Office make good in Melbourne

An office make good in Melbourne means doing what your lease says must be done before you hand the keys back. For most offices that is some mix of three things: clean and repair, remove what you added (partitions, joinery, cabling, signage, extra lighting), and reinstate the base building (ceiling tiles, lights, carpet, air-conditioning outlets) to the condition the lease describes.

No Victorian law defines "make good". Your lease clause, your fit-out approval documents and any start-of-lease condition report decide the scope. What makes Melbourne different is how the work gets done: towers with strict building management rules, shared loading docks, trams on most CBD streets, and older buildings where asbestos checks matter.

This page is general information, not legal advice. For advice on your lease, speak to a lawyer.

What does an office make good involve in Melbourne?

Most Melbourne office make goods follow the same order, whatever the building:

1. Read the lease and fit-out approvals. Find the make-good clause, any "reinstatement" or "yield up" clause, and the landlord's original consent to your fit-out. Consent conditions often say which items must come out.
2. Walk the floor with the landlord or agent. Agree in writing what stays and what goes.
3. Get a scope and quotes. A contractor inspects, confirms quantities and gives you a price.
4. Get building management approval. Submit the works package (scope, programme, insurances, safety documents) to the building manager.
5. Do the works. Strip-out, patching, painting, ceiling and lighting reinstatement, flooring, cleaning.
6. Inspect and sign off. Get written confirmation from the landlord (not just the leasing agent) that the make good is accepted.

Typical scope items in a Melbourne office:

Which kind of Melbourne office are you leaving?

Melbourne's office stock varies a lot by precinct, and the building type changes what a make good involves.

What will building management ask for before works start?

In a managed Melbourne office building, nothing starts until the building manager approves your works package. Expect to provide a scope and programme, the contractor's insurance certificates, safe work method statements, worker inductions, goods lift and dock bookings, hot works permits, and fire system isolations booked through the building's own fire contractor. Many towers also insist on their nominated contractors for air-conditioning, fire and building controls. Our Melbourne CBD make good page covers these tower rules in more detail.

Allow time for this. Approval can take days in a small building and several weeks in a premium tower, and dock and goods lift slots may already be taken by other tenants moving in or out.

Will the works happen at night or on weekends?

Often, yes. Most CBD towers do not allow noisy work, such as demolition, core drilling or grinding, while other tenants are working. That usually pushes the loudest parts of a strip-out to nights or weekends, when labour costs more.

Getting materials out is the other constraint. Trams run along most of the main CBD streets, and many laneways are narrow, so trucks and skips cannot simply park outside. Waste usually leaves through the building's loading dock in booked slots. If a skip, crane or truck needs to occupy a road or footpath, the contractor will usually need a permit from the council. In the CBD, Southbank and Docklands that is the City of Melbourne, which issues permits to occupy public space and to place skips on the road.

Converted warehouse offices in Richmond or Cremorne are the opposite problem: no dock, a street-front door, and neighbours close by. Ask how the contractor will manage noise, parking and waste on the street.

What Victorian rules apply to an office strip-out?

A make good is still building work, and these Victorian rules can apply:

• Building permits. Under the Building Act 1993 (Vic), building work, including demolition, needs a building permit unless an exemption applies. Schedule 3 of the Building Regulations 2018 exempts alterations to commercial buildings that do not affect structure, public or occupant safety, essential safety measures or a heritage-registered building. Many "soft" office strip-outs may fall within that exemption, but a registered building surveyor should confirm it, especially if walls, fire elements or exits are involved. A planning permit may still be needed, for example under a heritage overlay.
• Asbestos. Before demolition or refurbishment, the person who manages or controls the workplace must review the asbestos register and update it if it is not good enough for the planned work. Asbestos likely to be disturbed must be identified and removed so far as reasonably practicable. Licensed removalists must do the removal, except for limited non-friable work of no more than 10 m² in total (OHS Regulations 2017 (Vic), regs 240–250).
• Electrical work. Removing or altering power circuits is electrical installation work. It must be done by a licensed electrician working for a registered electrical contractor, and prescribed work must be inspected by a licensed electrical inspector, who issues a certificate of inspection within four business days (Electricity Safety Act 1998 (Vic), ss 30–45). Keep a copy of the certificate for your handover pack.
• Decorative repairs. Section 147 of the Property Law Act 1958 (Vic) lets a court relieve a tenant from an unreasonable notice to do internal decorative repairs. It does not apply to a clause requiring you to hand back the premises in a specified condition at the end of the lease, which is how most make-good clauses are written.

How much does an office make good cost in Melbourne?

There is no reliable, current public price list for office make goods in Melbourne. What is published is broad and dated:

Source: docs/research/cost-sources.md (S1, S4), read 28 October 2026. Indicative only, not a quote.

What moves a Melbourne price more than the floor area:

• After-hours labour in CBD towers
• Nominated base-building contractors for air-conditioning, fire and controls
• How much you added: glazed offices, kitchens and raised floors cost more to remove than open plan
• Asbestos found in older buildings
• Access: dock slots, goods lift size and distance from the dock
• Carpet and ceiling replacement, if the lease requires new rather than cleaned

The only way to know your number is a scope matched to your lease and quotes from contractors who have inspected the floor. Our make good cost guide explains how to read quotes once you have them.

How do I get my security deposit or bank guarantee back in Victoria?

If your lease is a retail lease under the Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic), the landlord must hold a cash security deposit in an interest-bearing account and must return it within 30 days after the lease ends, as long as you have met your lease obligations (s 24). The landlord also cannot unreasonably refuse a bank guarantee instead of a cash deposit.

For a standard office lease that is not a retail lease, the lease itself sets when security is returned. In both cases the practical step is the same: get the landlord's written sign-off that the make good is complete, then ask in writing for the deposit or bank guarantee to be released.

What if I disagree with the landlord's make-good demands?

Start with the documents: the lease clause, the landlord's consent to your fit-out, and any condition report from the start of the lease. VSBC recommends that landlords and tenants agree a condition report at the start of a lease and both keep copies.

If you still disagree:

• Retail leases. Either party can refer the dispute to the Victorian Small Business Commission (VSBC) for mediation. VCAT can only hear most retail tenancy disputes after VSBC certifies that mediation has failed or is unlikely to work. VSBC's fee for most commercial disputes is $300 per party for a half day or $600 per party for a full day, including GST (Source: VSBC FAQs).
• Office leases that are not retail. VSBC can also mediate general business disputes. Taking part is voluntary, but VSBC can certify that a party unreasonably refused, and that certificate can be used as evidence at VCAT or in court. Talk to a lawyer about your options.

How MAKE GREAT helps with a Melbourne office make good

MAKE GREAT is a marketplace. We do not do the works ourselves.

1. Tell us about the office: address, approximate size and lease end date. It takes a couple of minutes.
2. Upload your lease if you have it. Our lease check reads the make-good clauses and lists what the lease clearly requires, what needs clarifying, and what the documents do not say. It is preliminary and not legal advice, and a person reviews unclear or high-risk findings.
3. We match you with up to three independent contractors who service your area and suit your building. If fewer than three are eligible, we tell you.
4. Compare quotes side by side, including exclusions, after-hours allowances and programme, and choose the one that suits you. You contract directly with the contractor.

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. Read how contractors are vetted.

Leaving an office in Sydney too? See office make good in Sydney. For other premises types, start at office make good or the Melbourne hub. Before you start, run through the office make good checklist, and if the landlord has offered cash instead, read payment in lieu of make good.