Light 2nd-gen restaurant refresh
$225/SF
$75,000 minimum
Cosmetic / finish refresh where core systems exist.

Real Standards · 2026
Published per-SF standards from a second-generation refresh to a high-end buildout — and a straight answer on what the shell you are being offered actually saves you.
2nd-gen refresh
$225/SF
systems in place
2nd-gen remodel
$325/SF
existing infrastructure
Standard
$475/SF
full buildout
High-end
$800/SF
premium allowance
Restaurant & Food Service
$225/SF
$75,000 minimum
Cosmetic / finish refresh where core systems exist.
$325/SF
$125,000 minimum
Remodel of existing restaurant infrastructure.
$475/SF
$200,000 minimum
Restaurant TI baseline.
$650/SF
$300,000 minimum
Heavy kitchen / MEP / finish buildout.
$800/SF
$450,000 minimum
Premium restaurant allowance.
All i30 Builders full-project prices include normal mobilization, ordinary protection of adjacent areas, labor, standard materials listed in the scope, project coordination, normal cleanup, and a one-year workmanship warranty on the listed scope.Kitchen equipment and FF&E, health-department and city inspection cycles, fire / life-safety modifications, hood + makeup-air systems, grease interceptors, and landlord-imposed fees are typically separate line items called out explicitly in the scope.
What Drives the Final Number
Pushes price up
Keeps price down
Common Cost Questions
Light 2nd-gen restaurant refresh: $225/SF ($75,000 min). 2nd-gen restaurant remodel: $325/SF ($125,000 min). Standard restaurant buildout: $475/SF ($200,000 min). Heavy restaurant buildout: $650/SF ($300,000 min). High-end restaurant buildout: $800/SF ($450,000 min). All-in pricing, labor, materials, permits, inspections, project management, one-year workmanship warranty.
Because the expensive infrastructure is already in the building. A space a restaurant already operated in usually has the hood and makeup-air, the grease interceptor, gas service, and floor drains. Those are the line items that separate a $225/SF refresh from a $475/SF standard buildout. Before you sign a lease, have the space walked to confirm what is actually there rather than what the listing implies.
Kitchen equipment and FF&E, health-department and city inspection cycles, fire and life-safety modifications, hood and makeup-air systems, grease interceptors, and landlord-imposed fees are typically separate line items. They are called out explicitly in the scope rather than folded into the rate, so you can see and negotiate them.
That is the deadline we build the schedule around, the same way we treat a lease commencement. We give you a written scope with a real completion date before you pay a deposit. Where a date requires overtime or larger crews to hit, that shows up in the scope as a cost, not as a promise we quietly miss.
Yes, written scope, locked at signing. Change orders only happen if you request a scope change, and they are priced and approved in writing before work proceeds. Hidden conditions (failed MEP behind walls, mold, code corrections unrelated to your scope) are excluded by default and surfaced as change orders if discovered.
All i30 Builders full-project prices include normal mobilization, ordinary protection of adjacent areas, labor, standard materials listed in the scope, project coordination, normal cleanup, and a one-year workmanship warranty on the listed scope.
Recent Work
Tell us the square footage, whether the space is second-generation or raw, your concept, and your target opening date. Free site visit; written scope back within 5 business days.