Published: September 26, 2026 · Last reviewed: September 2026 · Reviewed by: Buildup Contracting Estimating Team · Service area: Toronto & GTA
Planning numbers, not a quote — your space, your lease and your municipality decide the specifics.
From a signed lease to your first paying customer, plan on 14–26 weeks to open a restaurant in Ontario in 2026. The 12-week schedule in this guide is the working clock we run for a quick-service or café build-out in a unit that was already a restaurant: about 3 weeks of design, 4–7 weeks of building-permit review that overlaps with equipment ordering and pre-construction, then 4–9 weeks of construction and a final week of inspections and soft opening. Full-service concepts need 8–16 weeks of construction and land at the long end of the range. Budget $70–120/sf for a QSR refresh, $120–180/sf for a café or bubble tea shop, $180–300/sf for full-service and $300+/sf for hotpot or Korean BBQ, and hold a 10–15% contingency on top of whatever number you land on.
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Free site walk across Toronto & the GTA — you get a written scope and budget range within one business day.
Get a build-out estimate → or call 647-477-7999Whether you are opening a 600 sf bubble tea shop in Markham or a 3,500 sf hotpot restaurant in Scarborough, the opening moves through the same six stages. The department names change from Toronto to Mississauga to Oshawa; the order does not.
The mistake most first-time operators make is treating these as a straight line. Stages 2 through 4 overlap heavily on a well-run job. That overlap is where a 26-week opening becomes a 14-week one.
The clock in this guide starts the day you sign. What you do in the two or three weeks before that day decides whether the clock runs 12 weeks or 24. Our team has delivered 100+ commercial build-outs across Toronto & the GTA, and nearly every opening that blew past its date had a problem that was visible from the sidewalk before the lease was signed.
Get a contractor on the site walk before you sign. Ours is free, and you get a written scope and budget range within one business day. That number, next to the rent, is the real go/no-go.
This is the schedule we run for a quick-service, café or bubble tea build-out in a former restaurant unit with a clean permit submission. It assumes the pre-lease homework above is done and the operator makes decisions on time. Full-service and heavy-ventilation concepts follow the same sequence with a longer construction window.
Public Health pre-opening walk. Deficiency list closed. Municipal business licence issued once health and building sign-offs are in. Staff training on the line. Soft open with friends and family, then doors open.
These are the approvals a typical Ontario restaurant needs in 2026. Not every project needs all of them, and each municipality names them a little differently, but this is the checklist we work from.
| Approval | Who issues it | Typical time (2026) | Start it in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Building permit | Municipal building department | 4–7 weeks on a clean first submission; each resubmission adds 2–3 weeks | Week 3 |
| Change of use / zoning review | Municipal planning and building | Adds 30–60+ business days before the permit can issue | Before you sign |
| Public Health plan review and pre-opening inspection | Toronto Public Health or the regional health unit | 2–4 weeks for review; pre-opening walk in the final week | Week 3 |
| Fire | Municipal fire services | Reviewed with the building permit; suppression and alarm verification at the end | Week 3 and week 11 |
| TSSA gas | Licensed fuels contractor, inspected by TSSA | Inspection and meter release 1–2 weeks after piping is complete | Week 8 |
| ESA electrical | Electrical Safety Authority | Notification at start; rough-in and final inspections during construction | Week 7 |
| Sign permit | Municipal sign unit (separate application) | 4–12 weeks | Week 3 or earlier |
| Patio / CafeTO | City of Toronto Transportation Services (CafeTO) or the municipal patio program | 4–8 weeks; seasonal application windows | As early as the program opens |
| Liquor sales licence | AGCO | 8–12 weeks from a complete application, including the public notice period | Week 1 |
| Municipal business licence | Municipal licensing (in Toronto, the eating establishment licence) | 2–6 weeks once health and building sign-offs are in | Week 8 |
| Landlord approvals | Your landlord | 1–3 weeks per submission | Week 2 |
Two of these deserve a closer look because they are the ones operators forget.
Your building permit does not cover the sign. The sign permit is its own application, often reviewed by a different unit, and it runs 4–12 weeks depending on the municipality and whether the fascia sign is on a heritage street or a plaza with a landlord sign criteria package. Submit it in week 3 with the building permit. We have watched restaurants open with paper in the window because the sign permit was applied for in week 9.
If the previous tenant was not a restaurant, the building department reviews the change of occupancy, which can trigger zoning review, parking calculations, washroom counts and sometimes a fire-separation upgrade to the units beside you. Add 30–60+ business days and treat it as a lease negotiation point, not a surprise.
Construction stalls when the trades are ready and the equipment is not. Order these the week your construction contract is signed, and confirm delivery dates in writing:
Changing the equipment list after the mechanical engineer has started drawings is the second most common schedule killer we see. A larger fryer bank changes the hood length, the exhaust CFM, the make-up air, the gas load and sometimes the electrical service. Lock the list in week 1.
Across 100+ commercial build-outs, the delays cluster into a short list. None of them are exotic.
Construction cost per square foot depends on the concept far more than the city. These are 2026 planning ranges for Toronto & the GTA, construction only, in a unit with services already in place:
On top of construction, budget for design and permit fees (typically 5–10% of construction), kitchen equipment and smallwares, furniture, POS, signage, and pre-opening payroll. Then hold a 10–15% contingency. Every unit hides something behind the drywall, and a contingency is the difference between a surprise and a crisis.
Put the stages together and this is what the calendar looks like in practice:
Some of the most compressed schedules we have run were in occupied buildings. A national brand's take-out kitchen was built inside a Vaughan gas-station convenience store that never closed for a single day, and a bubble tea shop build-out in Mississauga went from permit to opening on a schedule the operator set from the franchise's launch date backwards. The sequence was the same; the planning was tighter.
Buildup Contracting is a commercial construction contractor with headquarters in Richmond Hill, building restaurants across Toronto & the GTA. Most of our build-outs open in 4–9 weeks of construction; full-service restaurants run 8–16 weeks. We carry WSIB and $5M commercial general liability, and every project comes with a 1-year workmanship warranty. Pre-construction starts with a free site walk, and you get a written scope and estimate within one business day. From there, we price the design as it develops so your budget and your drawings arrive at the same time, book every inspection the day the permit issues, and send a dated schedule with photos every week.
Plan on 14–26 weeks from a signed lease to opening day. Quick-service and café concepts in former restaurant units can open in 12–16 weeks; full-service and heavy-ventilation concepts, change-of-use projects and hydro upgrades push toward 22–26 weeks.
Yes, if the unit was already a restaurant, there is no change of use, the exhaust route exists, the electrical service is adequate, your designer submits a clean permit package in week 3 and you order long-lead equipment in week 4. Miss any one of those and the schedule stretches.
You need permit drawings prepared by a qualified designer, which for most restaurant tenant improvements means an architect or a BCIN-registered designer, plus a mechanical engineer for the hood, make-up air and HVAC. A contractor who knows restaurants will tell you which combination your project needs on the first site walk.
Your liquor licence if you are pouring, because it runs 8–12 weeks on its own clock, and the sign permit, because it is a separate 4–12 week application that nobody remembers until the week before opening. Both can be started before the building permit is issued.
Construction runs $70–120/sf for a quick-service refresh, $120–180/sf for a café or bubble tea shop, $180–300/sf for full-service and $300+/sf for hotpot or Korean BBQ. Add equipment, design and permit fees, furniture and signage, then a 10–15% contingency.
The sequence is identical. Building-permit review times vary by municipality and by month, and Toronto's CafeTO patio program and eating establishment licence have their own steps, while the 905 regions route health review through their regional health units. The differences are usually a week or two either way, not months.
Buildup Contracting builds restaurants, retail and offices across Toronto & the GTA. See our restaurant construction services and recent projects, or book a free site walk — written scope and estimate within one business day.
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“BuildUp handled the full build-out of our restaurant and I honestly couldn't have asked for a smoother process. Lev understood from day one how important it was to open on schedule, and he kept everything moving — permits, inspections, the kitchen, the dining area — without me having to chase anyone.”
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What happens when you get in touch
You deal with Lev directly. He does the site walk and writes the scope — not a salesperson who hands you off.
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Planning a build-out
Buildup Contracting builds offices, retail stores and restaurants across the Greater Toronto Area — permits, trades and inspections on one contract, with a written scope and a first read on budget within one business day of the site walk.
Restaurant constructionRetail fit-outsOffice and commercial TIFranchise and multi-unitLandlords and property managers
Building in a specific city? These pages cover the local approvals, the departments that review them, and what usually moves the schedule there.
More of the research we use to scope real projects:
Commercial kitchen design mistakesChoosing a restaurant contractorOffice fit-out costs in TorontoBubble tea shop build-outsLease-to-opening checklistChoosing a renovation contractorAll guides
Send us the unit address, approximate square footage and your concept. We walk the space for free, then send a written scope and a real price range — no obligation.
