Yes - you can get business funding to finance a build-out or a renovation, and it is one of the most common reasons owners borrow. The cost of framing, wiring, plumbing, fixtures and finishes lands months before the space earns a dollar, so the funding bridges that gap.
A term loan, an SBA 504 or 7(a) loan, equipment financing, or a line of credit can all fit depending on the project. The Broker Shop is a funding broker, not a funder - one 2-minute application gets you matched to the funders whose guidelines you meet.
What is a build-out and why does it need funding?
A build-out is the construction and improvement work that turns a raw or existing commercial space into one your business can actually operate in - things like walls, flooring, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, lighting, fixtures, and signage. Landlords sometimes contribute a tenant improvement allowance, but it rarely covers everything, so the balance falls on the owner.
The reason a build-out so often needs financing is timing: nearly all of the cost lands before the space opens and starts generating revenue. You are paying contractors and buying materials on a construction timeline while the location earns nothing, so funding bridges that gap and lets you finish the space without draining the cash you need to actually open and run.
What funding options fit a build-out?
The right product depends on the size of the project and how long you want to pay it back. Common fits include:
- Term loan: a lump sum with set payments - good for a defined build-out budget you want to repay on a predictable schedule. See business term loans.
- SBA 504 or 7(a) loan: government-backed and often the most affordable long-term option for larger, owner-occupied projects, though it asks for the most paperwork. See SBA loans.
- Equipment financing: if a big share of the build-out is fixed equipment - kitchen lines, HVAC, machinery - the equipment itself can act as collateral. See equipment financing.
- Line of credit: flexible draws for a phased build-out or change orders you cannot fully predict up front. See business line of credit.
How do you qualify for build-out financing?
Funders look at how you will repay the loan after the space opens, so they weigh your business's revenue and time in business, your personal and business credit, and often the project details - contractor bids, a scope of work, and a lease. An established business funding a second location can usually borrow against its existing cash flow, while a newer business leans more on credit, collateral, and a clear plan.
It helps to gather your paperwork before you apply - typically bank statements, financials, the lease, and contractor estimates so a funder can size the project. See documents needed for business funding. If your credit is not perfect, there are still paths worth exploring - see how to get business funding with bad credit.
Business renovation funding: how it differs from a new build-out
Renovation funding pays to improve a space your business already occupies, while build-out funding pays to make a new space usable in the first place. The difference matters to a funder because a renovation comes with trading history - real revenue, real deposits, a location already proving it works - while a build-out is repaid out of revenue that does not exist yet.
That usually makes a renovation the easier file of the two. You can show what the location earns today, and the funder can size repayment against cash flow it can actually see rather than a projection. The trade-off runs the other way on disruption: a renovation often has to happen around customers, in phases, or during reduced hours, so the project can dent the very revenue that supports the payments. Build-outs have no revenue to dent, but no history to lean on either.
It also changes which product fits. A renovation with a firm contractor bid suits a term loan sized to the quote. A renovation you intend to run in stages, or one where change orders are likely once walls come open, suits a line of credit you draw against as each phase lands.
What does a business renovation loan cover?
Business renovation funding typically covers anything that improves the physical space: structural work, electrical, plumbing and HVAC upgrades, flooring, lighting, fixtures, signage, code and accessibility compliance, permits, and contractor labour. Fixed equipment installed as part of the work - a commercial kitchen line, refrigeration, a paint booth - often qualifies too, and can sometimes be financed separately against the equipment itself.
What it generally does not cover is routine maintenance and repairs, which funders read as an operating expense rather than an improvement, and work that your lease makes the landlord's responsibility. Read the lease before you price the project. Many commercial leases split responsibility by system - the landlord owns the roof and the exterior, you own everything inside the walls - and owners regularly seek funding for work they were never obliged to pay for.
Where a renovation is part of a wider expansion, the funding conversation usually widens with it. In the Federal Reserve Banks' 2025 Small Business Credit Survey, 46% of firms that sought financing did so to pursue an expansion or a new opportunity, second only to meeting operating expenses at 56%. Renovation and build-out spending sits squarely in that 46%.
How do you finance a remodel and stay open while the work happens?
Finance a remodel you have to trade through by phasing the work, funding it with a product you can draw on in stages, and sizing the payments against reduced revenue rather than normal revenue. The most common mistake is budgeting the construction accurately and the trading dip not at all.
Work out, before you borrow, roughly how much revenue the disruption costs you and for how long - a dining room at half capacity for six weeks, a shop floor losing its front third for a month. That number belongs in the funding request alongside the contractor's quote, because it is the gap the funding actually has to bridge. A line of credit tends to fit this shape better than a lump sum: you draw for each phase and for the shortfall as it appears, and you pay for what you use rather than carrying the full amount from day one.
Then match the repayment to the recovery. A remodel that lifts capacity or ticket size does not lift them the day the contractors leave; there is a ramp. Where a funder offers a choice of term, the longer one is often the safer call on a renovation, because it puts the heaviest payments after the room has had time to fill back up.
How does The Broker Shop match you to build-out funding?
The Broker Shop is a business funding broker, not a funder, so it does not lend its own money - it matches you to the funders whose guidelines you meet. That matters for a build-out because a small leasehold-improvement project and a large ground-up construction fit very different funders, and applying to them one at a time wastes time while contractors wait. One application routes you to the funders that fund your type of project so you can compare the strongest offers side by side.
Checking your options won't affect your credit score, the service is free to the applicant, and advertised funding runs from $5,000 to $2 million. If you want to understand the model first, see how a business funding broker works, then start your application when you are ready to compare offers.
See what you qualify for
One 2-minute application is matched to the funders whose guidelines you meet. It's free, and checking your options won't affect your credit score.
See What I Qualify For →Source: Federal Reserve Banks, 2026 Report on Employer Firms (2025 Small Business Credit Survey) - reasons firms sought financing.
The bottom line: A build-out costs you before it pays you back - the right funding covers construction and leasehold improvements so you can open on schedule, and one application gets you compared across the funders whose guidelines you meet.