Budgets · 23 September 2026 · 8 min read
Shop Fitting Costs: What You Pay Per Square Metre
Quick answer: UK shop fitting costs £600 to £1,800 per square metre in 2026, which is roughly £55 to £170 per square foot. A refit of a trading shop with sound services starts around £600 per square metre. A full fit-out of an empty shell, including shopfront, services and bespoke joinery, typically runs £1,000 to £1,500 per square metre. Flagship and premium retail runs above that.
Shopfitters quote per square metre, per square foot and as a lump sum, sometimes all in the same document. Here is what each band buys in 2026, the rates behind the headline number, and how to compare two quotes that look nothing alike.
The bands, and what each one buys
Rate per square metre is only useful once you know the starting condition of the unit. An empty shell with a capped water supply and no shopfront is a different job from a trading store that needs new counters and lighting.
| Scope | Per sqm | Per sq ft |
|---|---|---|
| Refit of a trading shop, cosmetic | £600 to £850 | £55 to £80 |
| Full fit-out of an empty shell | £1,000 to £1,500 | £93 to £140 |
| Premium or flagship retail | £1,500 to £2,200+ | £140 to £205+ |
| Shopfront only, glazed with signage | £12,000 to £40,000 per unit | Priced per opening |
The line items behind the rate
Ask any shopfitter to split the quote into packages. The split tells you where the money is going and which parts are fixed.
- Strip out and making good, higher in a listed or older building
- Shopfront, glazing, entrance door and external signage
- Mechanical and electrical, including lighting circuits, power, heating and ventilation
- Bespoke joinery: counters, cash desk, display walls, fitting rooms and back of house
- Floor and wall finishes, ceilings and decoration
- Preliminaries, site management, waste and out of hours access
Why two quotes at the same rate are not the same job
The most common gap is joinery specification. A counter built from 18mm MFC with edge banding and one in laminated birch ply with a solid surface top can differ by a factor of three, and both appear on a quote as a counter.
The second gap is lighting. Retail lighting drives how product looks, and a scheme with track, dedicated display circuits and proper colour rendering costs several times a builder's basic layout.
The third is who carries risk. A quote with a provisional sum against services is not a fixed price. If the existing supply cannot carry your load, that sum moves.
Where to spend and where to hold back
Spend on the shopfront, the entrance zone and the till point. Those three decide whether people come in and how the brand reads once they do.
Hold back on deep back of house joinery, elaborate ceilings above eye level and anything that will be reconfigured within two seasons. Build those in modular units that can be moved rather than fixed installations.
Programme and access
A 100 square metre shop fit-out usually takes four to seven weeks on site after two to four weeks of manufacture. In a shopping centre, expect night work and an approvals period with the centre management team before anything is delivered.
Trading neighbours, loading bay slots and lift bookings shape the programme far more than the build itself. Fix those dates before you fix the opening date.
FAQs
Common questions
How much does shop fitting cost per square metre in the UK?
Between £600 and £1,800 per square metre in 2026. A cosmetic refit of a trading shop sits at the bottom of that range, a full fit-out of an empty shell around £1,000 to £1,500, and premium retail above £1,500.
What is included in a shop fitting quote?
Usually strip out, shopfront and signage, mechanical and electrical, bespoke joinery, finishes and preliminaries. Design fees, landlord approval costs, EPOS, security systems and stock fixtures are often excluded, so check each one.
How long does a shop fit-out take?
Four to seven weeks on site for a typical 100 square metre unit, after two to four weeks of joinery manufacture. Shopping centre units add two to three weeks for landlord and centre approvals.
Is it cheaper to refit or start from an empty shell?
A refit is cheaper per square metre because the shopfront, services and ceilings already exist. A shell gives you a better layout and no inherited faults, but you pay for the shopfront and full services.
Project gallery
Send us the unit size, the lease start and a few photos, and we will come back with a packaged shop fitting budget you can actually compare.
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