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Ideal Restaurant Construction timeline: How long should it take?
Embarking yourself into the odyssey of restaurant construction can be frightening. Sometimes you don’t know what to expect when facing challenges and time constraints such as bad weather or a delay in the delivery of your kitchen utensils. However, many of these variables are foreseeable to reach the perfect timeline.
Tips and information to mitigate possible issues ahead
Good preparation and planning
Probably the core element of any successful project is good preparation and planning. After defining what type of restaurant you would like to open, whether it’s a small take-out place or a big, fancy restaurant, knowing what you want and envisioning that is key for your future business.
Restaurant construction implies a team effort. Keep this in mind when you’re creating your vision board or writing down ideas. You must remember you’re working alongside multiple teams of engineers, contractors, architects, and designers, also with limited budgets and resources. That means there are multiple factors that may affect the time and trajectory of your project. Create a timeline with all these variables in mind and with the understanding that things may not go exactly the way you want.
Think ahead. Ask yourself the important questions: during which season am I planning to construct my restaurant? Who am I working with? What’s my budget and how am I going to spend it? Which paperwork do I need to fill out first? Questions are really useful to the designing of back-up plans, which can aid to respond quickly when problems present themselves.
What to expect then?
As stated above, the type of restaurant you’re planning to construct is going to define your time schedule. A takeout-style restaurant generally takes about 2 months to build out and install materials. A fast-casual restaurant can take up to 3 or 4 months. A full-service casual or fine-dining establishment can take anywhere from 4 to 6 months to complete. In general, you should expect no more than 6 months in total.
The restaurant construction timeline may vary due to some of the following issues:
- Site Specifications
- Permitting Process
- Weather Conditions
- Project Size or Degree of Difficulty
- Complexity of Architectural Plans
- Availability/Delivery Time of Finishes, Furnishings, Kitchen Equipment, Flooring, HVAC Units
- Knowledge & Experience of Contractor, Subcontractors & Respective Crews
Follow health and fire regulations
Restaurants need to abide by many health and fire regulations that have to be satisfied both pre and post-construction. Check which are the necessary licenses and permits to open your restaurant before starting your project. Following all regulations on infrastructure and food is necessary to prevent you from receiving heavy fines.
This area of expertise might be tricky. If you are in need of some good advice on the matter, Protech can provide you with all the necessary information. We have an experienced team that can guide you through this process. We have 35 years of experience in commercial construction of restaurants, whether it’s about maintenance, installation or reparation in Houston and across the estate of Texas.