Make Good Melbourne CBD | Office Tower & Retail Make Good

The short answer

A make good in the Melbourne CBD is usually shaped by the building as much as the lease. Most CBD towers require building-manager approval, after-hours noisy work, booked goods lifts and loading docks, and the landlord's own contractors for fire and mechanical services. Buildings on the Victorian Heritage Register may also need a building permit. Allow extra time and get quotes that include these costs.

Last reviewed 28 October 2026

Key takeaways

01In a CBD tower, building rules (approvals, work hours, lift and dock bookings) often add more time than the work itself.
02Fire, sprinkler and air-conditioning changes are often limited to the landlord's nominated contractors. Ask for their prices early.
03Older CBD buildings need an asbestos check, and buildings on the Victorian Heritage Register lose the usual permit exemption for internal alterations.
04Ask every contractor to price the same scope, including after-hours work and waste removal, so quotes are comparable.

Leaving an office floor, a shop or a clinic in Melbourne's CBD? The work itself is familiar: remove partitions, carpet and cabling, patch and paint, clean. What makes the CBD different is the building around you. Towers, arcades and heritage buildings on the Hoddle Grid come with rules about when you can work, how you get materials in and out, and who is allowed to touch the building's services. This page covers those CBD-specific issues. For the Victorian legal background, see our Melbourne make good overview.

This is general information, not legal advice. Your lease decides your make-good obligations.

What makes a CBD make good different?

Three things set the CBD apart from suburban jobs:

You share the building. Other tenants are working above and below you, so noise, dust and lift use are controlled.
Access is tight. Many buildings have one goods lift and a small loading dock, shared by every tenant, courier and cleaner. Many Hoddle Grid streets carry trams, and kerbside loading zones are time-limited.
The landlord controls the base building. Fire systems, sprinklers, air-conditioning and the ceiling grid belong to the building, and many landlords insist their own contractors work on them.

What will the building manager ask for before work starts?

Most CBD towers have a fit-out or tenancy works guide. Before a contractor can start, expect the building manager to ask for some or all of these:

A scope of works and a programme (what, where and when)
The contractor's public liability insurance certificate and workers' compensation details
Safe work method statements for high-risk work
Bookings for the goods lift, lift protection pads and the loading dock
Hot-works permits for any cutting or grinding that could set off smoke detectors
Fire system isolations, booked through the building's fire services contractor
A waste plan, including how bins leave the building

Approval times vary from building to building. Ask the building manager for the works guide, and how long approvals usually take, as soon as you know you are leaving.

Why is after-hours work so common in CBD towers?

Many CBD buildings only allow noisy work, such as demolition, core drilling and floor grinding, outside business hours. The building rules decide the hours. That has two effects on your make good:

Cost: after-hours labour usually costs more. Check whether each quote assumes daytime or after-hours work.
Time: work that could run straight through in an empty suburban building may be split across several nights or weekends in a tower.

Quiet work, like carpet removal or painting, may be allowed during the day. A good contractor will split the programme to suit.

Who works on the sprinklers, fire system and air-conditioning?

In many CBD towers, any change to base-building services must be done by the landlord's nominated contractors. Typical examples are moving sprinkler heads back to the original grid, removing smoke detectors you added, and rebalancing air-conditioning after partitions come out.

Your make-good contractor coordinates this work but may not be able to price it. Ask the building manager early for the nominated contractors' prices or schedule of rates, because these items can be a large share of a CBD make-good bill.

For a retail lease in a shopping centre, the Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic) s 30 sets rules for certain services works, such as sprinklers, air-conditioning ducts and electrical reticulation, done for a tenant's fit-out. These include agreeing a maximum cost in writing before work starts. If you are in a CBD centre, ask a lawyer how this applies to your fit-out and make good.

What about heritage and older CBD buildings?

The CBD has many older buildings, from Victorian-era arcades to mid-century office blocks. Two rules matter:

Asbestos. Before refurbishment or demolition work, the asbestos register must be reviewed, and asbestos likely to be disturbed must be identified and removed by a licensed removalist, apart from limited small-scale non-friable work (OHS Regulations 2017, regs 240–250). Asbestos was banned nationally from 31 December 2003, so any building finished before then needs this check. Ask the building manager for the register before you get quotes.
Heritage. The Building Regulations 2018 (Sch 3, item 4) exempt many internal alterations to commercial buildings from needing a building permit, but not if the building is on the Victorian Heritage Register.
Heritage Overlay. Some CBD buildings sit in a Heritage Overlay under the Melbourne Planning Scheme. The overlay can require a planning permit from the City of Melbourne for external changes, such as altering a shopfront or putting up a sign. Internal changes are only controlled where the overlay schedule says so. Check your address on VicPlan, and ask a registered building surveyor or planner to confirm what approvals are needed before the strip-out.

What usually comes out of a CBD office or shop?

Premises	Common make-good items
Tower office floor	Glass offices and partitions, kitchens and breakout areas, raised floors, data and comms cabling back to the riser, carpet tiles, added lighting, signage at the lift lobby
Ground-floor or arcade shop	Shopfront signage, joinery and display fittings, lighting track, floor finishes, any added plumbing
Café or food outlet	Exhaust hood and ductwork, grease trap, cool room, gas fittings, wet-area finishes
Medical or allied health suite	Treatment-room partitions, hand basins and plumbing, specialist lighting, lead-lined walls (radiology)

For more detail, see office make good in Melbourne and retail make good.

How do I get comparable quotes for a CBD make good?

CBD quotes vary widely because contractors make different assumptions. Ask every contractor to price the same scope and to state:

day or after-hours rates, and how many shifts they have allowed for
lift and loading-dock time, and any building charges
which items they expect the landlord's nominated contractors to do
waste removal, recycling and disposal
asbestos survey or removal, if needed

How MAKE GREAT helps with a CBD make good

Upload your lease, floor plan and photos. Our lease check gives you a preliminary read of your make-good clause. A person on our team reviews it before contractors are briefed. It is not legal advice. We then invite independent contractors who have passed our checks of business details, insurance and licences to quote on the same brief, so you can compare like with like. You contract directly with the contractor you choose.

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. We do not carry out building work ourselves.

Nearby: Southbank and Docklands. Ready? Use Get my make-good quotes.

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General information only, not legal advice. Get advice from a property lawyer about your own lease.

Frequently asked questions

Why do CBD make goods often happen at night or on weekends?

Many CBD office buildings restrict noisy work, such as demolition, drilling and grinding, during business hours to protect other tenants. The building's fit-out or tenancy rules set the permitted hours. After-hours labour usually costs more, so check whether each quote includes it.

Can I use my own contractor for sprinklers and fire systems?

Often not. Many CBD landlords require their nominated contractors to do any work on base-building services such as sprinklers, fire detection and air-conditioning. Your make-good contractor coordinates with them, but those costs may be quoted separately.

What does "return to base building" mean in a CBD tower?

It usually means removing everything you added and leaving the floor as the landlord delivered it, for example with an open ceiling grid, standard lighting, capped services and bare or standard floor finishes. The exact standard is in your lease and sometimes in a building fit-out guide.

Do I need a permit to strip out a CBD office?

Many internal alterations to commercial buildings are exempt from a building permit under Victoria's Building Regulations 2018. The exemption does not apply where work affects structure, an essential safety measure, or a building on the Heritage Register. A registered building surveyor can confirm.

Is my CBD shop in a shopping centre covered by special rules?

If your lease is a retail lease in a shopping centre, the Retail Leases Act 2003 adds specific rules about who does and pays for certain services works. Centre management will also have its own rules on hours, hoarding and waste. This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

Primary sources we checked when writing this page. Laws and guidance change, so check the current version.