What counts as a small commercial job?
Think of jobs that look like a home install, but in a business: wall splits or ceiling cassettes in a shop or office, a multi-split for a few consulting rooms, a ducted system for a small fit-out, or cooling for a comms or server room.
Mitsubishi Electric suggests ceiling cassettes for commercial settings, offices and large open-plan areas where wall space is limited. Several brands keep a separate commercial or light commercial range, including Daikin, whose cassettes sit in its light commercial range, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which runs a separate commercial website.
Bigger systems, such as VRF (one outdoor system serving many indoor units across a building), chillers and packaged units, are usually designed by a mechanical services engineer and installed by a commercial contractor. If that's your job, we're probably not the right first call.
Why commercial use changes the warranty
Check the terms for business use before you buy, because several brands give it a shorter warranty than home use. Midea's distributor lists 24 months for commercial use, TCL 12 months, and Carrier's warranty certificate gives 5 years in commercial use against 7 in a home.
Mitsubishi Electric treats installations in server or communication rooms as commercial, with 1 year parts and labour. If a unit will run day and night to cool equipment, ask about that up front.
Ask the installer which warranty applies to your use, and get the answer in writing.
Licences still apply
The refrigerant rules are the same as for homes. The restricted RSS03 licence stops at single-head splits under 18kW, so anything larger, or any multi-head system, needs a full RAC01 licence holder.
State rules cover business premises too. In Queensland, the QBCC defines mechanical services work as heating and cooling systems in commercial and residential buildings, and requires a licence for it whatever the job's value.
Bigger systems may need three phase power, so have the installer check your supply before they quote. If you lease, talk to the landlord before anything goes on the roof or an outside wall.
Long hours change the running sums
A shop or office may run its air conditioning all day, most days of the week, so running costs weigh more than they do at home. Work yours out with input power rather than capacity: Mitsubishi Electric explains that capacity is what the unit delivers, while input power is what it draws. Multiply the input power in kW by your trading hours and your electricity rate, or use our running cost tool.
Servicing matters more with long hours. Mitsubishi Electric recommends professional servicing once a year, and Gree's warranty card needs maintenance at intervals of no more than 12 months.
In NSW, Energy NSW says households and small businesses may be eligible for the air conditioner discount under the Energy Savings Scheme, through installers who partner with Accredited Certificate Providers.
What you can sort out, and what the installer does
You can
- Measure the space and note how many people and how much equipment are usually in it.
- Note your trading hours and when the space gets hottest.
- Ask the landlord or building manager what's allowed on the roof and walls.
- Keep the filters clean on the schedule in the manual.
Leave to a licensed installer
- A heat load that counts people, equipment, glass and sun.
- Electrical work, including any three phase connection.
- Refrigerant work, commissioning and the compliance paperwork.
- A service schedule that keeps the warranty valid.
What we'd do
What we'd do
For a small shop or office, we'd treat it like a home install with longer hours: a proper heat load, units the brand warrants for commercial use, and yearly servicing booked from the start. For anything bigger than a handful of units, we'd talk to a commercial mechanical contractor first. Tell us about the job either way, and we'll say plainly whether we have the right installer for it.
