notes |
|---|---|
| Doors and frames | Both faces, the edge and the hollow metal frame. The closer, lockset and hinges stay hung and we work around them. A floor of doors runs off-hours, so nothing is out of service during business hours. |
| Elevator cab interiors | Cab walls, returns and the ceiling reveal. Cabs come out of service one at a time so the bank keeps running. |
| Landing doors and jambs | Landing door faces and the jamb, floor by floor. Sequenced off the passenger schedule rather than against it. |
| Walls and columns | Full height wall panels and column wraps over painted drywall or existing laminate. Flat and sound is the requirement. |
| Casework and millwork | Reception fronts, panel ends, toe kicks and countertop faces. Boxes and slides stay in place, so nothing is disassembled. |
| Ceilings and soffits | Soffit faces and bulkheads, wrapped from the same run as the wall so the pattern carries across the corner. |
| Surface | Notes |
|---|---|
| Kitchen cabinetry | Door and drawer fronts, panel ends and toe kicks. Hinges and slides are reused, so the doors close the way they close now. |
| Vanities | Fronts, gables and the kick. Plumbing stays connected and the top stays set. |
| Countertops | Wrapped where the substrate is flat, sound and square edged. A rolled or bullnose edge is a conversation at the walkthrough, before it is a quote. |
| Interior doors | Both faces and the edge, hinges left hung. Casing is wrapped or left, your call at sign-off. |
| Built-ins and millwork | Shelving gables, bookcases and closet systems, wrapped in place. |
| Yacht galley and interior panels | Galley joinery, panel faces and cabin doors, dockside. Joinery stays in the boat. |
Same position, same lens
Every pair below is shot from one spot before the cart arrives and again after the punch list closes. Nothing is staged between the two frames.
Replace this line with what actually changed.
Replace this line with what actually changed.
What lands on your desk
Six documents. You can hand any of them to somebody who was not on the walkthrough and they will still know what was agreed.
Scope basis
A surface count. Every door, cab, panel end and gable listed and numbered. The count is the scope.
Pricing basis
Priced off that count, by surface and by linear foot. No allowance line you cannot trace back to an item.
Schedule
Sequenced against your operating hours, floor by floor. Nights and weekends are the normal case, not a surcharge conversation.
Finish sign-off
Physical chips on site, under your lighting, initialled before anything is ordered. Nobody approves a grain off a screen.
Closeout
Walkthrough against the count, punch items raised and closed, and the cart pulled only after the list is clear.
Documentation
A finish schedule keyed to the surface count, plus the leftover material logged and left on site for future spot repair.
Four stations
The order never changes, and each station ends with something written down.
Walkthrough and count
We measure and number every surface in scope, note the substrate condition and say plainly where film is the wrong answer.
Finish selection
Physical chips on your table, under your lighting. Grain, gloss and texture read differently in the room than on a monitor.
Installation
Substrate cleaned and prepped, film applied, edges wrapped and sealed. Occupied floors stay occupied while we work.
Closeout
Walkthrough against the count, punch items closed, finish schedule handed over with the leftover material.
The deck
More than 500 finishes exist across six families. You will not choose from a screen. This is the shape of the conversation, and the chips come to you.
Rift oak, walnut, ash and reclaimed grain. Embossed so the texture reads under a hand, not just under a light.
Marble, travertine and quartzite patterning for vertical faces and panel ends where real slab is not worth the weight.
Brushed, hairline and blackened metals. The usual answer for elevator returns, cab panels and door edges.
Woven and linen textures for walls and soffits, where a flat colour would show every seam in the drywall behind it.
Board formed and troweled concrete for columns and feature walls, without the weight or the pour.
Matte and satin solids for doors, frames and toe kicks. The quiet half of most schedules.
Finish names and codes are printed on the physical chips and carried into the finish schedule at sign-off.
The questions that actually get asked
Is this contact paper?
It is a layered vinyl film: a printed pattern, an embossed texture and a protective topcoat, applied over the substrate by hand with heat and a squeegee. Ten or more years is typical on interior surfaces. Contact paper is a single adhesive layer with a printed face and no topcoat, and it does not last a year on a door push zone.
What happens to what is underneath?
It stays intact. Film goes over the existing substrate and can be removed later. Hardware, hinges, slides and cabinet boxes stay in place, which is why nothing has to be rebuilt afterwards and why a tenant improvement can be reversed at the end of a lease.
Where does film not work?
Heavily textured, flaking or delaminating substrates. Deep grain block, rough stucco and failing laminate are the usual disqualifiers, and they need repair first or a different answer entirely. We tell you which surfaces those are at the walkthrough, before anything is priced, because finding out later is expensive for both of us.
What happens where people actually touch it?
Wear shows first at high touch zones: door push areas, elevator returns, drawer pulls and the leading edge of a reception counter. Those panels can be spot replaced on their own, so a worn return does not mean redoing the cab.
How is it cleaned?
Mild soap and water on a soft cloth. No abrasive pads, no solvent based cleaners and nothing scouring, which is the same rule most of your existing millwork already follows.
Can you work in an occupied building?
Yes, and that is the usual case. Work is sequenced floor by floor and off-hours. There is no demolition, no dust containment and no dumpster, so the space you hand us in the evening is the space you get back in the morning.
Send the surface list
A rough count is enough to start. Doors, cabs, cabinet fronts, a floor of casework. Photos of the existing surfaces or a floor plan get you a closer number faster.
If the substrate turns out to be wrong for film, we will say so before anyone spends money on it.