i30 Builders · Rockwall, TX
What a commercial remodel costs in Rockwall
This is the home county, so a Rockwall number carries no travel padding and no treating the job as the far edge of a service area. What moves it is the split between older downtown stock and newer shell on the growth corridors, and which one you signed.
$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 Rockwall 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 Rockwall 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.
Paint and flooring refresh
$10 to $25/SF
$7,500 minimum
Cosmetic update where the layout and the systems stay exactly where they are.
Light office TI
$35 to $65/SF
$15,000 minimum
A layout change in a space that already works: some walls move, systems mostly stay.
Standard office TI
$65 to $95/SF
$35,000 minimum
A full office fit-out: private offices, conference rooms, a break area, new finishes throughout.
Higher-end office TI
$95 to $140/SF
$60,000 minimum
The same fit-out with a finish package and detailing that a client-facing floor needs.
White box from cold shell
$55 to $85/SF
$35,000 minimum
Bringing a cold dark shell up to a leasable vanilla box for the next tenant.
Retail refresh
$15 to $38/SF
$10,000 minimum
A sales floor updated between tenants or between brand cycles.
Standard retail build-out
$65 to $105/SF
$35,000 minimum
A retail bay fitted out for a new tenant, including back-of-house.
Commercial restroom refresh
$8,000 to $12,000 each
Finishes and accessories replaced with the fixtures and plumbing left in place.
Single-user ADA restroom, full build
$18,000 to $30,000 each
A compliant single-user restroom built out, including the plumbing that gets it there.
Local Cost Drivers
What moves a Rockwall number up or down
Downtown or corridor
Older downtown Rockwall space can hand you an undersized electrical service, a restroom that is not accessible and mechanical at the end of its life. Newer corridor shell carries none of that and no reusable systems either. The difference between those two buildings is $20 to $40 per square foot on identical floor area.
No distance in the price
Being based in the county removes a line that other bidders carry whether they name it or not. A contractor running out of Dallas either pads for the drive or treats a Rockwall job as filler between larger work, and one of those shows up in the price while the other shows up in the schedule.
Change of use
A Rockwall space going from retail to clinical, or office to food, brings code work into scope that the prior tenant never had to meet: accessibility, mechanical capacity, sometimes egress. It is the usual reason a number comes back above the per-square-foot math.
Walk-in permitting
Pre-filing and the questions that come up mid-review get handled in person here rather than by email. That does not change the fee, which is in the price. It changes how many days a comment costs you, and days are what turn into overtime when a lease date is firm.
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 Rockwall 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 · Rockwall
Suite refresh, downtown Rockwall
$22,000
Paint, flooring, base and minor drywall repair with the layout untouched. Mid-window on an older building with sound walls.
Standard: Paint and flooring refresh. At this size that standard produces $11,000 to $27,500.
1,600 SF · Rockwall
Layout change, corridor office suite
$76,000
Two walls moved, electrical modified inside the existing service, new flooring and paint. No new mechanical equipment, which kept it in the light band.
Standard: Light office TI. At this size that standard produces $56,000 to $104,000.
1,800 SF · Rockwall
Retail build-out, newer shell
$148,000
Shell to open retail: framing, mechanical, electrical, ceiling, lighting, flooring and a finished storefront. Mid-window because nothing structural was touched.
Standard: Standard retail build-out. At this size that standard produces $117,000 to $189,000.
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 Rockwall 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 |
|---|
Phased or after-hours scheduling. Work sequenced around an operating business. Priced as a multiplier, typically 1.2x to 1.4x on the labor portion, rather than a fixed dollar amount.
Recent Work
What the finish level looks like.
Rockwall Cost Questions
What owners here ask before they sign
Is Rockwall cheaper than Dallas for the same job?
The rate is the same. What is different is what you are not paying for: no travel padding, and a contractor who can be on site the same day rather than routing a crew east. On a job where a two-day delay costs more than the repair, that is the part that shows up in your total rather than in the quote.
What does a small Rockwall commercial job cost?
The published floor is $7,500, which buys paint, flooring and minor repair with nothing moving. Moving a wall puts you in light tenant improvement at $35 to $65 per square foot with a $15,000 floor. The jump between those two is the single largest step on the ladder and it is worth knowing before you plan a layout.
Are permits in the price in Rockwall?
Yes. Permits and standard city inspections are in the price rather than billed later. Engineering is separate, quoted as an allowance or an actual-cost line when the scope requires it. Over $50,000 in construction cost, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation registration and an accessibility review go in before the permit application.
How much does an older Rockwall building add?
It depends entirely on the systems, which is why they get looked at before the number is written. Usable mechanical and electrical make older space cheaper than shell. An undersized service, a restroom that has to be rebuilt to accessible standards, and mechanical at the end of its life make it more expensive, and all three are common downtown.
What happens if you find something behind the wall?
It is excluded by default and comes to you as a change order with a price before the work happens. Rot, water damage, asbestos, lead and code corrections unrelated to your scope are all in that category. Nothing is absorbed quietly and nothing appears first on an invoice.
Get a Rockwall 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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