i30 Builders · Canton, TX
What a commercial remodel costs in Canton
Canton commercial work runs on the trade-days calendar, and being in the wrong week here is worse than being over budget. The rate card does not change for Van Zandt County. What changes a Canton number is the square-front building stock and whether a food concept triggers a hood and an interceptor.
$7.5K to $150K+ · Permits and inspections in the price · Written scope before deposit
Published Rates
The rate card, and it is the same in Canton as everywhere else we work
These rates do not move by city. Labor and material cost about the same across Dallas-Fort Worth and East Texas, so quoting Canton differently would be a markup, not a rate. What changes locally is which scopes come up, how long review takes, and what the building you signed is hiding. That is the rest of this page.
These are budgeting ranges, not a quote. Scope moves the number more than square footage does, which is why each tier is a range rather than a rate.
Cafe or coffee refresh, second-generation food space
$45 to $90/SF
$25,000 minimum
Taking over a space that was already a food business and changing the look, not the systems.
Cafe or bakery in a vanilla shell, no Type I hood
$140 to $200/SF
$85,000 minimum
The landlord delivers HVAC, a restroom and power. You build the cafe inside it. Electric ovens and espresso, nothing that renders fat.
Cafe or bakery from a cold shell, no Type I hood
$220 to $300/SF
$125,000 minimum
A concrete box with a water line and a panel. Every system in the space is yours to build.
Full-service restaurant, second-generation remodel
$100 to $160/SF
$40,000 minimum
An existing restaurant reworked where the hood, interceptor and gas are already in place and stay.
Full-service restaurant build-out from shell
$265 to $380/SF
$150,000 minimum
A full commercial kitchen and dining room built from a shell, with cooking that requires a hood.
Local Cost Drivers
What moves a Canton number up or down
The trade-days calendar
Access, deliveries and crew staging all move around the trade-days weekends. A contractor from the metroplex plans the job and then discovers the calendar. We build the schedule to it, which costs nothing if it is done at the start and costs a month if it is not.
Hood and grease
A Type I hood with make-up air and a grease interceptor is the largest single swing in a Canton food number. Counter-service and bakery concepts usually avoid both. A grill or a fryer puts both in scope immediately. They are published as adders with prices rather than described only as exclusions.
Square-front stock
Canton's older square-front retail buildings can carry undersized electrical service, restrooms that are not accessible and mechanical at the end of its life. A change of use to food brings all of that into scope before any kitchen work starts, and it is commonly larger than the kitchen itself.
Health review in parallel
A build-out that clears the building permit and then fails health review loses weeks. Plan review with the health authority, interceptor sizing and the finish schedule the inspector checks are run alongside the building permit rather than after it.
Hidden conditions are excluded by default and surfaced as a change order: rot, mold, asbestos, lead, water-compromised framing, and code corrections unrelated to the scope. Nothing is absorbed quietly and nothing is discovered on the invoice.
Worked Examples
Three Canton scopes, priced
Each figure is the rate above applied to the floor area, not a number picked to look good. The standard behind it is named so you can check the arithmetic.
1,100 SF · Canton
Coffee and bakery refresh, square-front space
$72,000
Front of house rebuilt, counter and millwork new, equipment reset into existing rough-in. No hood, which kept it in the refresh band.
Standard: Cafe or coffee refresh, second-generation food space. At this size that standard produces $49,500 to $99,000.
1,300 SF · Canton
Bakery in a vanilla shell
$215,000
Vanilla shell to open: finishes, millwork, equipment connections, exhaust and make-up air. Mid-window, with the equipment package driving the mechanical.
Standard: Cafe or bakery in a vanilla shell, no Type I hood. At this size that standard produces $182,000 to $260,000.
2,000 SF · Canton
Restaurant remodel, second-generation
$260,000
A previous restaurant taken over: hood inspected and reused, interceptor verified, front of house rebuilt and the kitchen reworked around existing rough-in.
Standard: Full-service restaurant, second-generation remodel. At this size that standard produces $200,000 to $320,000.
What The Number Covers
Included, excluded, and priced separately
These are budgeting ranges, not a quote. Scope moves the number more than square footage does, which is why each tier is a range rather than a rate.
Included
- Labor
- Materials listed in the written scope
- Permits and standard city inspections
- Project management
- Mobilization
- Protection of adjacent areas
- Cleanup
- One-year workmanship warranty
Priced separately, named in the written scope
- FF&E and equipment
- Design and engineering
- Landlord fees
- Health-department plan review fees
- The category adders listed on this page
Hidden conditions are excluded by default and surfaced as a change order: rot, mold, asbestos, lead, water-compromised framing, and code corrections unrelated to the scope. Nothing is absorbed quietly and nothing is discovered on the invoice.
Common Canton adders, with prices
These are the line items that most often sit outside the base range. Most scopes trigger none of them. They are listed with numbers so a reader who does trigger one is not left assuming the worst.
What moves the number
| Adder | Range | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Type I hood system: hood, fire suppression, grease duct, fan, curb, makeup air | $45,000 to $75,000 | Any appliance producing grease vapor that is not UL 710B listed or ventless. |
| Exterior grease interceptor: tank, sawcut, trench, paving patch | $20,000 to $45,000 | No existing interceptor, or an existing one that is undersized for your fixture count. |
| Electrical service upgrade | $20,000 to $50,000 | The panel cannot carry an all-electric kitchen. |
| New rooftop HVAC unit with curb and duct | $25,000 to $50,000 | No rooftop unit, or one undersized for the kitchen heat load. |
Recent Work
What the finish level looks like.
Canton Cost Questions
What owners here ask before they sign
Does the trade-days calendar really change my build?
It changes the schedule, and on a food build-out the schedule is the money. Access, deliveries and staging all move around the trade-days weekends. Planning to it at the start costs nothing. Discovering it in week two costs a month, and a month of not being open during a season is a bigger number than anything on this rate card.
Do I need a hood for a Canton coffee or bakery concept?
Usually not, and that is the difference between a cafe number and a restaurant number. A counter-service concept with no grill and no fryer typically avoids both the Type I hood and the grease interceptor. The moment either appears on the equipment list both are in scope. We confirm against your actual list rather than assuming.
Why is a square-front Canton building sometimes the expensive option?
Because a change of use to food drags the whole building into scope. Older square-front stock commonly needs an accessible restroom, an electrical service upgrade and mechanical replacement before any kitchen work starts, and that package regularly exceeds the kitchen. The rent is lower and the build-out is not, so they should be compared together.
What is the difference between a vanilla shell and a cold shell for a Canton bakery?
A vanilla shell has framing, systems rough-in, ceiling and restrooms done. A cold shell has none of it. Published, that is $140 to $200 per square foot from a vanilla shell against $220 to $300 from cold. Which one your lease delivers is the largest single number in the project.
Are permits and health review in the price?
Permits and standard city inspections are in the price. Health plan review coordination is part of the job rather than left with you. Engineering is quoted separately as an allowance or an actual-cost line when the scope requires it, and the hood, interceptor and any service upgrade are named line items with prices.
Get a Canton number for your actual space
Call (469) 721-0146, i30 Builders or send the space and the timeline. You get a written scope with a price and a completion date before any deposit. We respond within 1 business day.
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