Retail Buildouts

First impressions drive retail success, and Multigroup Contracting builds the environments that make them. From flagship stores on Robson Street to neighbourhood boutiques on Main Street, we deliver retail buildouts across Vancouver that elevate your brand and create memorable customer experiences.

What is a retail buildout, and what does it involve?

A retail buildout is the construction of a store inside a leased space — storefront and entry, floor and wall finishes, lighting, fixtures and display millwork, point-of-sale and data infrastructure, back-of-house and washrooms — delivered to a brand standard and to a fixed opening date. It involves the same permit and landlord machinery as any tenant improvement, plus two things unique to retail: a landlord design review against the centre's or building's storefront criteria, and a schedule that is genuinely immovable because leases, staffing and inventory are all committed to an opening day.

Retail scope divides into the customer-facing part — storefront, glazing, signage, lighting, fixtures, finishes — and the operational part behind it: stockroom, staff area, washroom, HVAC, electrical distribution and security and data cabling. Owners tend to budget for the first and underestimate the second.

What does the process look like, start to finish?

Site assessment. Confirm storefront condition and what the lease allows to change, ceiling height, electrical capacity for lighting and equipment, HVAC provision, existing washroom and accessibility, and back-of-house area.
Scope and budget. Price the brand standard against what the space actually provides, and separate landlord's work from tenant's work in writing.
Drawings and consultants. Architectural and interior drawings, mechanical and electrical design, structural where the storefront or openings change, and a code review for occupant load, exiting and accessibility.
Landlord and design review. Storefront and signage drawings submitted against the building's or centre's design criteria. This step is frequently the longest non-permit item in the schedule.
Permits. Building permit for the interior alterations and storefront work, trade permits for electrical, plumbing and sprinkler, and a separate sign permit for exterior signage.
Long-lead procurement. Custom fixtures, millwork, glazing, specialty lighting and signage ordered early — these, not the labour, set the opening date.
Construction and inspections. Demolition, framing, rough-in, inspections, finishes, fixture installation, then final building inspection and any fire department sign-off.
Deficiency walkthrough and handover. Joint walk before merchandising, written deficiency list, correction, close-out with warranties, as-builts and manuals.

What drives the cost of a retail buildout?

Storefront work. New glazing, entry doors, closures and structural changes at the lease line are among the most expensive elements per square foot in a store.
Base building condition. Whether the space already has adequate power, HVAC, a washroom and an accessible entrance changes the budget more than any finish selection.
Lighting and electrical. Retail lighting loads, feature lighting, display circuits and POS power typically require distribution work and sometimes a panel upgrade.
Custom millwork and fixtures. Brand-specific casework is often the largest single trade package and carries the longest lead time.
Occupied centre or building. Working in an operating mall or busy street-front block means restricted delivery windows, hoarding to a required standard and after-hours work.
After-hours work. Shopping centres frequently restrict noisy work and material movement to overnight hours, at premium labour rates.
Permit and design review timelines. Every week of review is a week of rent before revenue. Confirm current municipal processing times before fixing an opening date.

What permits and approvals are involved in Vancouver?

Interior retail alterations require a building permit plus trade permits, and exterior signage requires a separate sign permit. Changes at the storefront, to the entry, or to the exterior appearance of a building can also attract a development permit, and in areas of Vancouver with heritage or character guidelines, or on designated streets, additional design review applies. The City of Vancouver operates its own by-law and permit streams; Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, Coquitlam, New Westminster and the North Shore municipalities each run their own, with different sign by-laws in particular. If the store sells food, health approval is added to the sequence.

Two approvals sit outside the municipality and are often forgotten: landlord or centre design review of the storefront and signage, and, in strata-titled buildings, strata approval for anything touching common property. Both take real calendar time and belong on the critical path.

How long does a retail buildout take, and what makes it slower or faster?

Construction is usually short relative to everything preceding it. Faster projects have coordinated drawings at permit submission, landlord design approval already in hand, fixtures and signage ordered at buyout, and a vacant, serviced space. Slower projects are delayed by design review comments, sign permit review running behind the building permit, custom millwork lead times, discovering the space lacks the electrical capacity the concept assumed, and scope changes after fixtures are in fabrication.

Working in an occupied building or centre — what changes?

Retail construction almost always happens next to trading neighbours. Expect a hoarding built to the landlord's specification, dust and noise control, deliveries and waste removal restricted to defined hours and routes, freight elevator and loading dock bookings, and shutdowns of sprinkler, fire alarm or power arranged in advance with building operations. Noisy work — demolition, core drilling, anchoring — commonly moves to overnight, both because the landlord requires it and because municipal noise bylaws restrict it. Pricing that ignores these constraints is not pricing the real job.

Common mistakes, and what to check before signing

Committing to an opening date before the permit and design review paths are understood.
Treating the sign permit as an afterthought and opening with no signage.
Assuming a brand standard fits a space that has different ceiling heights, structure or service capacity.
Ordering custom fixtures late, then paying to compress the rest of the schedule.
Overlooking accessibility and washroom requirements triggered by the alteration.
Vague division between landlord's work and tenant's work at the storefront.

Before signing, confirm the written scope and exclusions, who applies for building and sign permits, the after-hours and hoarding assumptions, the fixture and long-lead procurement responsibility, the change order process, and the close-out deliverables.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a separate permit for my sign?

Yes, exterior signage generally requires its own sign permit, reviewed under the local sign by-law, which differs between municipalities. Apply for it in parallel with the building permit.

Can the store be built while the centre is open?

Yes — that is the normal condition. It is managed with hoarding, restricted delivery windows and after-hours work for anything noisy.

What is a fixturing period?

The rent-free or reduced-rent window in the lease for building and merchandising the store. Check that it is long enough for permits plus construction, not just construction.

Who is responsible for the storefront glazing?

It depends on the lease. Storefronts sit at the boundary between landlord's work and tenant's work, so get the split in writing before pricing.

How much power will my store need?

It depends on lighting design, equipment and POS, and it should be calculated by an electrical designer from the actual fixture and equipment schedule rather than estimated per square foot.

Which cities do you build in?

Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Coquitlam and New Westminster.

How do I get a project priced?

Send the scope, the address and any drawings you already have to info@multigroup.ca, call 778-819-5933, or use the quote request form. Multigroup Contracting has operated as a general contractor out of Suite 700 - 838 West Hastings Street in Vancouver since 2016, and works across Metro Vancouver including Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Coquitlam and New Westminster.

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