The cost of a commercial fit-out depends less on floor area than on the unit’s starting condition, the activity, the number of rooms and toilets, the ceiling and lighting specification, access for materials and debris, and when the work can be done. An itemised quote shows each factor on its own line, so you can see what to keep, simplify or postpone. We do not publish prices without seeing the unit.
Why is price per square metre misleading?
Because most of the cost sits in elements that do not scale with area. A 60 m² café with a kitchen, two toilets and a bar can involve far more work than a 200 m² showroom with one open space and a staff WC. Toilets, kitchens, partitions, specialist openings and services are concentrated costs; large open floors are comparatively simple.
A square-metre figure also hides what is included. One quote may cover the ceiling and lighting, another may not; one may assume a level floor, another may include levelling. Comparing headline figures without the detail tells you very little.
Which factors carry the most weight?
- Starting condition: a bare shell, a former shop that can be partly reused, or a unit that needs heavy strip-out.
- Activity: retail, office, clinic or hospitality each bring different requirements for toilets, finishes and services.
- Rooms and toilets: every enclosed room adds partitions, doors, lighting and finishes; every toilet adds drainage, tiling and fittings.
- Ceiling and lighting: a simple modular ceiling is a different job from a continuous plasterboard ceiling with coves and dozens of recessed fittings.
- Services distance: how far water, drainage and power have to travel from the connection points.
- Floor: preparation, levelling and the finish chosen.
- Access: street-level entrance with parking for a van, or upper floor with a shared lift and restricted loading.
- Working hours: normal daytime work or tasks squeezed into nights and weekends.
What is usually outside the fit-out quote?
Several large items are often priced separately and should be budgeted from the start: shopfitting and furniture, air conditioning, kitchen equipment and extraction, fire protection systems, security, IT, signage and the shopfront. Technical fees for your architect or engineer, and the fees and taxes linked to licences, are also separate.
None of these is our scope, but forgetting them is the most common reason a fit-out budget runs short. When we quote, we list what is excluded as clearly as what is included.
How can you control the budget without cutting corners?
Start with the elements that are expensive to change later: services, drainage, partitions and ceilings. Get those right and build them once. Then look for savings where they do not compromise the result: reusing a sound ceiling or toilet, simplifying the number of rooms, choosing finishes with a good balance of durability and appearance, or phasing decorative elements for later.
Avoid savings that move cost into the future: skipping floor preparation, under-specifying finishes in high-traffic areas, or closing ceilings without access hatches. The article on alternatives to a full refit explores lighter options, and presupuestoreforma.eu covers renovation cost factors in general.
Why do decisions and timing affect the figure as much as materials?
Because labour on a fit-out is organised around a sequence. When every decision is made before work starts, each trade comes once, does its part and leaves. When decisions arrive late, trades wait, return, or undo finished work, and all of that has a cost even if nothing more expensive is installed. A lighting plan that changes after the ceiling is closed, or a toilet moved after the drainage is laid, can cost more than choosing a better floor.
Timing matters in a similar way. Work squeezed into evenings and weekends, or split into phases so a shop can keep trading, involves more set-up, more cleaning and slower progress. It can still be the right choice for the business, but it should be a conscious one. In the quote we show these choices explicitly, so you can see the effect of each option on the plan before committing to it.
The same logic applies to materials with long lead times. Ordering them early costs nothing extra; ordering them late can leave the whole site waiting.
How do you get a meaningful figure for your unit?
Send photos of the unit and the existing services, the approximate floor area, a description of the activity and any drawings. We reply with a first assessment, then visit to measure and prepare an itemised quote with each task described and quantified. That document, not a square-metre rate, is the basis for a decision. See shop refurbishment and shell unit fit-out for what each type of job involves.
Bauman Raymond Attila · Reforma Locales Málaga · Avenida Antonio Belón 3, Marbella. Last reviewed: 05/11/2026.
