Commercial strip out in Melbourne

A commercial strip out is the part of moving out where the tenant's fit-out comes out: internal walls and glazed partitions, joinery and kitchenettes, carpet and vinyl, extra lighting, data cabling, signage, and in warehouses, racking, mezzanines and office pods. In Melbourne the work itself is similar to anywhere else. What is specific is the Victorian rulebook around it (building permits, asbestos and electrical licensing) and the building rules in the places tenants actually move out of, from CBD and Docklands towers to industrial estates in Dandenong South, Truganina and Laverton North.

This page explains those rules in plain English, what a good strip-out quote should include, and how to avoid paying for work your lease doesn't require.

General information only. This page is not legal advice. Your lease decides what you must do. For advice on your obligations, speak to a lawyer, or to the Victorian Small Business Commission if you have a retail lease.

How far does my strip out have to go?

Your lease sets the standard, not the contractor and not the building manager's wish list. No Victorian statute defines "make good"; it is a contract term. Make-good clauses usually fall into one of three shapes:

Three things often change the scope:

• Landlord consents. If the landlord approved your fit-out on the condition it stays, or the lease lets some items remain, they may not need to come out. Find the consent letters.
• What was there before you. If you took over an existing fit-out, check whether the lease makes you responsible for removing it anyway. The VSBC notes that a tenant who buys a business and takes on the existing lease still has make-good obligations.
• Retail leases. Under the Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic), s 52, the landlord maintains the building, plant and fixtures it provided, but not things the tenant is entitled or required to remove at the end of the lease.

If the clause is unclear, MAKE GREAT's Analyse my lease tool pulls out the make-good clause and list what it appears to require, what is unclear, and what the documents don't establish. It is a preliminary assessment, not legal advice, and complex or unclear clauses are flagged for a person to review.

Do I need a building permit for a strip out in Victoria?

Often not, but you need to check rather than assume.

• The default rule. Under the Building Act 1993 (Vic), "building work" includes demolition (s 3), and you must not carry out building work without a building permit in force (s 16). The penalty can be up to 500 penalty units for an individual and 2,500 for a company.
• The common exemption. The Building Regulations 2018 (Vic), reg 23 and Schedule 3 item 4, exempt alterations to a Class 3 to 9 building (offices, shops, warehouses and factories fall in this range) if the work does not:
  • affect structural soundness (no load-bearing walls, no change to floor area or height, no underpinning)
  • project beyond the street alignment
  • affect public or occupant safety
  • relate to or affect an essential safety measure (for example sprinklers, exit signs, fire doors, emergency lighting)
  • involve a building on the Heritage Register.
• When a permit is more likely. Removing a mezzanine, cutting into slabs, touching fire-rated walls or sprinkler heads, or working in a heritage-listed building in the CBD all push the job outside the simple exemption. Demolition is generally not exempt; the only demolition exemption is for a small freestanding Class 10 structure (Sch 3 item 2).
• Planning permits are a separate system. The exemption above doesn't remove the need for a planning permit where one applies, for example on a heritage overlay. Your council (City of Melbourne for the CBD and Docklands; City of Yarra for Richmond; City of Port Phillip for South and Port Melbourne; City of Greater Dandenong for Dandenong South) can tell you.

A registered building surveyor can confirm whether your scope needs a permit. Ask each contractor how they handle this and who engages the surveyor if one is needed.

What are the asbestos rules for a strip out in Melbourne?

Older office and industrial buildings, and older fit-outs, may contain asbestos, so this check comes first. The Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 (Vic) set the rules:

1. Check the register. Before demolition or refurbishment, the person who manages or controls the workplace must review the asbestos register and revise it if it isn't adequate for the planned work (regs 240–241). Ask your landlord or building manager for the register before you get quotes.
2. Identify and remove. Asbestos likely to be disturbed must be identified and, so far as reasonably practicable, removed before the work: for refurbishment, removed; for demolition, removed before demolition starts (reg 244).
3. Use the right licence. Removal must be done by a licensed asbestos removalist, or by someone allowed to do limited work (reg 246):
   • Class A licence for friable asbestos (crumbly material such as some old pipe lagging or sprayed insulation) (reg 264)
   • Class A or B licence for non-friable asbestos, such as fibre-cement sheeting (reg 265)
   • No licence needed only for non-friable asbestos of 10 m² or less in total, with no more than one hour of removal work in a 7-day period (reg 250).

Asbestos waste is handled and disposed of by the licensed removalist under separate rules. Ask for the paperwork showing the area was cleared and where the waste went, and keep it with your handover file.

Who can disconnect power, lighting and data?

Electrical work is not a general strip-out task. Under the Electricity Safety Act 1998 (Vic), only a licensed electrician can carry out prescribed electrical work (s 38), electrical contracting businesses must be registered (s 30), and prescribed installation work must be inspected by a licensed electrical inspector, who issues a certificate of inspection (s 45). In a strip out that usually means making circuits safe, removing tenant-added power and lighting, and capping services back. Ask whether the electrician is in-house or subcontracted, and ask for the certificate at the end.

What does a strip out cost in Melbourne?

Honest answer: there is very little reliable public data, and the right figure depends on your lease, your fit-out and your building.

Source: MAKE GREAT research register (docs/research/cost-sources.md), figures read 28 Oct 2026, AUD. Treat them as indicative only. They are not quotes, and there is no reliable public figure for Melbourne industrial or warehouse strip-outs. See our make-good cost guide for more.

What usually drives the price in Melbourne:

• Access and hours. CBD, Southbank and Docklands towers often restrict noisy work, goods lift use and loading dock time to set windows, which can mean after-hours rates.
• Asbestos. Licensed removal is a separate, specialist cost.
• Services. Capping back air-conditioning, sprinklers or hydraulics often needs the building's nominated contractors.
• Waste. Volume, separation for recycling, and the number of skip or truck movements.
• Industrial extras. Racking removal, anchor-bolt and slab repair, line-marking removal and mezzanine removal in estates like Truganina or Dandenong South.

What should a Melbourne strip-out quote include?

A good quote is specific enough that you could compare it with another contractor's. Check for:

• A scope that lists each item to be removed, matched to your lease, not "strip out as required"
• Who checks the asbestos register, and whether licensed removal is included or excluded
• Permit position: exempt, permit needed, or still to be confirmed by a building surveyor
• Electrical make-safe by a licensed electrician, and who provides the certificate of inspection
• Working hours, lift and loading dock bookings, and building induction requirements
• Waste removal and disposal dockets
• Patching and painting after removal, if your lease requires it
• What is excluded, and any provisional sums (allowances that can change)
• Insurance details (public liability) and the program, with a finish date before your lease ends
• GST shown clearly

How do I avoid paying for more than my lease requires?

• Get the paper trail first. Lease, any variation, fit-out consent letters, and your entry condition report and photos.
• Ask the landlord for their written requirements. Then compare them with the lease. If they ask for more than the lease requires, that is a conversation to have before work starts, not after.
• Get the sign-off right. Find out who can sign off the handover (landlord, managing agent or building manager) and get it in writing.
• Know your retail rights. For a retail lease, a cash security deposit must be returned within 30 days after the lease ends if you have met your obligations (RLA s 24). Retail tenancy disputes go to VSBC mediation first; VCAT can usually hear them only once the VSBC certifies mediation has failed or is unlikely to work (ss 86–87).

How MAKE GREAT helps with a Melbourne strip out

MAKE GREAT is a marketplace, not a contractor. You tell us about the premises and your lease end date, upload the lease and photos if you have them, and we turn that into a written scope that independent Melbourne contractors can quote against. You compare the quotes side by side, choose one (or none), and contract directly with the contractor you pick.

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. It doesn't change who you contract with, and you are never obliged to accept any quote.

Related pages: commercial strip out, office make good in Melbourne, commercial make good in Melbourne, warehouse make good in Melbourne, retail make good, lease reinstatement, end-of-lease cleaning, all Melbourne services and commercial strip out in Sydney.