Warehouse make good, explained in plain English

A warehouse make good returns an industrial building to the condition your lease asks for. It is heavier work than an office: racking bolted into the slab, marked floors, mezzanines, docks and sprinklers.

General information only, not legal advice. What you must do depends on the wording of your own lease. If the amount at stake is large or the landlord's demands look wrong, talk to a property lawyer.

What does a warehouse make good usually include?

Leases usually ask you to remove what you added, repair damage beyond fair wear and tear, and clean. The NSW Small Business Commission describes make good as returning premises to the condition they were first built, the condition at the start of the lease, "or some other condition as specified in the lease". The clause in your lease is what counts.

A typical warehouse scope looks like this:

For a step-by-step list, see our warehouse make-good checklist. Not every lease asks for all of this; some only ask for a clean, empty building in good repair. Our lease reinstatement page explains how the main types of clause differ.

What should I read before getting quotes?

These four documents decide your scope:

1. The make-good clause, plus any clause about alterations or tenant works.
2. Landlord consents for your racking, mezzanine or extra power. They may say whether it must come out.
3. The move-in condition report or photos. The Victorian Small Business Commission recommends agreeing a condition report at the start of a lease and keeping copies. It is your best evidence of what the floor looked like on day one.
4. Any landlord make-good notice or schedule. Compare it line by line with the clause and the condition report.

How is pallet racking removed at the end of a lease?

Racking usually comes out first, because floor repairs, sprinkler changes and line-marking removal have to wait for it. A typical sequence:

1. Clear all stock and pallets.
2. Isolate any in-rack sprinklers (see fire services below).
3. Dismantle beams, then frames, then base plates, with a traffic plan if forklifts are still working.
4. Remove from site. Decide before quoting whether good racking will be resold.
5. Cut, grind or drill out the anchors and fill the holes flush with repair mortar, to a finish the landlord will accept.

Check whether the racking quote includes anchor and hole repair.

Do I have to remove line marking and epoxy floor coatings?

Floors are a common source of disagreement, so move-in photos matter.

• Line marking (aisle lines, pedestrian walkways, bay numbers) is usually removed by grinding, shot blasting or a chemical stripper. Grinding leaves a visibly different patch on many slabs.
• Epoxy or polyurethane coatings are removed by grinding or blasting.
• Slab damage (cracked or broken joints, spalling under racking, forklift gouges, core holes for services) is repaired with suitable mortars or joint fillers.

Before paying for removal, ask whether the landlord would rather keep the marking or coating for the next tenant, and get any yes in writing.

What happens to mezzanines, office pods and other structures?

If the lease or the original consent says a tenant-built mezzanine, office pod or amenity must come out, removing it is a construction job, not a clean-up.

Things to check:

• Does it need a permit? In Victoria, "building work" under the Building Act 1993 (s 3) includes demolition, and building work generally needs a permit (s 16). The permit exemption for alterations to commercial and industrial buildings in Schedule 3 of the Building Regulations 2018 does not cover work that changes floor area, removes load-bearing elements or affects an essential safety measure. A building surveyor can confirm whether your job needs a permit. In NSW, some internal commercial and industrial alterations may be exempt or complying development under the state planning codes, but the conditions are specific, so ask a certifier or your council before relying on that.
• What services run through it? Power, data, sprinklers and air conditioning must be disconnected properly first.

How are dock levellers, shelters and bollards handled?

Some dock equipment belongs to the landlord and some was added by the tenant.

• Find out who owns it from the lease, condition report and your records.
• Tenant-installed levellers may sit in a pit cut into the slab. If the lease requires the slab to be reinstated, the pit may need to be infilled, which is a concrete job rather than a simple removal.
• Dock shelters, seals, wheel guides and bollards are usually unbolted and removed, and the fixing points repaired.
• Landlord-owned equipment should be left working, and damage repaired.

What about high-bay lighting, power and other electrical work?

Tenants often add LED high-bays, three-phase outlets or charger cabling. The landlord may want these removed and made safe back to the switchboard, or may keep improvements such as better lighting. Ask.

Electrical work must be done by licensed people. In Victoria, a person must not carry out prescribed electrical work unless they hold the right licence (Electricity Safety Act 1998, s 38). The NSW Government says you must hold an electrical licence or certificate to do any electrical wiring work in NSW, whether residential, commercial or industrial. Ask for the electrician's licence number on the quote and keep any certificate for your handover file.

How are sprinklers and fire services coordinated?

Some high-bay warehouses have in-rack sprinklers fed from the building's main sprinkler system. When racking comes out, those sprinklers have to be dealt with before or during dismantling, and the base system must keep working.

• The building's fire systems are normally the landlord's, so the landlord (or their fire services contractor) will usually want to approve or carry out the work.
• In Victoria, the Schedule 3 permit exemption for alterations does not apply to work that relates to or affects an essential safety measure. Sprinkler systems are a common example, so ask your building surveyor whether your sprinkler changes need a permit.
• Keep any paperwork showing the system was left working and tested. It is part of a clean handover.

Fire services contractors can have long lead times, so raise this early.

Is there asbestos or other hazardous material to check?

Older industrial buildings can contain asbestos in wall sheeting, eaves, flooring or switchboards. Before refurbishment or demolition work, the person who manages or controls the workplace must check the asbestos register and update it if it is not adequate for the work (Victoria, OHS Regulations 2017, regs 240 and 241). SafeWork NSW says an asbestos register is required for workplaces built before 31 December 2003, or where asbestos has been found.

In both states, removing any friable asbestos needs a licensed removalist, and so does removing more than 10 m² of non-friable asbestos (in Victoria, also any job taking more than one hour in a 7-day period). Ask the landlord for the register early.

Refrigerant in cool rooms and air conditioning should be recovered by a technician who holds a refrigerant handling licence (the national scheme is run by the Australian Refrigeration Council). Ask for gas lines to be disconnected and capped by a licensed gasfitter, and for oils and chemicals to go to a proper waste contractor, not general skips.

How much does a warehouse make good cost?

We do not publish a price per square metre for warehouse make good. When we searched in October 2026, we found no free, published Australian source for industrial make-good rates, racking-anchor repair or line-marking removal. Paid cost guides may hold some rates, but we have not checked them. Published rates for demolishing whole warehouse buildings are a different job and should not be used as a guide.

What drives the cost up or down:

• How much racking there is, how high it is, and whether it has in-rack sprinklers.
• What the lease says about the floor. Removing coatings and marking across a large slab is very different from patching anchor holes.
• Structures such as mezzanines and office pods, and whether they need permits.
• Access and timing, and whether you can resell racking or leave items for the next tenant.

The honest way to get a number is two or three itemised quotes against the same scope, from contractors who have inspected the site.

When should I start planning a warehouse make good?

Six to 12 months before the lease ends. First read the lease and agree with the landlord what can stay, or whether they would take a payment instead. Book inspections, quotes, permits and fire services by about three months out. After the works, hold a joint final inspection and get the landlord's sign-off in writing before asking for your bank guarantee or bond back.

If works run past the lease end, you may owe rent or compensation, depending on the lease. Leave a margin.

Melbourne and Sydney industrial areas

Warehouses in Melbourne are found in industrial areas such as Dandenong, Truganina, Laverton, Derrimut, Tullamarine and Campbellfield. In Sydney, they include Eastern Creek, Silverwater, Alexandria, Wetherill Park, Smithfield and Moorebank. Buildings in older estates are more likely to have been built before asbestos was banned at the end of 2003, so check the register early. See warehouse make good in Melbourne and warehouse make good in Sydney for local detail.

How MAKE GREAT helps with a warehouse make good

1. Tell us about the site. Upload the lease, any landlord notice, a floor plan and photos.
2. Lease check. Our lease check reads the make-good clause and drafts a preliminary list of likely works. It is a starting point only: a person at MAKE GREAT reviews it, and a contractor must confirm the scope on site.
3. We send a structured brief to independent industrial contractors we have checked (ABN, insurance, and licences for trades that need them; see how we vet contractors) in your area.
4. Compare itemised quotes side by side against the same scope, and choose who you want. 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. You are never obliged to accept a quote.

Related services: commercial strip-out, office make good, retail make good and end-of-lease cleaning.

Ready to start? Use Get my make-good quotes to send us your site details, or Analyse my lease to have the make-good clause read first.