If you’ve priced a restaurant fit-out lately, the first reaction is usually a long silence. The second is a spreadsheet. HospitalityHub’s updated guide to hospitality fit-out costs, revised in July, gives the clearest picture so far of where the money goes in 2026, and it explains why the plan on the table matters more than the paint.
The numbers
According to the guide, a basic refit costs between $1,500 and $3,000 per square metre, a standard build $3,000 to $5,000, and a large or specialised kitchen $5,000 to $8,000 or more. Construction costs are forecast to rise about four per cent across 2026, and a like-for-like fit-out is roughly five to ten per cent dearer than a year ago.
By venue size, a small cafe of up to 80 square metres runs from $100,000 to $350,000. A mid-size restaurant or bar, between 80 and 250 square metres, costs $350,000 to $800,000, and large or specialised venues over 250 square metres start at $800,000 and can top $1.5 million.
Equipment takes the biggest bite, at 40 to 60 per cent of a typical budget. The guide lists cooking equipment at $15,000 to $80,000 or more, refrigeration at $10,000 to $60,000 or more, exhaust and ventilation at $8,000 to $40,000 or more, and gas and plumbing at $5,000 to $25,000. Imported equipment can take eight to sixteen weeks to arrive.
A rehearsal for opening night
Walk the room before you buy the hood. The interactive restaurant layout by QPANO starts from the architect’s plan, your measurements and a couple of photos of the atmosphere you’re after, and what comes back is a scene you can wander through at eye height: the host stand, the corner booth, the long run to the bar. A dining room plus a bar sits comfortably in the studio’s Standard package at €700, usually delivered in seven to ten days, while bigger venues are handled as a custom job with the timing agreed up front. Send the link to the landlord, the chef and the lender, and everyone is looking at the same room.
You can share the scene with the landlord, the chef, the bar manager and your lender, and everyone can see the same thing. That alone saves a few meetings.
It won’t tell you what the compliance officer thinks. It can help you decide where to put the tables.
Where the plan earns its keep
Look at those figures and a pattern emerges. The cost per square metre is high, so wasted space is expensive. A walkway that’s half a metre too wide across a 100-square-metre room is 50 square metres’ worth of rent, fit-out and air conditioning, and it comes with no extra seats.
The same goes for equipment placement. If the pass is in the wrong spot, or the dishwasher is too far from the kitchen, you pay for it every night in wages.
So the plan is where savings are made. Before anyone orders a hood or a cool room, test the dining room: how many seats you can fit, where the waiters walk, how the queue works at the door, how a table of ten gets seated without blocking the bar.
A code change to watch
The National Construction Code 2025 was published on 1 February 2026, and states were able to adopt it from 1 May 2026, though the guide says New South Wales deferred its adoption until May 2027. The changes cover things like solar on new commercial buildings, tighter energy and HVAC rules, waterproofing and facade detailing, exit signage and stair re-entry, and lighting controls. They bite hardest on new builds, so a refit in an existing shell may avoid the heaviest costs.
What to test
Count the seats and check the aisles. Is there room for a server with a tray to get past a seated guest? Are accessible routes clear?
Follow the staff. Walk from the kitchen pass to the furthest table and to the bar. The longer the route, the slower the service.
Check the sightlines. Can the manager see the floor? Can guests see the kitchen if you want them to?
Look at the entrance. A queue at the door shouldn’t block a guest trying to leave.
Imagine the loudest night. Hard surfaces and high ceilings make a room noisy. Soft furnishings, panels and a few plants help.
Timing the opening
Imported equipment can take up to sixteen weeks to arrive, so the order of decisions matters. Lock the layout first, then the kitchen schedule, then the long-lead items. A change to the pass after the hood is ordered is the sort of mistake that quietly adds weeks and thousands of dollars.
Landlords and lenders also like certainty. A clear picture of the finished room, with seat counts and walkways shown, makes for an easier conversation than a pile of drawings.
Spend where it counts
A good restaurant isn’t built from the most expensive equipment. It’s built from an arrangement where cooks, servers and guests do their jobs without bumping into each other. The fit-out guide’s numbers are daunting, but they also point to something helpful: decisions made early cost little, and decisions made late cost a lot.
Walk the room first. Order the oven second.
