Warehouse make good checklist: racking, floors, services and handover

Use this checklist to run a warehouse or industrial make good from the first read of the lease to getting your security back. Print it, tick it, and keep it with your photos. For what each item of work involves and why, see our warehouse make good page.

It is general information, not legal advice. Your lease sets what you must do. If the clause is unclear, or the landlord's demands seem to go beyond it, talk to a lawyer or your state's Small Business Commission.

What should I do 9 to 12 months before the lease ends?

• Find the signed lease, every variation, and any landlord consents for racking, mezzanines, offices, docks or electrical upgrades.
• Mark the lease expiry, any option deadline and any notice period for vacating.
• Read the make-good clause and write down what it asks for: original condition, base building or shell, or remove your works and repair.
• Find the condition report, photos or video from when you moved in, especially of the slab. The Victorian Small Business Commission recommends a condition report at the start and that both sides keep a copy.
• List everything your business added: racking, mezzanines, office pods, cool rooms, dock levellers, bollards, line marking, coatings, extra power, lighting, sprinkler changes, signage, yard fencing.
• Note who installed each item and whether the landlord approved it. Consents often say what must come out at the end.
• Plan when stock, forklifts and equipment will leave. Most make-good work can't start until the floor is clear.

What should I do 6 to 9 months before?

• Ask the landlord in writing for their make-good requirements for the building, offices, yard and hardstand.
• Ask what can stay: racking, mezzanine, office pod, line marking, extra power or lighting. An incoming tenant may want them.
• Get every "you can leave it" agreement in writing, with bay numbers, photos and condition.
• Ask whether the landlord would take a payment instead of works. The NSW Small Business Commission notes this is common, but it is by agreement and should be checked against independent quotes.
• Get the asbestos register. In NSW one is required for workplaces built before 31 December 2003 (SafeWork NSW). In Victoria, the register must be reviewed before refurbishment or demolition work (OHS Regulations 2017 (Vic) regs 240 and 241).
• Ask the landlord which fire services contractor maintains the building, and whether they must do any sprinkler or fire system work.
• Ask a building surveyor (Victoria) or a registered certifier or the council (NSW) whether removing a mezzanine, office or other structure needs a permit. In Victoria, demolition is building work under the Building Act 1993 and generally needs a permit. The permit exemption for some alterations does not cover work that removes load-bearing elements or affects an essential safety measure (Building Regulations 2018 (Vic) reg 23 and Sch 3 item 4).

Warehouse walkthrough: what to check area by area

Take this list around the site with your contractor. Tick only what your lease or the landlord's written requirements call for.

Racking and storage

• In-rack sprinklers isolated and removed by a fire services contractor before racking comes down.
• Racking dismantled; beams, frames, mesh decks and row spacers removed from site, sold or stored.
• Anchors cut flush or removed, and holes filled with a repair mortar to the finish the lease requires.
• Column guards, end-of-aisle barriers and safety signs removed if required.

Floors and slab

• Slab compared with the move-in photos: cracks, spalls, joint damage, oil stains.
• Line marking: removed, or written agreement that it can stay.
• Epoxy or other coatings: removed, repaired or left, as the lease and starting condition require.
• Core holes, fixings and floor penetrations patched.

Mezzanines, offices and structures

• Permit question answered before any structure is removed.
• Mezzanines, stairs, handrails and office pods removed, or written agreement to leave them.
• Cool rooms or freezer rooms removed by appropriate trades, with refrigerant handled correctly.
• Any office area inside the warehouse made good too. Use the office make good checklist for that part.

Docks, doors and yard

• Dock levellers, shelters and bollards: removed or kept, as agreed.
• Roller doors working, with damaged doors and tracks repaired.
• Hardstand and yard cleared of pallets, bins, waste and spills; tenant fencing or gates removed if required.
• Tenant signage removed from facade, gate and pylon, and fixings patched.

Electrical, lighting and data

• Tenant-added power, three-phase outlets, charging points and lighting removed or made safe by a licensed electrician.
• High-bay lighting back to the layout the lease requires, with failed lamps replaced if required.
• Data cabling and comms equipment removed back to the agreed point.
• Electrical certificates collected. In Victoria, electrical installation work must be done by a licensed worker and inspected by a licensed inspector (Electricity Safety Act 1998 (Vic) ss 38, 45). In NSW any electrical wiring work needs a licence (NSW Government).

Fire services

• Changes to sprinklers, hydrants, detection or alarms done or approved by the landlord's fire services contractor.
• Systems left operating, with written confirmation from that contractor.

Hazardous materials and waste

• Asbestos identified before any work that could disturb it. Removal over the set limits needs a licensed removalist: in NSW, any friable asbestos or more than 10 m² of non-friable asbestos (SafeWork NSW). In Victoria, removal needs a licence holder unless it is limited work: no more than 10 m² of non-friable asbestos in total and no more than 1 hour of removal work in a 7-day period (OHS Regulations 2017 (Vic) regs 246 and 250).
• Chemicals, oils, batteries and dangerous goods removed and disposed of properly.
• Final end-of-lease clean of floors, offices, amenities and hardstand, after the trades finish.

What should I do 3 to 6 months before?

• Turn the walkthrough into a written scope.
• Have two or three contractors inspect and quote itemised against the same scope. Industrial jobs priced from photos miss things.
• Ask each quote to show racking, fire services, floor repairs, structures, electrical, waste and cleaning as separate lines, plus GST, exclusions, provisional sums and the program.
• Check each contractor's ABN, insurance and the licences of the trades they will use.
• Book fire services, permits and the works so everything finishes two to four weeks before the lease ends. If works run past your end date, you may be holding over, which can cost rent or compensation depending on the lease.

What should happen on handover day?

• Walk the building, offices, yard and roof access points with the landlord's representative.
• Take dated photos and video of the slab, racking areas, docks, ceilings and hardstand.
• Record any defects and agree in writing who fixes them and by when.
• Hand over keys, remotes, swipe cards and alarm codes, and get a signed receipt.
• Ask for written sign-off from the person the lease says can give it.

What should I do after I hand back the keys?

• Ask in writing for your bank guarantee, bond or deposit to be returned.
• Keep the lease, consents, quotes, invoices, certificates, photos and sign-off together.
• If the landlord makes a claim, ask for it itemised and compare it with your scope and photos. Get legal advice before you agree to pay.

How MAKE GREAT can help with this checklist

1. Get my make-good quotes. Tell us about the site and upload the lease, floor plan and photos. We send a structured brief to up to three independent industrial contractors we have checked (ABN, insurance, and licences for trades that need them). If fewer than three are eligible, we tell you. They inspect and quote, and you compare itemised quotes side by side. See how we vet contractors.
2. Analyse my lease. Our lease check drafts a preliminary list of make-good requirements with references to the clauses it relied on. A person at MAKE GREAT checks anything unclear or high-risk, unclear clauses are flagged, and a contractor must confirm the scope on site. It is not legal advice.
3. You choose and contract directly with the contractor. You are never obliged to accept a quote.

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.

For local detail, see warehouse make good in Melbourne and warehouse make good in Sydney. Pulling out a fit-out only? See commercial strip-out.