Franchise restaurant construction in Dallas–Fort Worth and Texas

Who builds franchise restaurants in Dallas–Fort Worth?

A franchise location is built to someone else’s drawings, on someone else’s schedule, inside a lease with its own rules. The contractor you want is one that has built the same kind of store many times, prices the brand’s prototype without rewriting it, and keeps the franchisee, the franchisor’s construction team and the landlord informed at the same time.

That is the work Harrison Construction was built on. Restaurant brands on our project records include Firehouse Subs, Sonic, Five Guys, El Pollo Loco, Dillas Quesadillas, Snappy Salads, Luna Grill, GAPCo, Starbucks, Taco Cabana and Which Wich. The full list, with city, size and type of work for every location, is in the table below and on our projects page.

What a franchise build-out involves

Every franchise project starts from a prototype: the brand’s drawings, finish schedule, equipment list and signage package. The site adapts it. A strip-center end cap, an inline suite, a second-generation restaurant and a pad site each change the plumbing, the hood and exhaust route, the electrical service and the storefront.

• Site review against the prototypebefore the lease is final: utilities to the suite, grease interceptor, roof access for the hood and rooftop units, demising walls, the landlord’s delivery condition.
• Pricing the brand’s seta conceptual estimate early, then a bid on the permit drawings with the brand’s owner-furnished items and the landlord’s work called out line by line.
• Permits and approvalsthe city building permit, the health authority’s plan review for food service, landlord approval of the plans and the sign permit.
• Constructionone team responsible for the budget, the schedule, the subcontractors, quality and safety, with regular progress meetings and electronic reports to the franchisee and, when asked, the brand.
• Close-outfinal inspections, the certificate of occupancy, the punch list and the close-out documents the brand and the landlord ask for.

Franchise remodels and image updates

Brands refresh their stores on a cycle, and a remodel of an open restaurant is a different job from a new build-out. The store keeps selling, so the work is phased, after-hours work is planned, and the kitchen stays usable for as long as possible.

Many of our restaurant records are remodels and renovations of operating locations, including Sonic drive-ins, Taco Cabana and GAPCo stores. We plan the phases with the operator before pricing, so the cost of working around the business is in the bid, not a surprise later.

Rollouts: several locations, one contractor

A franchisee or area developer opening several stores needs the same standard at every one, and lessons from the first store applied to the second. Harrison Construction is licensed in Texas and other states for exactly this, and our records include restaurant locations outside Texas in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Missouri.

For a rollout we keep one point of contact, reuse what worked on the brand’s earlier stores, and report each location separately so the developer sees every store’s budget and schedule.

How to choose a franchise restaurant contractor

Ask every contractor you interview the same questions, and compare the answers, not only the totals.

• Which locations of this brand, or of brands like it, have you built?Ask for the list with cities. Ours is published.
• Who prices the job, and who runs it day to day?At Harrison: Lonnie Harrison, President, and Alex Lioumis, VP of Operations, who oversees project execution, field personnel and subcontractors.
• What is excluded?Owner-furnished equipment, low-voltage, signage and landlord work are the usual gaps between two bids.
• How will I know where the job stands?We hold regular progress meetings and send electronic project reports.
• Are you bonded and insured?Harrison Construction is fully bonded and insured.

Related: Multi-state rollouts · Restaurant construction · Freestanding restaurants.