Custom commercial shopfronts give retailers a distinctive, welcoming entrance, and automatic doors complete the look. This guide covers custom commercial shopfronts and how powered entrances suit them, with options for every kind of storefront.
For prices and the right entrance for each type of building, see our main page on commercial shopfronts. To compare options and arrange a site visit, see our automatic doors page.
Commercial Automatic Doors matters for South African property owners planning windows, doors or automatic entrances. This guide explains commercial automatic doors clearly so you can decide with confidence. In this guide we look at commercial automatic doors in line with recognised automatic door technology. Requirements for powered pedestrian doors in South Africa are published through SABS.
When a commercial project moves from concept to construction, the entrance and facade are where architectural vision meets daily footfall. Coetz™ is more than a residential window supplier — we are a manufacturing partner for architects, developers, and commercial contractors who need custom aluminium systems built to an exact specification and quoted directly from their plans.
More Than Standard Sizes — Built to Your Specification
Off-the-shelf residential dimensions rarely fit a commercial development. Retail entrances, corporate lobbies, and modern showrooms each carry their own structural, dimensional, and building-code requirements. Every Coetz commercial system is engineered to the sizes and performance criteria on your drawings, using robust aluminium profiles and laminated safety glazing suited to high-traffic public environments. Because we design and manufacture to order, and MC Automations, our parent company, installs, there is no compromise between the look you specified and the durability the building needs.
Custom Shopfronts & Structural Glass Facades
A shopfront is the first thing a customer sees and the hardest-working element of the building envelope. Our custom shopfront systems combine slim aluminium framing with structural glass to create bright, secure, and contemporary storefronts. Typical applications include:
- Retail units and shopping-centre storefronts
- Corporate office entrances and reception facades
- Showrooms and dealerships where visibility sells
- Hospitality, medical, and mixed-use developments
We can integrate large glazed spans, feature entrances, and automatic door openings into a single coordinated facade, so the finished result reads as one clean architectural line rather than a set of separate components.
Automatic Sliding & Swing Door Systems
For buildings that need hands-free, high-volume access, Coetz supplies custom automatic entrances that integrate seamlessly with the surrounding glazed facade to deliver safety, energy efficiency, and a modern aesthetic.
Automatic sliding doors
Ideal for retail centres, corporate offices, and any entrance with steady two-way foot traffic, automatic sliding doors deliver smooth, energy-efficient access while helping to control heating and cooling losses at the threshold. Our MC-125 sliding system is built for reliability under constant daily use, in single-sliding or bi-parting configurations.
Automatic swing doors
Where a single-leaf entrance, an existing opening, or access control suits the layout, automatic swing door operators provide accessible, hands-free entry — well suited to offices, clinics, and access-controlled entrances. Both sliding and swing systems can be specified with safety sensors and access-control integration to match your building’s traffic and security requirements.
Quoted Directly From Your Architectural Plans
You do not need finished shop drawings to get started — a floor plan or elevation is enough for us to begin. Send us your architectural drawings and our team will:
- Review the openings, spans, and performance requirements on your plan
- Engineer a system specification in aluminium, with the right glazing and hardware
- Return a detailed, itemised quotation matched to your commercial code requirements
- Manufacture the approved system to order for supply to site
This plan-based approach removes guesswork for the project team and gives quantity surveyors and architects an accurate cost early in the process. If you are pricing an automated entrance, our guides on what to include in a quotation and how to measure a shopfront are useful starting points.
A Supply Partner That Works the Way Contractors Do
Coetz designs and manufactures your shopfronts and supplies the automatic door systems to match, and MC Automations, our parent company, installs them. For main contractors and fit-out teams, that means competitive project pricing, predictable lead times, and no reliance on a third party’s installation schedule. Trade and professional clients can open a trade account for project pricing and manage specifications through our professional portal.
Start Your Commercial Project
Whether you are specifying a single retail entrance or glazing an entire development, Coetz can turn your plans into a manufactured, on-spec aluminium system. Explore our custom shopfront services or share your drawings with our team to get a tailored quotation for your shopfront, structural facade, or automatic door package.
More about commercial automatic doors
Understanding commercial automatic doors helps you specify the right entrance the first time. The best results come from matching the operator, sensors and glass to the building and its traffic, then commissioning the door so it opens smoothly and closes safely. Cutting corners on any of these usually costs more later in call-outs and downtime, so it pays to get the specification right at the start.
Every site is a little different, so the commercial automatic doors that suits a busy mall entrance is not the same as a quiet office door. Traffic volume, opening width, safety requirements and the look of the frontage all shape the final choice, which is why a short site assessment is always worth the time before you commit.
Coetz supplies automatic doors and MC Automations, our parent company, installs and services them, and we are happy to advise on commercial automatic doors for your project – from a single entrance to a multi-door development, backed by service and genuine spare parts.
Coetz designs and manufactures custom commercial shopfronts with automatic doors, installed by MC Automations and tailored to your brand and traffic.
Custom Commercial Shopfronts
Coetz Glazing designs and manufactures to spec, and MC Automations installs and services what we make — contact us for a site measure and a fixed-price quote.
Questions about custom commercial shopfronts? Call 010 412 0062 or WhatsApp 076 613 4418. Before quoting custom commercial shopfronts, we measure the opening on site and confirm the layout, glass and doors.
For custom commercial shopfronts, Coetz™ manufactures the frontage and MC Automations, our parent company, installs it. Send us photos and rough sizes and we will price custom commercial shopfronts for your opening.
How the safety side actually works
Two sensor types work together on custom commercial shopfronts & Automatic doors: motion detection to open on approach, and presence detection to hold the door while somebody stands in the opening. Add safety beams and a force limit and the door reverses rather than pushing. Most call-outs we attend are sensors knocked out of alignment by a trolley or a delivery, not motors that have failed.
We walk the opening with a trolley and at normal walking pace before handover, then record the speed, hold-open and force settings.
What maintenance on custom commercial shopfronts & Automatic doors involves
We recommend a service every six months, with more frequent visits for very busy entrances. Each visit realigns sensors, inspects belt, rollers and guides, re-checks opening and closing force and swaps wear parts before they fail. Because we hold operators, sensors, belts and control boards in stock, most repairs happen on the visit rather than waiting on an import.
Servicing runs nationwide, and Gauteng call-outs are attended within 24 hours.
Budgeting for custom commercial shopfronts & Automatic doors
Opening width, glass specification, sensor layout and access control are what separate one quotation from another, so compare them line by line rather than on the total alone. A free site measure confirms the opening, the power supply and the traffic before we commit to a fixed price, and the standard glazing is 6.38 mm laminated safety glass.
Do automatic doors work during load-shedding?
Only if that was specified. A battery backup keeps the door operating through a slot; without one, the door should be set to fail open or fail secure, with a manual release staff know how to use.
Do you work outside Gauteng?
Yes. Automatic doors are supplied, installed and serviced nationwide, with call-outs within 24 hours in Gauteng.
Glass, frames and finishes
Standard glazing is 6.38 mm clear laminated safety glass, which holds together if it is ever broken and takes the edge off outside noise. Tinted and performance glass are available, quoted separately, where solar gain or privacy matters, and toughened glass suits frameless and low-level applications. The framing is powder-coated in the colour that suits the building, so an entrance reads as part of the frontage rather than something bolted on afterwards.
Upgrading an existing entrance
An existing doorway can usually be automated without rebuilding the frontage. A swing operator suits a hinged door that is staying put; a sliding installation replaces a tired frontage and gives a wider, cleaner opening. The deciding factors are the strength of the head, the squareness of the opening and the route for power.
Common faults and what they mean
Doors that stay open usually have a sensor seeing something that is not there — a reflection, a banner moving in the draught, or a unit knocked out of alignment. Doors that stop short are often reacting to an obstruction or a force limit set too tight. Grinding or juddering points at the rollers or the guide rather than the motor. None of those need a new operator; they need a technician with the right spares in the van.
Can the hold-open time be changed?
Yes — it is adjustable at commissioning and afterwards, which is how sites run a longer hold during deliveries and a shorter one at quiet times.
Custom commercial shopfronts in short
If you are pricing custom commercial shopfronts, send the structural opening sizes and a photograph and we will specify the system, the sensors and the glass against the traffic the doorway really carries. Custom commercial shopfronts are supplied, installed and serviced by one team, with spares held locally.
Ask us about custom commercial shopfronts and we will confirm the opening, the power supply and the traffic flow before quoting a fixed price.
Custom commercial shopfronts at a glance
- Pricing for custom commercial shopfronts follows the opening width, the glass and the sensor layout.
- Ask us to confirm the opening before ordering custom commercial shopfronts.
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