Building a restaurant is a big step for the average entrepreneur or franchise owner, keeping up with trends while maintaining your brand can be very challenging. While you often wonder about the appearance of your business, have you ever considered the condition of your floors?
It’s easy to take your floors for granted, I mean it’s just going to get dirty right? Why even pay any attention to its condition? “
I’ll tell you exactly why you should pay more attention to it. Your commercial flooring adds more aesthetic to your business than you realize. If you start to cut corners and use cheap flooring materials, it will certainly reflect on your businesses reputation with the public. Now, you may be asking, “Well, I don’t know the first thing about flooring, what should I do?”. Well the answer to that question depends on a number of factors including your design, budget, and amount of daily foot traffic. Read on to find out about the Four Top Commercial Flooring Materials and the benefits of each.
1. Vinyl Flooring
Vinyl Flooring is one of the most popular flooring options in restaurant construction in Toronto. This style of flooring is very versatile and adaptable to all types of businesses from retail, restaurants, nightclubs, fitness centres, and much more – the sky’s the limit! Vinyl is incredibly durable and can withstand heavy foot traffic for even the busiest restaurants. It is comfortable to walk on and helps absorb restaurant noise, which can be important for businesses that cater to kids and younger families.
Vinyl flooring is also very affordable which is great for new restaurants expenses. In Toronto, you can expect to pay anywhere from $2 and up per sq.ft. (installation included). Vinyl flooring comes in a wide range of colours and finishes which means you should be able to find exactly the style you are looking for.
2. Hardwood Flooring
A great long-term flooring option in Toronto is natural hardwood flooring. The first advantage to hardwood commercial flooring is it provides a natural feel to your business. A classic hardwood floor can create a warm and welcoming environment to your customers. Hardwood flooring is an earthy, neutral finish which can make the process of matching it to your custom retail fixtures a lot easier than tile, carpet or vinyl. Another great aspect of natural hardwood flooring is the ability to change the finish. If you ever grow tired of the finish or you redesign your restaurant, you can just sand the floor down with specialized equipment and stain the floor to the colour you need – piece of cake!
There are companies who can come in and refinish your whole floor by lunch time, making the process a lot less stressful and saving you time and money. For natural hardwood in Toronto, you can expect to pay approximately $7-$9 per sq.ft. If you’re looking for more exotic, or unique hardwood styles you should expect to pay around $8 – $13 per sq.ft.
3. Eco Flooring
Another great option for commercial flooring is choosing eco-friendly flooring options. Examples of Eco-flooring include cork, bamboo, concrete, linoleum, glass tiles, and reclaimed hardwood. There are a number of eco-friendly flooring options available in Toronto and has risen drastically in popularity in recent years due in part to the growing trend of eco-friendly, organic lifestyle. Eco-friendly can refer to anything from natural fiber carpets, tiles made from recycled materials, and natural wood from sustainable sources.
Installing trendy, eco-friendly flooring can make you feel good about doing your part for the environment. Customers enjoy eating at natural, and sustainable businesses which can make the investment in eco-friendly building materials worthwhile for your business. Since eco-friendly flooring is such a large category, it is hard to pinpoint an average starting price. However, Cork flooring typically ranges in the area of $3 – $7 per sq.ft., whereas, bamboo flooring costs range between $8-$12 per sq.ft.
4. Laminate Flooring
Another great choice for commercial flooring is laminate as it offers a ton of colours and styles for you to match with your restaurant interior design. A great aspect of laminate flooring is its resistance to various damage. However, laminate flooring has five different levels of durability ranging from AC1 – AC5. These levels determine just how durable the flooring is. AC1 laminate flooring is for light or general home use. AC2 is for moderate residential use. AC3 is for heavy residential use which sees a lot of daily foot traffic. AC4 is for light commercial use and AC5 is for heavy commercial use.
Depending on how much traffic your business sees on a daily basis, you should look for commercial flooring in the AC4 – AC5 range.These are the most durable laminate flooring you can buy and are great for areas with frequent, everyday foot traffic. Laminate flooring costs in Toronto per square foot can start around $2 per sq.ft. and can go up to $12 per sq.ft. depending on the durability and style you choose.
Final
If you’re in the market for restaurant construction in Toronto or are looking to get more information on the contracting process around new restaurants. Give us a call and one of our Toronto commercial construction specialists will answer any questions you have.
