A restaurant build-out is not a general renovation with different finishes. It is drainage, gas, exhaust, make-up air, and a health inspection standing between you and revenue, layered on top of a lease that started charging rent the day you signed it. Every week the site sits idle is a week of rent against zero sales. That pressure is the actual job.
What we handle
Full construction delivery from permit-ready drawings through to handover. We coordinate the trades, hold the schedule, manage the inspections, and give you back a space that passes.
- Full restaurant build-outs — shell or second-generation space taken through to opening.
- Commercial kitchens — exhaust canopies and make-up air, grease interceptors, floor drains, gas lines, equipment set and connection.
- Front of house — millwork, bar builds, seating, lighting, washrooms to code.
- Renovations of operating restaurants — phased or overnight where the room has to keep serving.
- Franchise and multi-unit rollouts — the same build, to brand standard, across locations.
The Toronto approvals that decide your opening date
Most delayed openings are not caused by construction. They are caused by an approval nobody started early enough. Here is the sequence in the City of Toronto, roughly in the order it has to happen.
01Zoning review, before anything else
Toronto requires a Zoning Review for Business Licence before you can even apply for your restaurant licence. The exception is if you are taking over an existing valid licence in the same category, or one that expired less than three years ago. This is the step people skip, and it is the one that occasionally reveals the space cannot legally be a restaurant at all. Check it before you sign the lease.
02Building permit
Structural work, plumbing, HVAC and any change of use need a permit from Toronto Building. Your drawings have to be complete and coordinated before submission — an incomplete set does not sit in the queue, it goes back to you, and you rejoin the line at the end.
03Toronto Public Health plan review
Plans must go to Toronto Public Health before construction starts, not after. The review checks compliance with the Ontario Food Premises Regulation, and your drawings need to show the location of all kitchen equipment — refrigerators, stoves, exhaust canopies — plus utensil washing sinks and dishwashers, handwash basins, food storage, waste storage, and staff change rooms or washrooms. Submissions go to DineSafe at the City. Getting a layout rejected here after the slab has been poured is the most expensive mistake in this whole process.
04Fire, gas and electrical
Suppression on the hood, fire separations, exit capacity. Gas connections and pressure testing fall under TSSA. Electrical needs ESA inspection and sign-off. These are separate authorities on separate schedules and they do not coordinate with each other for you.
05Eating or Drinking Establishment licence
The City licence itself. As listed by the City, the application fee is $268.32 and the licence fee is another $268.32, so $536.64 to open, then $362.96 a year to renew. You will need photo ID, proof of work status, a Criminal Record and Judicial Matters Check valid within one year, your provincial business name registration, an Occupancy Declaration signed by both you and the property owner, and an Operating Information Questionnaire. If you are building a patio on private property, you also need a zoning compliance letter or a building permit that specifically approves it.
06Pre-opening health inspection
Once construction is finished, a Public Health Inspector contacts you to arrange an inspection before you can open. Your staff need accredited Food Handler certification in hand by this point. Build the scheduling gap for this into your opening date rather than discovering it the week you planned to serve.
Fees and requirements above are the City of Toronto’s published figures as of 2026. Verify current amounts with the City before budgeting — they change.
Where we build
Toronto, North York, Scarborough, Etobicoke, Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan, Markham, Richmond Hill, Oakville and Burlington. Each municipality runs its own permit and health process on its own timeline, and the differences are real — a build that takes a certain number of weeks in one city does not take the same in the next one over.
Frequently asked questions
- Which areas do you build in?
- We build across the Greater Toronto Area — Toronto, North York, Scarborough, Etobicoke, Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan, Markham, Richmond Hill, Oakville and Burlington. Approvals differ by municipality, and that difference shows up in your schedule, so it is worth asking any contractor whether they have actually built in your city before.
- What do I need to have ready before you can start?
- A signed lease or an offer far enough along to commit, drawings from an architect or designer, and a decision on your equipment package. Equipment lead times are the most common cause of a delayed opening, so lock that order early.
Planning a build?
Send us the space and the date you want to open. If the timeline is not realistic we will tell you that before you sign anything, which is cheaper for both of us than finding out in month three.
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