Business · HORECA

Café and restaurant construction and renovation. Your rent does not wait. Neither does our deadline.

A schedule agreed in writing, with the building's título de utilização (use permit) and SCIE/accessibility compliance verified from the start: the two things that actually hold up an opening.

Written schedule Fixed price 5-year legal warranty

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We visit the space and give a real quote and deadline, in writing.

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A café we already built, in Lisbon

The same room. Two versions.

Real photos of our own work: no stock, no third-party examples. Click to enlarge.

The ceiling, the counter and the lighting of this café were designed by our team, not copied from an external project.

The real price of this café

80 m², turnkey, complete works including the kitchen, VAT included: the project you saw in the photos above. It is a real example, not a current quote.

€1,875/m²indicative

€150,000 in total, 80 m²

This is the price of a project already completed. Material and labour costs change over time, and yours will also depend on the condition of the space and the size of the kitchen. That is why we visit before setting a current figure.

  • Commercial extraction

    It depends on whether a duct to the roof already exists or an approved alternative system is needed. Done in partnership with VentoFix, part of the same group.

  • Professional kitchen equipment and works

    Ranges, cold rooms and stainless steel counters vary so much that no reliable average exists: it depends on brand and capacity.

  • Condition of the space

    A bare shell costs more than a space already fitted out: existing plumbing, electrics and ventilation make a real difference.

  • Area and seating capacity

    Dining room, bar, entrance and bathrooms scale with the m² and the number of seats: there is no average that fits every size.

What is at stake

Rent runs from the day you sign, whether building work is progressing or not.

In the Portuguese market, construction delays in food service have already forced closures lasting several months. This is not a hypothetical scenario.

  • Every week of delay is a direct loss, not an inconvenience, with no revenue to offset it.
  • High season does not wait. A lost summer in a tourist area can't be won back that year.
  • The use permit has to match the activity. Since August 2026, prior notification is enough: approval is immediate, or takes 10 days if the works don't require prior authorisation. That timeline is not where the delay comes from. It comes from finding out too late that the building does not allow restaurant use.
  • SCIE and accessibility also have to be in order. Without both in order, the MCP is not defensible, even with the works finished.

The complete space, not just the kitchen

Most 'turnkey HORECA' results in Portugal are kitchen equipment specialists, not builders of the complete space. That is why we compare directly.

Category
Turnkey HORECA (general market)
ApartFix
Scope of works
Kitchen and equipment
The whole space: dining room, bar, entrance, bathrooms
Use permit
Outside the kitchen supplier's scope
Check included on the very first visit, before we close price and deadline
SCIE and accessibility
Outside the supplier's scope: the client's responsibility
Certified technician included. Utilização-Tipo VII (hotel and restaurant use), DL 220/2008. Above 150 m² of public area, accessibility is mandatory (DL 163/2006) and without it the competent authority must refuse the licence
Interior design
Architect and contractor, separate teams
We design and build as a single process

How it works

1
Contact and site visit
We see the space and check whether the building's use permit allows restaurant use.
2
Written schedule and quote
An agreed opening deadline, with the use permit and SCIE compliance already confirmed.
3
Works, stage by stage
Space infrastructure, professional kitchen, finishes: each stage confirmed by you.
4
Handover and warranty
A space ready to open, a final report and a 5-year legal warranty.

You only pay for each stage after confirming it

Space infrastructure, professional kitchen, finishes: each stage confirmed by you before the next payment is released.

01

Stage completed

The team finishes the stage (e.g. space infrastructure, professional kitchen, finishes).

02

Checklist signed by you

You see the work and confirm it with a simple checklist. The contractor does not sign off on its own work.

03

Payment released

Only after your confirmation is the next stage paid.

Frequently asked questions

That is exactly the risk the written schedule, with an agreed opening date, exists to prevent. Unlike a residential renovation, here the deadline is treated as a central commitment of the contract, not as a detail of the quote.

You open a food service establishment through a Mera Comunicação Prévia (MCP), a self-declaration filed by the business owner or their accountant on the Balcão do Empreendedor. We do not file that part for you. What we do is solve what can actually delay an opening: confirming that the building’s use permit allows restaurant use and that the works comply with SCIE and accessibility rules, so that your MCP is true and defensible.

We build the whole space, including the infrastructure for a professional kitchen. For the extraction and technical ventilation we work together with VentoFix (the group's climate control and ventilation company).

We install the physical infrastructure as part of the works. EsgotoFix handles the regular maintenance and the documentation required by your municipality's sanitation regulations (part of the same group), which specialises in that ongoing service.

We documented this café from bare shell to finished space: real photos above, not just the polished end result most companies show. It is not yet an extensive portfolio, but it is real proof, not a promise. To that we add verifiable technical rigour (the building’s use permit, SCIE, accessibility), a schedule that takes the real cost of each week of delay seriously, and the same fixed-price and legal-warranty model we apply to every project.

Yes, as you have seen in the photos above. That avoids the back and forth between interior architect and contractor that usually causes delays and misunderstandings. If you already have a design project from another team, we also build to it.

The café we documented above (real photos, before and after) cost €150,000 including VAT, turnkey, complete works including the kitchen, for 80 m²: €1,875/m². It is an indicative figure from a project already completed, not a current quote. Material and labour costs change over time, and there is no reliable market average for this type of works in Portugal. We prefer to visit your site and give a real, current quote and deadline, instead of quoting a figure that may already be out of date.

Let us talk about your café or restaurant

Tell us about the project and the date you need to open. We visit the space and give a real quote and deadline.

Written schedule Fixed price 5-year legal warranty