Who buys builder's risk on a restaurant build-out?
There is no default. The two standard construction contracts disagree: the AIA form puts builder's risk on the owner, the ConsensusDocs form puts it on the contractor, and most restaurant leases put it on the tenant. On a fit-out it is often not a standalone policy at all, but an extension of the contractor's policy or an installation floater. What matters is that the lease and the construction contract say the same thing before the crew mobilizes, and that one party buys it with the others named on it.
Why three documents disagree
The lease is signed first, by the tenant and the landlord. Its alterations clause usually requires the tenant to carry a builder's risk policy and to name the landlord on it. The construction contract is signed months later, by the tenant and the contractor, and it comes on a standard form. The AIA form has the owner buy builder's risk, with a box to shift it to the contractor. The ConsensusDocs form has the contractor buy it, with the owner as a named insured.
The two documents live in two binders and are reviewed by two different people. The requirement gets satisfied twice or not at all. On most restaurant fit-outs the contractor ends up carrying it, either as a standalone policy or as an extension of the policy the contractor already has for its own work.
What a fit-out usually looks like
Builder's risk is a property policy on the work in progress: the build-out, the materials on site, and often the equipment waiting to be installed. On a fit-out in a leased space it is frequently an installation floater or an extension of the contractor's policy rather than a completed-value policy on a building. Whether that satisfies the lease depends on what the form says, not on what it is called.
Kitchen equipment is the piece that gets missed. On most openings it arrives in two or three deliveries and sits on site for weeks before it is installed. Whose policy covers it in that window depends on who bought it, who holds title, and what the builder's risk form says about materials and equipment not yet attached. That is a question to ask in writing before the first delivery, not after a theft.
When it ends, and what to settle before the first day on site
The standard builder's risk form ends coverage ninety days after construction is complete, or sixty days after the space is occupied or put to its intended use. A friends-and-family night counts as use. A soft opening counts. So does staff training with the kitchen running. The clock can start while punch-list work is still going on and equipment is still uninstalled. Some carriers' forms use different day counts or tie the end to the certificate of occupancy; the policy says which.
Before the contractor mobilizes, three things get settled. One: who buys builder's risk, one name, written into both the lease exhibit and the construction contract so they match. Two: what status everyone else gets, named insured, additional insured or loss payee, because the statuses are not equal. Three: the date the permanent property policy goes to full value, which is the date on the certificate of substantial completion, set on purpose rather than assumed. The day the crew mobilizes is the last day this can be settled cleanly.
The full sequence, eight moments from the lease to the first customer, is in the guide: Insurance through a build-out. The interactive version is the build-out timeline.