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What will your buildout actually cost?
A planning range in about thirty seconds, built from market rates for comparable Ontario projects. No email required, nothing to sign up for.
- Takes
- 30 seconds
- Email required
- No
- Based on
- Ontario rates
- Updated
- 2025–26
What moves the number
Four things decide most of your budget.
Understanding these is worth more than any calculator, because they are the levers you can still pull before you sign a lease.
The condition of the space
The single biggest lever. A cold shell needs everything — plumbing, ventilation, electrical, fit-out. A second-generation restaurant hands you some of that for free. A retail or office unit is worse than a shell, because change of use pulls occupancy, exiting and barrier-free washrooms into scope.
The mechanical load
A Type 1 hood over a cooking line brings exhaust, tempered make-up air, fire suppression and a path to the roof the building has to physically accommodate. A café with a Type 2 hood and no gas is a different budget entirely.
The market
Trades and permit fees cost more in the GTA than in Kitchener–Waterloo or London. Same drawings, different number.
Size, but not linearly
Fixed costs — the permit set, the mechanical design, the inspections — spread across more floor area. Cost per square foot falls as the space grows, which is why a 9,000 sq ft grocery store can price lower per foot than a 1,200 sq ft café.
Why this is a range and not a price
Anyone who quotes a food buildout to the dollar before seeing drawings is guessing. Until somebody opens a ceiling, nobody knows whether the gas service is sized for your equipment, whether the sanitary stack is where the record drawings say, or whether the roof will carry a new rooftop unit. We have found all three. The range above is what comparable projects cost; the written quote comes after the free consultation, once we have looked properly.
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Send us the project and we come back within one business day with a timeline, a preliminary cost breakdown and an honest answer if it does not work as scoped.
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