Café & restaurant fitout estimator
Set your floor area, split it across the main zones, and see an indicative Sydney build range based on the rates we publish. Free to use, no details required, and it is not a quote.
Venue type and floor area
Start with the size of the shop. Use the lettable floor area on your lease — everything inside the tenancy walls.
Split the main areas
We have pre-filled a typical split for your venue type. Drag each zone to match your plan — the schematic on the right redraws as you go. Anything left over is treated as circulation and entry.
Does the venue have a front of house where customers sit down?
Fitout standard
The same floor plan can be built three ways. This sets the finish level for joinery, equipment and shopfront.
Scope and services
Tick what your project needs. Services, approvals and heavy equipment are the items that most often get left out of a budget.
Not a quote
Not for construction
| Cost breakdown | Estimate |
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Bring your floor plan and we will price it properly — front of house and commercial kitchen, one accountable team.
What the number means, and what it leaves out
The calculator above prices the floor area you allocate plus the scope you tick. A fitout budget has a few more moving parts than that, so here is the honest boundary of what it covers — followed by the questions we get asked most often.
- Build cost for each zone you allocate — dining, counter, kitchen, storage, amenities
- Circulation and entry at a general finishes rate
- Design, 3D renders and construction documentation
- Coordination of DA / CDC approvals and private certification
- Mechanical exhaust canopy, hydraulics and electrical upgrades where ticked
- Custom joinery, stainless fabrication and refrigeration where ticked
- Shopfront, signage, menu boards, POS and lighting where ticked
- Loose furniture, priced against the seat count your dining area supports
- Council and certifier statutory fees, which are paid direct to the authority
- Base building works: structural changes, new sewer or grease line to the street, switchboard upgrades by the landlord
- Landlord make-good, bank guarantee, rent and outgoings during the build
- Asbestos, hazardous material removal or unexpected demolition
- Liquor, food and outdoor-seating licences
- Opening stock, uniforms, crockery and smallwares
- POS software subscriptions and ongoing IT
- Anything already installed and reusable in the existing tenancy
Q1How accurate is this fitout calculator?
It is an indicative planning tool, not a quote. It applies typical Sydney build rates to the areas you enter and shows a range of roughly plus or minus fourteen per cent around the midpoint. That is close enough to test whether a site stacks up before you sign a lease, and nowhere near close enough to sign a building contract on.
The single biggest variable it cannot see is the condition of your tenancy. A shell with three-phase power, an existing grease trap and a compliant exhaust riser will land at the bottom of the range. A former retail shop with none of that can add tens of thousands before a single finish goes in. That is what a site inspection is for.
Q2Why is the kitchen priced so much higher per square metre than the dining room?
Because almost every service in the building converges there. A commercial kitchen carries mechanical exhaust and make-up air, gas reticulation, hydraulics and floor waste, waterproofing, coved impervious finishes to AS 4674-2004, heavy power, stainless fabrication and refrigeration. A dining room carries floor, wall, ceiling, lighting and joinery.
It is why the split you set in step two changes the total so much. Two venues of identical size can differ by six figures purely on how much of the floor is back of house — which is also why a takeaway with no seated area can cost more per square metre than a café with a large dining room.
Q3Should I turn on the ten per cent contingency?
We leave it off by default so the build figure stays clean and comparable, but for most projects you should carry it somewhere — either in the tool or in your own budget.
Turn it on if the tenancy is older than about fifteen years, if the existing services are undocumented, if you are in a heritage or strata building, or if the design is still moving. You can leave it off for a straightforward shell in a newer complex where the scope is settled.
Q4Are the figures shown with or without GST?
Ex GST by default, which is how construction is usually priced and how most operators model it, since a registered business claims it back. Use the Include GST toggle under the breakdown to see the cash figure you will actually fund.
Q5What does council approval actually cost?
The DA / CDC line in the calculator is our fee to prepare drawings, lodge the application and coordinate with your certifier. The council's own statutory fees are separate, paid direct to the authority, and vary by local government area and project value.
Whether you need a full Development Application or can go the faster Complying Development Certificate route depends on your zoning, existing approved use and hours of operation. We assess that at the site inspection, and design to AS 4674-2004 for food premises either way.
Q6How many seats will my floor area give me?
The calculator estimates it from the dining area you allocate, using a typical allowance per seat for your venue type — around 1.2m² for a café, 1.5m² for a restaurant with full table service, and less for a bar or quick-service counter.
That allowance covers the seat, the table share and the aisle behind it. Real capacity also depends on column positions, entry and exit paths, accessible seating provision and how you mix banquettes with loose tables — a banquette run along a wall will usually beat the estimate, and a room full of four-tops will usually fall short of it.
Q7What if my venue has no seated area at all?
Answer no to the front of house question in step two. The dining zone drops out of the pricing entirely and the floor is reweighted toward kitchen, counter and storage, with the balance treated as queuing and entry space.
That suits takeaway shops, dark kitchens, kiosks and counter-only concepts. If you are working with a vehicle rather than a tenancy, our food truck fitouts follow a different process again.
Q8Can I finance a fitout instead of paying up front?
Yes. We offer flexible finance covering both construction and kitchen equipment in one facility, with low weekly rentals and no establishment fees, so you are not draining working capital in the months before you open.
It is worth modelling the estimate both ways — funded outright, and as a weekly cost against projected trade — before you commit to a scope.
Q9How long will the build take?
Most hospitality projects run eight to sixteen weeks from first consultation to opening: one to two weeks for consultation and concept, three to six for design and documentation, seven to twelve for construction and joinery, then handover.
Approvals and equipment lead times are the usual cause of delay, not the trades. Because our counters and banquettes are built off site in our own workshop, the on-site install phase is shorter than a fully site-built fitout.
Q10How do I turn this estimate into a real quote?
Copy the summary from the calculator, then book a free site consultation. We walk the tenancy, audit the existing plumbing, gas and electrical capacity, and confirm what the base building can support.
From there you get an itemised quote — front of house and commercial kitchen priced line by line, so you can see exactly where the money goes and adjust scope before anything is committed. Bring your lease plan if you have one.
Explore fitouts by venue type
The estimator covers cafés and restaurants. Every venue below has its own workflow, equipment set and compliance path — start with the one closest to your concept.
Ready to price it properly? Bring your floor plan and we will quote it line by line — front of house and commercial kitchen, one accountable team. Shopfitters in Sydney since 1988.