Help with Food Truck Build-out - Washington, DC

Hello.  I'm new to this forum and I'm so glad I found it.  I just bought Dodge/Utilimaster Aeromate Step Van and want to build it out for my cupcake/bakery business. I'm looking for someone within reasonable distance (no more than 3 hours driving distance) from Washington, DC to help build-out.  If there's anyone is interested, please contact me at .  I've been looking into going with a company, but the prices I've been quoted seem quite high for what I need done (installation of hand sink, insulation, flooring, installing bakery racks, etc.)

I'm not saying your wrong on the prices being high, I certainly don't know what you asked them to do or what price they quoted you.
 
But your about to embark on a dangerous road that can be frustrating at best, and terrible expensive at worst. You need a floor plan, drawn/written out. If you have not had a ton of food BOH experience you need to go to someone that has and ask them to be your guide. But it needs to be someone cooking/baking the same time items your going to cook or bake. And sometimes they will look at you as a competitor and will not really help you.
 
Here is the why......it can be costly
#1 If you design a kitchen and you make a boo boo your stuck with it until you can do a refurb. And they are expensive to say the least.
#2 If it doesn't comply with your local HD rules your really in a jam because you don't get to open until you do the refurb. So no money coming in and you spent your big insurance settlement to do the original build.
#3 Any good shop will most likely bid a restaurant on wheels time and material. Especially if they haven't done 20 or 30 before you walked into the shop. So your bid will include what they think the number of labor hours are involved and the amount of material plus a markup on the material they will need for the job. So the dollars add up very quickly. And when they are half done and you realize something you had in your original plan won't work, they have to redo what they just completed and are unhappy and spending the heck out of your money.
 
I could write 15 more reasons to be careful but not tonight. I just would caution you to find the best and most experianced shop in your area and know they will be expensive but may still save you money by your never having to do a rebuild, or fight the health department.
 
Good luck.
Jack