Revolution is a full-service general contractor in St. Petersburg — our commercial division handles tenant buildouts, storefronts, and small new builds in the 2,000-5,000 sqft range. $1-5 million projects with dual-licensed CRC + BC craftsmanship.
Restaurant operators, retail tenants, professional offices, and specialty businesses moving into a 2,000 to 5,000 sqft St. Petersburg space. Projects in the $1 to $5 million range where finish quality and schedule reliability matter as much as the bid number. Our 20+ W-2 carpenters bring residential-level craftsmanship and the same weekly open-book budget reports we run on high-end residential remodels.
Local architects, interior design firms, and project managers who need a commercial GC that can carry custom millwork, specialty MEP, and ADA-triggered scope without losing the design intent. We work as a hybrid — partnering with independent designers and architects on each project rather than carrying in-house designers on salary — so we are used to plugging into your team. Florida licenses CRC1331628 (residential) and BC005541 (commercial).
Moving into a space that served a different business type triggers a new IBC occupancy classification review. A sushi restaurant has different needs than a burrito joint—grease traps, three-compartment sinks, Type I hood systems, and the entire kitchen layout change.
Moving into an empty shell—bare concrete slab, no drywall, no MEP infrastructure. Everything from metal stud framing and USG Sheetrock to electrical panels and plumbing rough-in needs to be built from scratch to match your business vision.
Your space doesn't reflect your brand anymore. Dated ceramic tile, worn millwork, peeling paint—clients notice. Upgrading to porcelain tile, luxury vinyl plank, or polished concrete with fresh Sherwin-Williams Pro Industrial finishes keeps you competitive.
Any project filed for permit triggers ADA 2010 Standards upgrades—accessible restrooms with 60-inch turning radius and 17-19 inch toilet height, 36-inch minimum doorways, slope-compliant ramps. Better to plan for Title III compliance now than be forced later. See our full bathroom remodeling approach for residential and commercial scopes.
Tenant Buildout
Raw space to functional business—framing, MEP, finishes
2-3 months
Standard Remodel
Refresh finishes, update layout
3-4 months
Complex Remodel
ADA upgrades, NFPA 13 sprinklers, commercial HVAC
4-6 months
Commercial projects move faster than residential—business owners are decisive and emotion is lower.
Design & Permits
ADA Title III, fire marshal review, zoning (3-6 week plan review)
Demolition
Remove existing finishes and fixtures
MEP Rough-In
Mechanical, electrical, plumbing
Framing & Drywall
Metal studs, USG Sheetrock, Georgia-Pacific DensArmor in wet areas
Fire Suppression
NFPA 13 wet-pipe sprinklers, Ansul R-102 kitchen hoods
Finishes
Porcelain tile, custom millwork, SW Pro Industrial paint, LVP/epoxy flooring
Fixtures & Equipment
Toto/Kohler/American Standard commercial fixtures, specialty equipment
Final Inspections
Building official, fire marshal, Pinellas County Health Dept
If you need to stay open, we can work after hours, section off parts of your space with 6-mil poly barriers and HEPA-filtered negative air machines, or help with temporary arrangements. We're mindful of dust, fumes, and customer experience. Containment and protection depend on your business type—restaurants need higher standards than retail. Our crew typically runs 4-6 people on phased commercial jobs to minimize footprint.
Commercial projects often move at a quicker pace because business owners are more decisive and there's less emotional attachment to finishes. We still take the same care with quality, but decision-making is streamlined.
Reviewed by Jeremy, Revolution co-owner — last updated April 2026
For a full breakdown of storefront buildouts, tenant improvements, and ADA trigger thresholds, read our commercial renovation guide for St. Pete. Cost ranges below come from Revolution’s actual project history, not industry averages.
Storefront Refresh
$100–$150/sqft
Sherwin-Williams Pro Industrial paint, LVP or porcelain tile flooring, custom millwork, LED lighting. Minimal MEP work.
Tenant Buildout
$150–$250/sqft
Complete build from raw space—metal stud framing, full MEP, ADA Title III compliance
Restaurant Build
$200–$300+/sqft
Commercial kitchen, Type I vent hoods, Ansul R-102 suppression, walk-in coolers, three-compartment sinks
Our sweet spot: $1 to $5 million projects where relationship and custom work matter more than the lowest bid.
Our Time & Materials model works exceptionally well for commercial clients. We figure out almost all costs during pre-construction, so even though it's T&M, your budget is solid. You get flexibility for unknowns in older buildings—especially outdated electrical panels, galvanized plumbing, or asbestos tile that requires abatement—without paying fixed-bid bloat. Many of St. Pete's commercial buildings date to the 1920s-1960s, so there are always question marks until demo starts.
Get expert guidance and a detailed budget for your St. Petersburg business space.
Fire Marshal Review: The fire marshal's office inside City of St. Petersburg building departments operates independently with minimal oversight. They conduct separate plan review (1-3 weeks) plus framing, above-ceiling, and final on-site inspections. Factor their review into your timeline—we handle all coordination with the fire marshal and building official.
“Fire crew inside the building departments are their own fiefdom — they administer fire safety on their own without a lot of oversight from the building department. So they can be difficult to work with. That might include suppression systems in kitchens, sprinkler systems depending on usage and size — you very quickly reach a square footage where fire suppression has to be added in.”
“We just did some egress work at a museum recently where the fire folks on a field inspection said some of the doors weren’t big enough or wide enough to allow for the occupant load to safely egress the building. Those ADA and fire requirements need to be considered early because they can add significant cost, especially to an older space that a first-time space buyer won’t have encountered before.”
Fire marshal review is the most common surprise on commercial buildouts in St. Petersburg. Suppression-system thresholds (NFPA 13 wet-pipe sprinklers based on square footage and occupancy classification), Type I hood requirements for restaurant kitchens with UL 300 wet-chemical Ansul R-102 systems, and IBC egress door-count and width requirements based on occupant load — all of those get reviewed by the fire marshal’s office independently of the building official. We coordinate every fire-marshal interaction directly so the schedule does not stall during framing or above-ceiling rough-in.
Focused on $1–5M tenant buildouts, storefronts, and small new builds. For smaller commercial jobs — punch-list work, minor alterations, service calls — our sister brand Contractors on Call handles them separately.
Raw space to functional business in 2-3 months. From bare concrete slab to fully built-out storefronts, offices, or service businesses—metal stud framing, USG Sheetrock, full MEP rough-in, polished concrete or LVP flooring. We handle design coordination, City of St. Petersburg permitting, and construction start to finish.
Remodeling existing commercial space to fit your business. Layout changes, updated finishes like porcelain tile and quartz countertops, ADA 2010 Standards upgrades, MEP modifications. Faster than buildouts because infrastructure exists—typically 3-4 months.
Commercial kitchens with Type I vent hoods, Ansul R-102 fire suppression, walk-in coolers, and three-compartment sinks. Custom bars with stainless-steel tops and specialty millwork. We've installed 3,000-pound pizza ovens and hand-painted signs. Highly custom work requiring Pinellas County Health Department approval.
Customer-facing spaces where aesthetics and brand matter. Custom millwork, display fixtures, porcelain tile or polished concrete flooring, LED accent lighting. Our 20+ W-2 in-house carpenters bring residential-level craftsmanship to commercial finishes.
2,000 to 5,000 square foot commercial buildings from the ground up—concrete block or steel frame, full NFPA 13 sprinkler systems, ADA-compliant throughout. Typically more straightforward than residential new builds. $1 to $5 million range—our sweet spot for commercial work.
Custom installations, signage, unique equipment. We’ve done hand-painted sign work and installed a 3,000-pound commercial pizza oven into a pizzeria. Most of our specialty work is highly custom — the kind of project where relationship and trust matter more than the lowest bid. We don’t chase eight-figure jobs; we focus on craftsmanship, schedule reliability, and the kind of finishing detail that comes out of a 20-person carpenter crew that has worked together for years.
If you need to stay open during construction, our 4-6 person crew can work after hours, section off parts of your space with 6-mil poly containment barriers and HEPA-filtered negative air machines, or help you make alternate arrangements for customers. The approach depends on your business type and tolerance for disruption — co-owner Jeremy puts it this way: “It’s just a matter of protection of open spaces, whatever level of containment needs to be observed. If people are eating a sandwich, they don’t want to smell fumes from an oil-based paint.”
Restaurants need higher levels of protection — we switch to low-VOC water-based Sherwin-Williams coatings during service hours instead of oil-based primer. Retail stores can often operate with sectioned-off areas behind temporary stud walls. Offices can relocate temporarily to another floor. Your dedicated project manager coordinates the phasing schedule so you always know what’s happening and when.
Honest scope-fit matters more on commercial work than residential — commercial budgets have less room for relationship work, so it’s on us to be upfront about what we are and aren’t the right contractor for. If your project falls into one of the categories below, we’ll refer you to a builder who’s a better fit.
We don’t bid RFPs. Most public-sector and large-corporate commercial work routes through formal RFP processes that reward the lowest qualified bid; that’s a different operating model than ours. Our work is negotiated, T&M, and relationship-driven — not low-bid.
We don’t take on eight-figure jobs. Those require heavier bonding, heavier insurance requirements, and a level of critical-path project management we’re not familiar with. Our sweet spot is the $1 to $5 million range where craftsmanship and direct owner-to-GC communication actually move the project.
Florida requires a commercial-unlimited GC license for buildings over four stories. Our BC005541 license covers most commercial work in St. Petersburg and Pinellas County, but high-rise structural work needs an unlimited-license GC and we’ll route you to one.
Medical and hospital work has its own list of requirements — pressure gas inside the walls, heavier electrical for diagnostic equipment, extra plumbing for surgical rooms, additional state and county inspections. We don’t do enough of it to be efficient at it. Unless you specifically want to work with us and need that level of trust, we’ll refer you to a specialist who’ll do a better job for a better price.
Commercial work isn’t on our 2026 expansion roadmap as a primary marketing target — we take it on as it comes to us through the small-commercial, restaurant, and design-firm referral channels we already work with.
What sets us apart from other contractors in St. Petersburg.
20+ skilled W-2 carpenters on payroll—we run 4-6 person crews and control the schedule and the quality, not subcontractors.
Open-book construction with weekly budget reports—see every dollar and stay in control.
10+ years navigating St. Pete permitting at One 4th Street North, building officials, and fire marshal reviews.
Licensed for both residential (CRC1331628) and commercial (BC005541). We work as a hybrid contractor — partnering with independent designers and architects on each project rather than carrying in-house designers on salary — so we plug into your design team without competing with them.
We focus on small to mid-sized commercial projects—small new builds (2,000-5,000 sqft), tenant buildouts, remodels, storefronts, specialty installations like polished concrete floors or custom stainless-steel bar tops. Our sweet spot is the $1 to $5 million range where relationship and customization matter. We're not competing for eight-figure jobs that require heavier bonding and critical path management we're not familiar with. We typically run a 4-6 person crew per commercial project with a dedicated project manager on-site daily. We take on projects where trust and craftsmanship make the difference.
Commercial projects often move faster than residential work because business owners are more decisive and there's less emotional attachment to finishes. A small tenant buildout might take 2-3 months from permit to completion—about 2-3 weeks for demolition, 3-4 weeks for MEP rough-in, and 4-6 weeks for finishes and inspections. Larger remodels with significant ADA or NFPA 13 fire suppression work can stretch to 4-6 months. Timeline depends heavily on scope, City of St. Petersburg plan review (typically 3-6 weeks for commercial), and whether you need to stay open during construction.
ADA 2010 Standards compliance is a major factor—accessible restrooms with 17-19 inch toilet height and 34-inch max counter height, slope-compliant ramps, 36-inch minimum doorways. NFPA 13-compliant fire suppression systems—wet-pipe sprinklers for general occupancy, UL 300-rated Ansul R-102 kitchen hood suppression for restaurants—add significant cost. IBC egress requirements can force door widening or additional exits based on occupancy classification. Commercial HVAC for restaurants—Type I vent hoods, Ansul systems, walk-in coolers—adds up quickly. Any project filed at the City of St. Petersburg Municipal Services Center at One 4th Street North will need to meet current ADA Title III standards, so factor that into your budget from day one.
Depends on the scope. We can work after hours, section off parts of your space with 6-mil poly barriers and HEPA-filtered negative air machines, or help you make temporary arrangements for customers. If you're serving food, we're mindful of fumes, dust, and containment—no oil-based Sherwin-Williams Pro Industrial coatings while you're open, only low-VOC water-based finishes during business hours. It's about protection of open spaces and whatever level of separation your business needs. We'll work with you to minimize disruption and keep revenue flowing.
Realistic budgets vary widely based on use and finishes. A raw space buildout for a storefront—polished concrete or luxury vinyl plank flooring, USG Sheetrock on metal studs, Sherwin-Williams Pro Industrial paint—might start at $100-150 per square foot. Restaurant buildouts with commercial kitchens can run $200-300+ per square foot due to Type I hood systems, NFPA 13 wet-pipe sprinklers, three-compartment sinks, and specialized equipment. Tenant improvements where infrastructure exists are less expensive than building from scratch. We'll work through your budget during pre-construction estimating and find ways to deliver what you need.
Yes. Commercial clients appreciate transparency, and T&M allows the budget to be locked in for most line items while still accommodating unknowns—especially in older St. Pete buildings where knob-and-tube wiring, galvanized plumbing, or undersized electrical panels can surprise you. We figure out almost all costs during pre-construction, so even on T&M, your budget is solid. You get flexibility without the guesswork, and our weekly open-book budget reports show every material invoice and labor hour.
Standard building permits filed through the City of St. Petersburg Municipal Services Center at One 4th Street North—or Pinellas County for unincorporated areas. But commercial work gets extra scrutiny based on IBC occupancy classification. ADA Title III compliance, NFPA fire safety, egress—these all get reviewed closely. Restaurant projects need Pinellas County Health Department approval. Some uses require zoning variances through the Development Review Commission. The fire marshal's office is its own entity within permitting and conducts separate plan review plus on-site inspections—framing, above-ceiling, and final. We handle the applications, coordinate all inspections (structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire), and meet the building official so you don't have to navigate that maze.
We're dual-licensed—CRC1331628 for residential, BC005541 for commercial. Our 20+ W-2 in-house carpenters bring residential-level craftsmanship and communication to commercial projects. Most commercial builders focus on volume and low bids; we focus on relationships and custom work. You'll get the same in-house crew, open-book budgeting with weekly line-item reports, and a dedicated project manager we bring to high-end residential clients. If your project is in that $1-5M range and you value trust over the lowest bid, we're your contractor.
No. We don't bid RFPs—that's typically more commercial work routed through formal public-sector or large-corporate procurement processes that reward the lowest qualified bid. Our model is negotiated work, Time & Materials with weekly open-book budget reports, and direct owner-to-GC relationship. If your project is going through an RFP process, we're probably not the right fit. If you're picking your contractor based on relationship, scope-fit, and craftsmanship, we are.
Nothing means more to us than making our clients happy, unless perhaps it is making them so happy they come back to us or refer us to their friends and family!
"We had multiple contractors tell us that our 100-year old bungalow in Old Southeast should be torn down instead of remodeled. Revolution worked with us on an extensive plan to rebuild structural components and remodel the entire house. Now we have the best house in the block!"
"The guys at Revolution have done projects for us in two houses now. They added a master bathroom for us in northeast St Pete and then remodeled every square inch of a 4500-sq. ft house in Pinellas Pt. Through every challenge over two years of construction they have been there pushing our projects forward. We wouldn't use anybody else!"
"Awesome company! I had Revolution Contractors do some work on my house and did an amazing job!!! The guys there are great to work with and very professional and knowledgeable on there work. I am very happy they way there work came out and will be getting more work done on my house from them."
"Find them to be very professional, provide sufficient info for bidding, easy to contact, and most importantly they pay good. All and all NuTrend really enjoys a very productive and lucrative relationship with Revolution Contractors would recommend them and do often"
"On a challenging structural project for an investment property Revolution saw me through all sorts of headaches with the building department and were able to carry off multiple layout changes with gorgeous results. They've done multiple projects for my family as well as my group of closest friends and are now working on my primary residence!"
"Revolution Contractors have helped my family on numerous projects, providing guidance and honesty throughout all projects. The crew is hardworking and reliable. The owners are quick to respond and very honest. Definitely would recommend!"
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