Commercial Refurbishment Contractors
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Retail fit-out

General retail
£400 to £800 per m²
Food retail
£600 to £1,200 per m²
Typical programme
3 to 10 weeks

A retail fit-out is measured against one date: opening day. Every week a shop is closed costs sales, so retail contractors are used to compressed programmes, night working in centres, and handing over a store merchandised and ready to trade.

Costs depend far more on the type of store than on its size.

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Typical retail scopes

New store in a shell unit
Services, floor, ceiling, lighting, fitting rooms, stockroom, staff areas and shopfront, from a bare unit in a centre or high street.
Refit of a trading store
New layout, fixtures and lighting, often done overnight or in a short closure to keep the shop trading.
Roll-out across a portfolio
The same design repeated in many stores, priced per store, with a standard programme and kit of parts.
Shopfront and signage
New glazing, entrance doors and fascia, usually needing planning permission and advertisement consent.

Schedule of rates, retail

ItemScopeGuide cost
Fashion or general retailFloor, ceiling, lighting, fixtures and fitting rooms£400 to £800 per m²
Food retailIncludes more services, refrigeration builders' work£600 to £1,200 per m²
High-end boutiqueBespoke joinery, stone, feature lighting£1,500 to £3,000 per m²
Food-to-go unit, excluding equipmentBasic counter fit-out£700 to £1,000 per m²

National trades pricing guide, typical 2026 UK prices (June 2026), VAT not stated. Shopfitting joinery and refrigeration equipment are often priced separately. A guide, not a quote. Build a budget in the cost plan.

Planning a retail fit-out

The landlord's fit-out guide

Shopping centres and retail parks publish a tenant fit-out guide with rules on working hours, deliveries, hot works, fire alarm connections and the approvals they need before work starts. Read it before pricing; it changes what the job costs. Many centres allow noisy work only before opening or after closing.

Consents

Internal fit-out of a shop rarely needs planning permission, but a new shopfront usually does, and illuminated signs need advertisement consent. Change of use between retail, café and services is now much simpler in England because many sit in the same use class (Class E) since 2020, though that does not remove building regulations or the landlord's consent.

Fire safety and access

New layouts must keep escape routes, fire separation to stockrooms and emergency lighting working, and the responsible person for the premises must review the fire risk assessment under the Fire Safety Order before trading. Entrances and counters must be usable by disabled customers.

Programme to opening

Work back from opening day: merchandising and staff training need the last few days, so practical completion comes earlier. Long-lead items such as shopfront glazing, refrigeration and bespoke fixtures should be ordered as soon as the design is fixed.

Where our information comes from

Cost ranges are typical figures from published UK cost guides and price guides, read November 2026, given before VAT. Firms that publish them are not named.

Unit size, the centre or street and your opening date: that is a retail brief.

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How the work gets done

How a typical new store fit-out runs.

  1. Survey and design

    Measured survey of the unit, store layout, landlord fit-out guide checked, consents applied for.

  2. Approvals and orders

    Landlord approval of drawings, fixed price agreed, long-lead fixtures and shopfront ordered.

  3. Fit-out

    Services, floor and ceiling, shopfront, fixtures and fitting rooms, often on nights in a trading centre.

  4. Handover and open

    Snagging, fire alarm tie-in, cleaning, then merchandising and staff in before opening day.

Retail fit-out questions

How much does a shop fit-out cost per m²?

Published UK guides put general retail at £400 to £800 per m², food retail at £600 to £1,200 per m² and high-end boutiques at £1,500 to £3,000 per m².

How long does a retail fit-out take?

A refit of an existing store can be done in days to a few weeks; a new store from a shell unit typically takes 4 to 10 weeks on site, depending on size and centre working hours.

Can the shop keep trading during a refit?

Often yes, by working at night and screening sections off by day. It costs more per hour but avoids lost sales.

Do we need planning permission?

Not usually for internal work. A new or altered shopfront and illuminated signage usually need planning permission and advertisement consent.

What is a shell and core unit?

A bare unit with structure, a capped-off supply of services and a basic floor, handed over by the landlord for the tenant to fit out.

Keep reading

Brief a retail fit-out contractor

Three short steps: where the building is, what the scope is, and who to speak to. Rough answers are fine; a contractor firms them up on a site visit.

Your brief stays with us until you approve the independent commercial refurbishment contractor we name for your building.

Step 1 of 3

Where is the building?
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