01Chatham-Kent, ON · tier 2 market
Office tenant improvement cost in Chatham-Kent
A tenant improvement inside an existing base building: partitions, ceilings, lighting, meeting rooms and a kitchenette. This is the number a tenant compares against the landlord's improvement allowance, so it belongs in the lease negotiation, not after it.
02The curated band
Hard cost, standard spec
$119/sf
Band $79 – $176
All-in, preset build
$151/sf
10,000 sf, 1 storey
Hard share of all-in
79%
Rest is soft cost, charges, contingency, escalation
ON escalation
3.2%/yr
Quarter ending 2025-09-30
Buildlor Construction Cost Index · Last updated 2026-01-15 · Maintained by Buildlor Cost Desk
Scope: Chatham-Kent, Ontario — Office tenant improvement
Inputs: Altus Group Canadian Cost Guide 2025, Toronto base range; Statistics Canada Building Construction Price Index, table 18-10-0135-01
Next scheduled review: 2026-04-15
03Build the stack
Your build
All-in cost — Office fit-out, Chatham-Kent
$1,508,730
$151/sf · band $993,810 – $2,260,250
At this specification the office fit-out prices at about $151 per square foot all-in, with a 84% spread between the low and high band. Hard cost is 79% of the total and everything above it is soft cost, charges, contingency and escalation.
| Line | Amount | $/sf |
|---|---|---|
| Demolition and preparation | $71,400 | $7/sf |
| Partitions, doors and millwork | $285,600 | $29/sf |
| Ceilings and flooring | $190,400 | $19/sf |
| Mechanical and controls | $226,100 | $23/sf |
| Electrical, data and lighting | $214,200 | $21/sf |
| Fire protection and code work | $83,300 | $8/sf |
| General conditions and fee | $119,000 | $12/sf |
| Hard cost subtotal | $1,190,000 | $119/sf |
| Design and consultants | $57,120 | $6/sf |
| Permits, approvals and reviews | $14,280 | $1/sf |
| Project management and testing | $28,560 | $3/sf |
| Financing, insurance and legal | $42,840 | $4/sf |
| Contingency (10%) | $133,280 | $13/sf |
| Escalation to midpoint (12 mo) | $42,650 | $4/sf |
| All-in cost | $1,508,730 | $151/sf |
How these figures were produced
- Observed — Recorded directly from the cited source series, unadjusted.
- Modelled — Derived arithmetically from observed inputs using the published method; not a market quote.
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04What moves the number
Cost drivers for this type in Chatham-Kent
Density of enclosed rooms
every meeting room adds partition, door, ceiling, HVAC zone and lighting circuit cost.
Base building condition
an as-built ceiling grid, sprinkler layout and HVAC distribution can save or add 15 percent.
Audio-visual, security and data are commonly excluded from a contractor's price and then blow the budget.
Audio-visual, security and data are commonly excluded from a contractor's price and then blow the budget.
Landlord allowance is usually quoted per rentable square foot while the fit-out is priced on usable area.
Landlord allowance is usually quoted per rentable square foot while the fit-out is priced on usable area.
Chatham-Kent has among the lowest labour rates in southern Ontario, offset by long travel between sites in a large rural municipality. That is why the same drawings priced in Chatham-Kent and in Toronto do not land at the same number even when the trades are the same.
On the preset build above, hard cost is $1,190,000 and everything after it — soft cost, charges, contingency and escalation — adds $318,730. Budgeting off a hard rate alone is the single most common way an early construction budget goes wrong.
Buildlor facts
- Hard cost for a office fit-out in Chatham-Kent sits at $119 per square foot at standard specification.
- Soft cost at 12% of hard adds $142,800 to the preset build.
- ON construction escalation is running at 3.2% a year, or $42,650 over twelve months on this build.
05Related
Other types in Chatham-Kent
- Warehouse and distribution shellWarehouse · tier 1 topic
- Low-rise office buildingOffice (low-rise) · tier 1 topic
- Retail strip and plaza shellRetail strip · tier 1 topic
- Low-rise apartment buildingApartment (low-rise) · tier 1 topic
- High-rise apartment towerApartment (high-rise) · tier 2 topic
- Retail tenant improvementRetail fit-out · tier 2 topic
- Medical and dental clinic fit-outMedical fit-out · tier 3 topic
06Questions
What does it cost to build a office fit-out in Chatham-Kent?
On the curated Chatham-Kent band, hard cost runs $79 to $176 per square foot for a office fit-out at standard specification. Adding site work, soft cost, charges, contingency and twelve months of escalation puts the all-in figure near $151 per square foot on a 10,000 sf preset. Your own area and specification change that number, which is what the builder above is for.
Why does Chatham-Kent price where it does?
Chatham-Kent has among the lowest labour rates in southern Ontario, offset by long travel between sites in a large rural municipality. The published Toronto base range is scaled by a documented factor of 0.88 for this market, and the ON escalation series is running at 3.2 percent a year.
Is the development charge in this number?
No. We do not yet hold a charge row for Chatham-Kent. Enter the figure from the municipality's schedule in the builder.
What is excluded from every figure here?
Land, financing interest during construction beyond the soft-cost allowance, taxes recoverable as input credits, tenant furniture and equipment, and any remediation or off-site works. Those are separate line items in a real proforma.
07Sources
Sources
- [1] Altus Group Canadian Cost Guide 2025, Toronto base range — Published Toronto range scaled by a documented city cost factor of 0.88. Hard cost only: excludes land, soft costs, development charges and contingency.
- [2] Statistics Canada Building Construction Price Index, table 18-10-0135-01 — Non-residential building construction, Toronto CMA.
Not advice — Buildlor is a data publisher. We do not bid, price, estimate, or build work, and nothing here is a quote, a tender price, or construction advice. Figures are indicative order-of-magnitude benchmarks for early budgeting and must be confirmed by a qualified cost consultant, quantity surveyor, or general contractor before you rely on them. About Buildlor