General contractors — restaurant build-out

What to ask before you hire

Take this into the call. No vendor gets to edit this list.

1. How many restaurant build-outs have you completed, and can I visit or call two of them? Ask for the ones that opened late as well as the ones that went well.
2. Have you pulled permits with this specific municipality's building department before? Local familiarity is worth more than a lower bid.
3. Have you installed a Type I hood and balanced make-up air? An unbalanced kitchen fails at inspection and cooks badly forever after.
4. Who is responsible for coordinating with health department plan review, and for making changes the reviewer asks for?
5. Who pulls the building, mechanical, plumbing, and electrical permits — you or me? Get the answer in writing.
6. What is your change order process, and what is the markup? This is where restaurant budgets actually die.
7. What happens to my schedule if an inspection fails — who absorbs that cost?
8. Are you licensed, bonded, and insured, and will you provide lien waivers from subcontractors before final payment?
9. Will you complete the punch list before my health department pre-licensing inspection, not after? The inspector will see what the inspector sees.

Listings

Listed alphabetically. Order is never sold or influenced by sponsorship.

• Form Construction

  Cleveland commercial contractor doing interior build-outs with in-house trades and millwork — restaurant renovations, bar construction, and custom casework including banquette seating, booths, host stands, and wall panels. Established 2015.

  Services: Interior build-out · Custom millwork and casework · Banquettes, booths and bars · Design-build · Tenant fit-out

  Serves: Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Summit counties

  Unusual combination: general contracting plus in-house millwork and furniture fabrication, so banquettes, booths, and the bar can come from the same shop doing the build. Worth pricing against buying furniture separately. Email dispatch@formconstructionllc.com.

  1892 Carter Rd, Cleveland, OH 44113
  216-862-7513

  Verified Aug 8, 2026 · number checked against 3 sources

• J.L. Moore General Contractor

  North Olmsted general contractor doing new construction, renovations, and build-outs for local, regional, and national restaurant owners and franchisees, with a specialty in working around an operating restaurant.

  Services: Restaurant new construction · Renovations and build-outs · Work in operating restaurants · Franchise build-outs

  Serves: Cuyahoga, Lorain, Medina, Summit counties

  The deepest restaurant portfolio of our contractor listings — heavy national franchise work (Panda Express, Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, KFC, IHOP) plus regional names including Great Lakes Brewing. If you are remodeling without closing, this is the capability to ask about. Franchise-heavy experience can mean a process built for chain prototypes; ask how they handle a one-off independent design. Strongest on the west side. Email info@jlmooreinc.com.

  29992 Lorain Rd, North Olmsted, OH 44070
  440-236-3589

  Verified Aug 8, 2026 · number checked against 3 sources

• Skoda Construction

  Mayfield Village commercial contractor with a dedicated restaurant practice covering kitchen design and installation, custom bar and dining build-out, ventilation, commercial plumbing, and health code and fire safety compliance. 40+ years in commercial construction.

  Services: Full restaurant build-out · Commercial kitchen design and installation · Ventilation · Commercial plumbing · Health code and fire safety compliance

  Serves: Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga, Portage counties

  One of the few local contractors that names health code and fire safety compliance as part of the scope rather than leaving it to you. They put a typical restaurant build-out at 8 to 16 weeks depending on size and permitting — a useful benchmark to hold other bids against. Strongest on the east side. Email info@skodaconstruction.com.

  784 SOM Center Rd, Mayfield Village, OH 44143
  440-567-4186

  Verified Aug 8, 2026 · number checked against 1 source

• Ten Six Construction

  Warrensville Heights commercial contractor doing renovations, build-outs, ADA compliance work, and commercial maintenance, with a focus on renovating occupied buildings without disrupting tenants. Founded 2021.

  Services: Commercial build-outs · Renovation · ADA compliance work · Occupied-building renovation · Commercial maintenance

  Serves: Cuyahoga, Summit, Lake counties

  Their published work is mainly office, retail, and multi-family, with one restaurant project shown. Restaurant build-out carries requirements a retail fit-out does not — hood and make-up air balance, interceptor sizing, the inspection sequence — so ask directly how many commercial kitchens they have completed before comparing their bid to a restaurant specialist's. Strong fit if your project is a dining room refresh or ADA work rather than a kitchen build. Email joe@tensixconstruction.com.

  4536 Renaissance Parkway, Warrensville Heights, OH 44128
  216-903-0253

  Verified Aug 8, 2026 · number checked against 3 sources

Related guides

• What it costs to open a restaurant in Cleveland

  The permit and licensing fees you can actually verify, agency by agency, plus an honest account of the costs that dwarf them and the one that costs most of all.

• Where things go in a commercial kitchen, and why

  What the code actually dictates about equipment placement, what it leaves to you, and the adjacencies that quietly cost money later — including why the reach-in should not live next to the fryer.

• How to get a food service license in Cuyahoga County

  Which agency licenses you (it depends on your address), what plan review costs and how long it takes, how risk levels are assigned, and the order the inspections have to happen in.

• Occupancy limits and how many restrooms you need

  How Ohio calculates the number of people your dining room may legally hold, how that number decides your restroom count, and why a bar needs almost twice the fixtures of a restaurant the same size.