How much does a make good cost?

The honest answer is that nobody can tell you what your make good will cost until the scope is written down. Two tenancies of the same size can differ a lot in cost, because one lease asks for a clean and a repaint and the other asks for everything to go back to bare base building.

This guide explains what drives the cost, what the published figures say and how far to trust them, and how to get a number you can budget with. It is general information, not legal advice or a quote.

Is there a standard make good cost per square metre?

No. We looked for a current, independent per m² rate for commercial make good in Australia and could not find one that is both reliable and free to read. The quantity-surveyor rate books that would contain one (such as Rawlinsons and Cordell) are paid publications. The free digests from major quantity-surveying firms cover whole-building demolition and office refurbishment, which are different jobs.

What is published is a handful of figures, mostly for offices, from sources of mixed quality.

What figures are published, and how reliable are they?

All figures are in Australian dollars. Most of these sources do not say whether GST is included.

What can these numbers tell me?

Only the order of magnitude for an office. They suggest that an office make good is usually priced in the hundreds of dollars per m², not the tens or the thousands. They cannot tell you where your job sits in that spread, and they do not cover warehouses, factories or most retail make goods at all.

We have not averaged these figures or adjusted the JLL number for inflation. That would create a precise-looking number no one has measured.

Is there a cost figure for warehouse or industrial make good?

Not that we could find. We found no credible public per m² figure for warehouse or industrial make good, and no public commercial rates for individual items such as pallet racking removal, anchor-hole repair or line-marking removal. Published demolition rates for whole warehouse buildings are sometimes quoted online, but knocking down a building is a different job from handing back a tenancy, so those numbers should not be used. A warehouse make good needs a site inspection to price. See warehouse make good for what the work involves.

What drives the cost of a make good?

These are the things that move the price, roughly in order of how much they matter.

1. What your lease actually asks for

This is the single biggest factor. Make-good clauses usually fall into one of three shapes, and the cost rises sharply from one to the next.

The NSW Small Business Commission says make-good provisions typically require premises to be returned "in an empty and neutral state", which is not necessarily how they looked when you moved in. The Victorian Small Business Commission notes that a repainting clause can require you to repaint to new condition even if the walls were tired when you started, if that is what you agreed to. Read the clause before you budget. If it is unclear, see what is make good and get legal advice.

2. How much fit-out there is to remove

A floor of open-plan desks costs far less to clear than one with glass offices, a kitchen, a server room and raised floors. Every wall, bench and cable run adds labour, waste and patching.

3. Floor area

More area means more work, but not in a straight line. Small jobs carry fixed costs (site setup, waste bins, inductions, call-outs) that push up the cost per m².

4. Access and building rules

In a CBD tower, noisy work is often limited to nights or weekends, waste goes through a booked loading dock and goods lift, and some buildings require nominated contractors for fire or mechanical work. Each adds time and cost. Suburban offices, strip shops and warehouses with roller doors are usually easier. Shopping centres often have their own after-hours and hoarding rules. See retail make good.

5. Services that need licensed trades

Electrical work, such as disconnecting and making safe power, needs a licensed electrician in both Victoria and NSW. In Victoria, some electrical installation work (called prescribed work) must also be checked by a licensed electrical inspector. Changes to sprinklers or fire alarms need fire services contractors. These trades are usually priced separately and can be the slowest part of the program.

6. Asbestos and other hazards

In Victoria, before refurbishment work the asbestos register must be reviewed, and asbestos likely to be disturbed must be identified and, where reasonably practicable, removed (OHS Regulations 2017 (Vic) regs 240, 241, 244). SafeWork NSW says a register is required for workplaces built before 31 December 2003. In NSW, removing any friable asbestos, or more than 10 m² of non-friable asbestos, needs a licensed removalist, and Victoria has similar limits. Asbestos found mid-job can change both the price and the timeline, so check the register before you ask for quotes.

7. Time pressure

A rushed job leaves less room to compare quotes and can push work into after-hours shifts. It also raises the risk of holding over if the work is not finished in time.

8. Your condition report

If you have a signed condition report and photos from the start of the lease, you have evidence of what was already worn or damaged. Without one, arguments about what you must fix tend to cost more. Both the Victorian and NSW Small Business Commissions suggest a condition report at the start of a lease.

Why is the landlord's figure higher than my quote?

A landlord's make-good claim or cash-in-lieu figure is not the same thing as the cost of the work. It may include a broader reading of the lease, a margin for managing the works, or items you believe are fair wear and tear. It may also be reasonable. The only way to tell is to compare it line by line with quotes for the same scope.

The NSW Retail Tenancy Guide notes that tenants often agree to pay the landlord instead of doing the works, and that some retail leases include a clause for a quantity surveyor to decide make-good costs if the parties cannot agree. See make-good payment in lieu and who pays for make good.

How do I get a make good cost I can actually budget with?

1. Get the documents together. The lease, any fit-out approval or licence for alterations, the start-of-lease condition report, a floor plan and photos of every room.
2. Ask the landlord for their requirements in writing. Many landlords or agents will provide a make-good schedule.
3. Write one scope. List each item as remove, repair, replace or leave. This is what makes quotes comparable.
4. Check the asbestos register and ask building management for its rules on access, after-hours work and nominated trades.
5. Get site inspections and written quotes on that scope. No one can price a make good properly from photos alone.
6. Compare like with like. Check inclusions, exclusions, provisional sums, after-hours allowances, waste, the program and whether GST is shown.
7. Add a contingency for things no one can see until the fit-out comes out, and agree the final scope with the landlord before work starts.

If you need a figure for your accounts (a make-good provision), ask your accountant how to record it.

Make good cost checklist

• Read the make-good, alterations and repair clauses in the lease
• Note which of the three shapes your clause is closest to
• Find the start-of-lease condition report and photos
• List every item of fit-out and every change to ceilings, lights, power and air-conditioning
• Check the asbestos register and building access rules
• Get at least two site inspections and written quotes on the same scope
• Compare any landlord figure with those quotes

For the full end-of-lease list, see the office make good checklist and the lease exit timeline.

How MAKE GREAT can help

MAKE GREAT is a technology marketplace. We are not a builder, quantity surveyor or law firm, and we do not do the works.

• Analyse my lease. Upload your lease and our lease check picks out the make-good, alterations and cleaning clauses with page references, so you can see which shape of clause you have. Its output is a preliminary assessment, not legal advice, and a person reviews anything unclear before you rely on it.
• Get my make-good quotes. We turn your documents and photos into one written scope and invite up to three independent commercial contractors who cover your area to inspect and quote. If fewer than three are available, we tell you. You choose, and you contract directly with the contractor.

Any cost range our tools show is an estimate for planning, not a quote, and we will show where it comes from. We do not promise that you will save money.

How we are paid: Free for tenants. If you hire a contractor through us, they pay us a referral fee. Nobody can pay to rank higher. See how our referral fee works.

Cost figures on this page were checked on 28 October 2026 against the sources listed. We will replace them with better data when it is available. This page is general information, not legal, financial or accounting advice.