Commercial construction in Holbox
Works, services and licensing for retail, restaurants and offices with a single contractor.
Commercial space on Holbox means restaurants, beach bars, shops and dive centres on sand streets with no trucks. The unit has to fit the Yum Balam rules, be built from barge loads and open in time for a season that does not wait.
Land use inside a protected area
Before a lease is signed, we check that the use — restaurant, bar, retail, tour office — is compatible with the Yum Balam management plan and the municipal programme of Lázaro Cárdenas. A kitchen, a terrace over the sand or amplified music each carry their own conditions, and finding that out after the fit-out is expensive.
Kitchens, grease and water
Any unit with a kitchen needs a grease trap and a connection to a treatment plant, because the island cannot absorb untreated discharge and inspectors look at it closely. Water storage, gas cylinders delivered by cart and an extraction system that does not blow onto the neighbours are designed in from the start.
Palapas, fire and Protección Civil
Thatched palapa roofs are part of Holbox’s image and a fire risk. We design them with fire-retardant treatment, separation from the kitchen and clear escape routes, so that the Protección Civil inspection is a formality rather than a redesign two weeks before opening.
Budget and programme for a commercial unit in Holbox
Commercial shell: MXN 14,000 to 22,000 per m². Fit-out by use: MXN 11,000 to 26,000 per m², with the grease trap and treatment connection as compulsory line items wherever there is a kitchen. The island premium comes from the double crossing and from housing crews.
A 100–250 m² fit-out takes five to eight months, because every load is planned around the barge and the weather. Add six to ten weeks for the municipal licence, plus Protección Civil and COFEPRIS where food is involved.
Scope: from land use to handover with the unit ready to open
We cover the full cycle: land-use and feasibility checks, executive and services design, licence filing with the responsible engineer, civil works, electrical, plumbing, air conditioning, extraction, voice and data, finishes, fixed furniture and signage. Handover comes with as-built drawings, calculation records and the files Protección Civil asks for.
Where the use handles food, we resolve the grease trap, extraction and washing at design stage rather than as a late adjustment: it is the item that causes the most retrofits and the most expensive to correct once the unit is finished.
How we control cost, programme and opening
A line-item budget with quantities and unit rates, changes signed before execution and payments against verified progress. The programme is organised by work fronts so services, finishes and equipment do not obstruct each other, and the opening date is set once the critical filings are resolved, not when the contract is signed.
Weekly reports with dated photographs and a fortnightly video call from site, in Spanish, English, German, French, Russian or Chinese. Most of our clients live outside Mexico and run the business remotely: the system is built for that.
The ground in Holbox: what it imposes on the project
- Municipality: Lázaro Cárdenas
- Environmental regime: CONANP (Yum Balam) + SEMARNAT + municipal
- Ground: sand bar over limestone
- Water table: very high, close to the surface
- Salt exposure: very high
A car-free island in a federal protected area: low heights, limited footprint and every load crossing by barge.
- Check the lot against the Yum Balam management plan before paying for design; it fixes what can be built.
- Plan deliveries in consolidated barge loads and keep a site buffer for days when the crossing is closed.
See the 42 mapped zones of the corridor in the zone checker.
Frequently asked questions
Can I open a restaurant on the beach on Holbox?
On private land behind the federal beach zone, yes, if the use fits the Yum Balam plan and the municipal programme. On the beach itself you need a ZOFEMAT concession, which allows furniture and light structures, not a kitchen.
Why does a fit-out take longer on Holbox?
Because materials cross by barge, move on sand without trucks and wait out windy days. We consolidate purchases and fix the opening date backwards from the season, not forwards from the start date.
Can you open in phases so trading starts earlier?
Yes, where the use and Protección Civil allow it. We define an operable core — access, washrooms, emergency exits and the services on that front — and execute the rest afterwards at hours that do not interfere. It has to be planned from the design stage; improvising it mid-build is expensive.
What filings go with the construction licence?
Depending on the use: land-use certificate, municipal construction licence, Protección Civil sign-off for occupancy and exits, the COFEPRIS operating notice where food is handled, and contracts or load increases with CFE and the water operator. We handle them inside the same contract.
House construction in Holbox · Commercial construction in Playa del Carmen · Commercial construction in Cancún · Commercial and hotels on the Riviera Maya · Zone checker · Cost calculator · Luxury villas in Holbox · Villas and hotels in Holbox · Clinics in Holbox · Warehouses in Holbox · Fuel stations in Holbox