End-of-Lease Make-Good Demolition for Melbourne Commercial Tenants: The 2026 Guide

There’s a particular kind of stress that lands on every Melbourne business owner who has ever signed a commercial lease. Trading is fine. The team is busy. Then a thick envelope arrives from the landlord’s solicitor — or a polite-but-firm email from the centre management team — and suddenly the make-good clause that nobody read closely seven years ago is the most important sentence in your business.

Your lease is ending. The premises have to be handed back in a contractually-defined condition. Until that happens, the bond sitting in the landlord’s bank account — or the bank guarantee quietly affecting your borrowing capacity — isn’t coming home.

That handback work is called an end-of-lease make-good — and for almost every Melbourne commercial tenancy, it means a soft-strip demolition of the fitout, often involving non-friable asbestos removal, run by a licensed demolition contractor against a tight lease-expiry deadline.

This guide is the plain-English, 2026 version of how end-of-lease make-good demolition actually works in Melbourne — what triggers it, what it costs, how to plan around the bond risk, and how to hand back a tenancy that releases your guarantee without a fight. As a fully licensed Melbourne demolition company with Class B (non-friable) asbestos removal capability, we run end-of-lease make-goods every week — from Collins Street office floors to Chadstone retail tenancies to Richmond restaurants to Dandenong warehouse fitouts.

Quick answer: End-of-lease make-good demolition is the contractually-driven removal of a tenant’s fitout from a commercial premises at lease expiry, returning the space to the condition defined in the make-good clause — typically base build, warm shell or broom-clean. The work is governed by your lease (often under the Retail Leases Act 2003), WorkSafe Victoria (OHS and asbestos), EPA Victoria (waste tracking and disposal), and your building’s facility management team. In Melbourne in 2026, end-of-lease make-good demolition typically runs $40–$180 per square metre depending on fitout density, services and asbestos, takes 2 days to 4 weeks on site, and should be planned 8–20 weeks before keys-back to protect the bond or bank guarantee. Tenants who engage 3 weeks out almost always pay premium rates and risk bond delays.

What Is End-of-Lease Make-Good Demolition?

End-of-lease make-good is the lease-driven version of a commercial internal strip-out — the same on-site work, but pushed by an external deadline and tied directly to bond release.

In trade language, it’s a soft strip: the controlled, mostly-manual removal of every non-structural element your business installed (or inherited) inside the leased premises. Partitions come down. Joinery comes out. Ceilings, floor coverings, signage and tenancy-installed services are stripped back to the landlord’s base build. The structural shell, the lift core, the perimeter walls and the riser services all stay where the landlord originally delivered them.

It’s emphatically not a structural demolition. There’s no excavator. No wrecking ball. No slab removal. If you’ve seen our Soft Strip vs Hard Demolition: Choosing the Right Method guide, end-of-lease make-good is pure soft-strip territory.

Why “Make-Good” and Not Just “Move-Out”?

The phrase “make-good” exists because Melbourne commercial leases almost always include a make-good clause in the schedule — a contractual obligation requiring the tenant to reinstate the premises to a specified condition at the end of the term. Without that clause, a tenant could (in theory) walk away from a fitted-out tenancy on the last day of the lease and leave the landlord with the strip-out bill.

The make-good clause flips that. The tenant agrees, at lease signing, that handback will be in a defined condition — and the bond or bank guarantee is the landlord’s enforcement mechanism if it isn’t.

For most Melbourne commercial tenants, the make-good is the single most expensive and time-pressured demolition decision they’ll ever make — and the one most likely to be made under bond-release stress with a hard deadline.

The Make-Good Clause: Read It Long Before Expiry

The single biggest mistake we see in Melbourne commercial tenancies is this: tenants read the make-good clause for the first time three weeks before keys-back, then panic.

The make-good clause has been in your lease schedule from day one. The condition the premises must be returned in — the specification — was negotiated (or, more commonly, not negotiated) before you ever moved in. By the time you’re scrambling for quotes in the final month, every leverage point has already evaporated.

The Three Common Make-Good Standards

Almost every Melbourne commercial make-good specifies one of three handback conditions — though the lease language can wrap them in any number of bespoke phrasings:

1. Base build. The condition the landlord originally delivered the tenancy in before any tenant fitout. Typically: bare concrete slab (or carpet-ready slab depending on building), exposed structural ceiling or original grid-and-tile, perimeter walls painted or plastered to base-build standard, base-build lighting in place, all services capped at defined termination points, fire and HVAC live to base-build standard. The lease schedule (often as a drawing or photographic appendix) defines exactly what “base build” looks like for your tenancy.

2. Warm shell. A slightly more-finished version of base build — slab-level finishes in place, ceiling grid with tiles, services live to a defined boundary, base-build amenities operational. Common in newer office towers and some shopping-centre tenancies.

3. Broom-clean (or as-is, less fair wear and tear). A less onerous standard increasingly common in modified make-good arrangements where the incoming tenant has agreed to inherit some or all of the existing fitout. The space is left clean and operational, but specific fitout elements are allowed to stay.

Each of these is a completely different scope of work, a completely different cost, and a completely different timeline. A “base build” make-good on a fitted-out 500 m² office floor can be a $60,000–$80,000 strip-out. The same tenancy handed back “broom-clean” under a modified make-good might be $5,000–$10,000 of light cleaning and minor patching.

Where to Find Your Make-Good Obligation

Your actual obligation lives in some combination of:

The make-good clause in the lease body (commonly in the “Tenant’s Obligations at Expiry” section)
The lease schedule (where condition-of-handback is normally defined)
The Disclosure Statement under the Retail Leases Act 2003 (for retail leases — this often contains the original base-build photographs or drawings)
Any side deeds, deeds of variation or modified make-good arrangements entered into during the term
Any landlord’s works specifications referenced in the lease at original fit-out
The Property Council of Australia’s “Make Good Guideline”, which industry parties often fall back on where the lease is silent or ambiguous

Read all of them. Twice. Then read them again with your commercial lease lawyer.

What “Fair Wear and Tear” Actually Covers

Most Melbourne commercial leases include a fair wear and tear carve-out — the tenant isn’t responsible for ordinary deterioration that comes from normal use over the term. Worn carpet pile in a high-traffic walkway, faded paint on a sunlit wall, scuffs on a corridor skirting, minor surface marks — these are typically fair wear and tear.

What is not fair wear and tear: structural damage, services modifications you made and never reinstated, fitout elements you installed (those have to come out), holes drilled for AV equipment, dropped ceilings you installed below the base-build ceiling, and any damage from the strip-out itself.

The line between “fair wear and tear” and “tenant damage” is one of the most common make-good disputes mediated by the Victorian Small Business Commission. Getting it documented at lease commencement — ideally with dated photographs of the base-build condition — is the single best defence at lease expiry.

The Make-Good Timeline: 9 Months Out, Not 3 Weeks

A well-run end-of-lease make-good in Melbourne starts 9 to 12 months before lease expiry, not at the 30-day mark. Here’s the realistic critical path:

9–12 months before expiry

Pull out the lease and read the make-good clause end-to-end. Identify the handback standard, the carve-outs and any reinstatement obligations from variations made during the term.
Engage a commercial lease lawyer to review the clause if anything is ambiguous — particularly around base-build definition, fair wear and tear, modified make-good options or removal-rights for tenant-installed services.
Open a conversation with the landlord about whether a modified make-good or cash-in-lieu settlement might be an option (more on this below).

6–9 months before expiry

Commission a hazardous materials survey — particularly if your tenancy is in a building constructed before the end of 2003. Asbestos quantity drives the largest single line item in any commercial make-good.
Get 2–3 fixed-price quotes from licensed demolition contractors against the actual lease schedule — not against a generic checklist.
Budget the make-good as a known line item in your business plan, with realistic contingency (10–20% over the quoted fixed price for variations).

14–20 weeks before keys-back

Engage your strip-out contractor under a fixed-price contract. Larger tenancies, services-heavy fitouts and shopping-centre work all need this longer lead time.
Begin building-management paperwork — Certificate of Currency lodgement, contractor inductions, loading dock and goods-lift bookings, after-hours work permits.
Lodge the WorkSafe Victoria asbestos removal notification at the earliest practical point (minimum 5 days before any Class B work; more often 2–3 weeks before to accommodate dock scheduling).

8–12 weeks before keys-back

Execute the soft strip on site — typically in after-hours blocks in CBD towers and shopping centres, day shift in suburban industrial and ground-floor street-front sites.
Sequence asbestos removal first, with independent clearance certificate, before the rest of the strip-out proceeds.
Coordinate with the incoming tenant’s programme if a new tenant is moving in directly — a make-good that finishes a week late can trigger lease variation claims downstream.

2–4 weeks before keys-back

Final reinstatement work — services capping, paint patching to base-build standard, ceiling reinstatement, base-build finish corrections.
Pre-handback inspection with the building manager or landlord’s representative.
Documentation pack assembly — every certificate, every disposal docket, every clearance.

Keys-back day

Joint handback inspection with the landlord’s representative against the make-good clause.
Documentation pack handed over in a single PDF bundle to the landlord’s solicitor.
Bond / bank guarantee release initiated — typically 14–30 days after acceptance.

Tenants who compress this timeline into the last 3 weeks pay 30–60% premium rates for emergency labour, lose access to the cheaper daytime dock slots, inherit every contingency as a variation rather than a planned scope, and frequently forfeit part of the bond because the documentation pack isn’t ready when the inspection happens.

Three Make-Good Outcomes Every Melbourne Tenant Should Know About

Not every end-of-lease make-good is a full strip-out. Before you commission demolition, it’s worth knowing the three commercial pathways landlords and tenants commonly negotiate in Melbourne.

1. Full Make-Good (Strip-Out to Base Build)

The default. You strip the fitout, reinstate the premises to the lease-specified condition, hand back, and release the bond. This is the path for most CBD office tenancies, most shopping-centre retail and most hospitality fitouts at lease expiry — particularly where the incoming tenant has a completely different brand or use.

2. Modified Make-Good

A negotiated agreement (usually documented in a separate side deed) where the landlord agrees to accept the tenancy with some or all of the existing fitout in place, in exchange for some combination of:

A cash payment from the tenant to the landlord (effectively buying out the strip-out obligation)
A reduced reinstatement scope specified in writing (e.g. partitions stay; carpet, signage and joinery come out)
A transfer arrangement with the incoming tenant who wants to inherit the fitout
A combination of all three

Modified make-goods became common during and after the Commercial Tenancy Relief Scheme of 2020–2022 and are now a routine feature of Melbourne retail and office leasing. The key trap: read the deed, not the lease, when scoping the strip-out. The deed overrides the original make-good clause for the specific elements it covers, but the lease still governs everything else.

3. Cash-in-Lieu Settlement

The landlord and tenant agree on a cash payment that substitutes for the physical make-good. The tenant walks away (clean of the demolition obligation); the landlord absorbs the strip-out cost, usually because they’ve already committed to a substantial repositioning of the floor anyway, or because an incoming tenant has a fitout package that requires a different starting condition.

Cash-in-lieu is most attractive where:

The landlord has already lined up an incoming tenant with their own fitout programme
The building is scheduled for a refurbishment or repositioning
The make-good condition is so finely specified (heritage premises, specialised industrial fitouts) that the landlord prefers to control the strip-out themselves
The tenant is happy to pay a premium to avoid the time, risk and project-management overhead of running the strip-out

The cash-in-lieu number is almost always 20–40% higher than the demolition contractor’s fixed price for the same scope — that premium is the landlord’s contingency and project-management fee. If you have time and capability, running the strip-out yourself is almost always cheaper. If you don’t, cash-in-lieu can be the lower-risk option.

Practical tip: Open the modified-make-good or cash-in-lieu conversation with the landlord early — ideally 6–9 months before expiry. By the 30-day mark, the landlord’s leverage is at its peak (your bond is in their account) and yours is at its lowest.

What Gets Demolished in an End-of-Lease Make-Good

The scope on most Melbourne end-of-lease make-good demolitions tracks closely with our Internal Strip-Outs Guide, but the lease-driven framing changes how each element is treated. A make-good demolition scope typically covers:

Partitions, Joinery and Internal Walls

Demountable office partitions — full-height and half-height systems, glazed and solid
Tenant-installed plasterboard stud walls (not load-bearing structural walls)
Built-in joinery — reception desks, breakout kitchens, meeting-room storage, retail shelving, display units
Workstation systems and modular furniture (where included in scope)
Retail shopfittings — gondolas, display racks, point-of-sale counters, fitting rooms
Hospitality joinery — bar fitouts, banquette seating, kitchen pass-throughs, host stations

Ceilings, Floors and Wall Finishes

Suspended ceiling grids and tiles installed below the base-build ceiling
Tenant-installed bulkheads, ceiling rafts and acoustic features
Carpet, vinyl, timber, tile and resin flooring above the slab
Tenant-installed wall linings — plasterboard, panelling, wallpaper, acoustic fabric, feature claddings
Cornices, skirtings, architraves where fitout-specific
Signage, wayfinding, branding and decals — internal and external

Tenant-Installed Services (Within the Tenancy Boundary)

Light fittings, GPOs, switches, data outlets and floor boxes — after lawful electrical isolation
HVAC fitout branches — ductwork extensions, VAV boxes, grilles, diffusers, dedicated split systems installed by the tenant
Tenant-installed hot water units, kitchen plumbing, basins and taps
Cabling and conduit — power, data, audio-visual, security, telecoms — back to the riser or to the agreed termination point
Fire-services modifications — sprinkler heads, EWIS speakers, break-glass devices installed by the tenant (always done by licensed fire-services trades)
Security systems, access control hardware, CCTV installed by the tenant

Specialised Equipment (Where Applicable)

Commercial kitchen equipment — cooktops, fryers, combi ovens, exhaust canopies, grease arrestors (degassed and decommissioned)
Refrigeration plant — walk-in cool rooms, display fridges, beverage units — requiring licensed refrigerant degassing under the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act before removal
Medical and dental equipment — chairs, suction lines, gas outlets (decommissioned by the appropriate trade)
Warehouse racking, pallet systems, mezzanines — where part of the tenant’s fitout rather than landlord-supplied
Server rooms and comms cabinets — UPS units, in-row cooling, dedicated electrical

Hazardous and Regulated Materials

Non-friable asbestos-containing materials — vinyl floor tiles, cement-sheet linings, textured ceiling coatings, fibro infill panels and some older partition cores in 1950s–1980s commercial buildings
Fluorescent ballasts containing PCBs — older T8/T12 fittings in pre-mid-1980s buildings often contain polychlorinated biphenyls and are classified as reportable priority waste
Mercury-containing lamps — fluorescent tubes, HID and metal halide fittings — segregated and disposed at licensed facilities
E-waste — server equipment, monitors, AV systems, ICT cabling

What Stays Behind

Anything that belongs to the landlord’s base build stays. That generally includes the structural shell, the lift core, the riser services, the perimeter walls (often), the base-build ceiling grid (where retained), the base-build lighting, and any landlord-supplied amenities that pre-date the tenant’s fitout. Where there’s ambiguity — particularly around HVAC modifications made years ago, security upgrades, or tenant-paid-for improvements to base-build elements — settle it in writing before the strip-out starts.

Why Class B Asbestos Capability Is Critical for Melbourne Make-Goods

Commercial buildings constructed in Melbourne between the late 1940s and the late 1980s commonly contain non-friable asbestos-containing materials (ACM) in places that aren’t visible until the strip-out exposes them. The Victorian asbestos ban for new use didn’t fully come into force until 31 December 2003 — meaning almost any commercial premises with original fitout elements from before then can contain ACM.

In Melbourne end-of-lease make-goods, the materials we routinely encounter include:

Vinyl floor tiles and the bitumen-based mastic adhesives beneath them — particularly the 9-inch (225 mm) tiles common in 1960s–1980s office towers, shopping centres and back-of-house areas
Cement-sheet wall and ceiling linings — common in older retail, hospitality and industrial fitouts
Textured “vermiculite” or “popcorn” ceiling coatings — frequently asbestos-laden through the 1960s and 1970s
Fibro infill panels in lift-shaft enclosures, fire-rated cupboards and stairwell linings
Asbestos backing on switchboards and electrical equipment in older industrial premises
Asbestos rope, gaskets and seals on commercial-kitchen equipment and old boilers
Asbestos pipe lagging in plant rooms and back-of-house service risers
Older “demountable” partition cores — particularly 1960s–1970s systems

Non-friable (bonded) ACM is the standard finding in commercial make-good demolitions, which is the scope a Class B asbestos removal licence covers — the licence class we hold. Where bonded material has been mechanically damaged, fire-damaged or water-damaged, it can become friable, which escalates the scope to a Class A licensed removalist at roughly 2–4× the per-square-metre rate. For the friable / non-friable distinction in detail, see our Friable vs Non-Friable Asbestos in Demolition guide.

Why In-House Class B Changes the Make-Good Maths

When the demolition contractor and the asbestos removalist are the same business, the make-good runs faster, cheaper and with cleaner documentation:

One Certificate of Currency lodged with building management instead of two
One contractor induction across the strip-out and the asbestos work
One Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) covering both scopes
One WorkSafe Victoria notification reference number to track
One EPA Waste Tracker producer entry spanning all reportable priority waste from the project
One critical path where ACM removal sequences correctly before the rest of the strip-out, with no co-ordination premium

The 15–30% co-ordination premium that builds up when these scopes are subcontracted across two businesses isn’t recoverable from your bond at the end. It’s just gone.

Don’t Bury an Asbestos Finding

If the pre-strip survey identifies ACM, the obligation to manage it lawfully sits with the duty-holder — and under the OHS Regulations 2017, that includes the commercial tenant as well as the contractor. “It’ll be fine, we’ll just clean it up” is not a compliance strategy. It’s a duty breach by both parties, an EPA exposure, a future-purchaser disclosure liability, and a guaranteed bond forfeiture when the landlord’s solicitor reviews the documentation pack.

A reputable contractor’s quote should always itemise:

A Class B square-metre rate for the identified ACM
A WorkSafe notification administrative line
An independent licensed assessor clearance certificate line
A clear variation process for “additional ACM discovered” mid-strip-out — typically at the same per-square-metre rate as the original scope

For verification on any contractor before you sign, our Licensed Asbestos Removal Victoria: How to Verify Your Contractor guide walks through the 30-minute due diligence process.

What Does End-of-Lease Make-Good Demolition Cost in Melbourne in 2026?

End-of-lease make-good demolition in Melbourne is normally quoted on a per-square-metre basis against the tenancy NLA (net lettable area) or GLA (gross leasable area) specified in the lease. As a 2026 reference range:

Tenancy Type	Typical Make-Good Rate (per m²)	What Drives Variation
Simple open-plan office	$40–$70	Low partition density, modern services, no asbestos
Standard mixed office	$60–$95	Moderate joinery, AV/data fitout, some bulkheads
Services-heavy cellular office	$85–$130	High partition count, dense services, raised flooring
Retail tenancy (shopping centre)	$70–$140	After-hours mandatory, centre management fees, shopfront removal
Hospitality (café/restaurant/bar)	$90–$180	Kitchen plant, refrigeration, grease arrestor, signage
Medical/dental clinic	$100–$180	Specialised decommissioning, sterilisation considerations
Industrial warehouse fitout	$30–$70	Daytime work, racking, simpler services
Heritage commercial (e.g. Flinders Lane, Collins Street)	$120–$220+	Salvage protocols, base-build protection, slow methodology

Asbestos removal is normally an itemised separate line — typically $45–$120 per square metre of ACM, plus a $300–$800 WorkSafe notification administrative line, plus the independent clearance certificate (commonly $600–$1,500). The asbestos quantity, not the floor area, drives this line.

Other Variables That Move the Quoted Number

After-hours premium — typically 30–60% labour uplift in CBD towers and shopping centres
Dock and lift access constraints — more constraint, longer durations, higher cost
Building-management contractor fees — some buildings charge sign-on, induction or supervision fees per project
Distance from loading dock to tenancy — level 35 is more expensive to clear than level 2
Reinstatement specification — capping fittings, labelling, paint patching to base-build standard
Documentation pack complexity — some landlords require photo-evidence of every cap, every removal, every disposal
Waste levy — the metropolitan rate is $167.90 per tonne from 1 July 2025, with another rise scheduled. For a typical 500–800 m² office strip-out generating 12–25 tonnes of mixed waste, that’s a meaningful line item in itself

Why the Cheapest Make-Good Quote Is Often the Most Expensive

A residential demolition contractor running their first CBD tower make-good isn’t a commercial strip-out contractor. The cheap quote that doesn’t itemise asbestos, doesn’t reference the lease schedule, doesn’t name a clearance assessor and doesn’t account for building-management protocols is the quote that turns into:

Mid-project variations that the landlord’s solicitor uses as evidence of an incomplete make-good
A hand-back without a documentation pack, which the landlord interprets as a make-good failure
A bond held in dispute for 3–9 months while the Victorian Small Business Commission mediates
Daily holding costs on a bank guarantee that’s tying up your credit facility

A make-good that comes back with variations or fails its handback inspection costs far more than the original strip-out. The right Melbourne commercial demolition contractor is almost never the cheapest one.

The Three-Way Compliance Triangle: WorkSafe, EPA and Building Management

Every Melbourne end-of-lease make-good demolition sits at the intersection of three regulatory and operational regimes. Missing any of them is an expensive lesson.

1. WorkSafe Victoria — How the Work Is Done

WorkSafe Victoria regulates the work under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004, the OHS Regulations 2017 and the WorkSafe Victoria Compliance Code: Demolition (Edition 2, 2019). For an end-of-lease make-good with non-friable ACM, the key WorkSafe pieces are:

A hazardous materials survey by a competent person, identifying every ACM and other regulated substance in the tenancy
A Class B licensed asbestos removalist (us, in-house) authorised to remove non-friable ACM
A WorkSafe asbestos removal notification lodged at least 5 days before Class B removal commences (longer and more detailed for any Class A friable work)
A site-specific Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) — not a generic template — covering the actual fitout being stripped, the actual hazards, the actual workers and the actual control measures
Construction induction (white card) verified for every worker
Site-specific induction delivered before access
An independent asbestos clearance certificate issued by a licensed assessor (not the removalist) before any further works happen in the affected zone

The full framework sits in our WorkSafe Victoria Demolition Requirements: Plain English Guide.

2. EPA Victoria — Where the Waste Goes

EPA Victoria regulates the waste, transport and disposal under the Environment Protection Act 2017 and the Environment Protection Regulations 2021. For a commercial make-good, that translates into:

General Environmental Duty (GED) — you (and your contractor) must take reasonably practicable steps to eliminate or reduce harm from pollution and waste. Breaches can attract penalties up to roughly $1.8 million for companies per offence.
Correct waste classification — general industrial waste (clean concrete, brick, plasterboard, steel), priority waste (treated timber, painted materials), and reportable priority waste (asbestos, contaminated soil, PCB-containing ballasts).
EPA Waste Tracker logging for every reportable priority waste movement — producer, transporter and receiver all logging every load.
A10a or A10b permission-holder transport for asbestos and other reportable priority waste — no “mate with a tipper”.
Lawful disposal facility — every load to a facility licensed to receive that waste category, with weighbridge dockets retained for at least 5 years (we recommend 7).
Refrigerant gases recovered by a licensed refrigerant handler before HVAC or refrigeration plant is dismantled.

Our EPA Victoria Construction and Demolition Waste Rules 2026 guide covers the full waste picture.

3. Building Management — Who Lets You In and What You Can Do Once You’re There

The third set of rules catches first-time commercial tenants off guard: the facility management team controls almost everything about how and when the make-good actually happens. That typically includes:

Certificate of Currency (COI) — your demolition contractor’s public liability insurance, lodged with building management at least a week before site setup. Most CBD towers require $20M minimum public liability; some require $50M.
Contractor induction — site-specific, administered by building management, often via an online portal (Rapid Induct, Inductionsuite, or similar). Every worker must complete it before access is granted.
Loading dock and goods-lift bookings — typically in time-slotted blocks, often only available 6:00 PM–6:00 AM weeknights and weekends. Big make-goods need multiple booked slots over consecutive nights.
After-hours work permits and noise dispensations — separate paperwork, often with 48–72 hour lead times.
Protection of base build, common areas and adjacent tenancies — corridor matting, lift-cabin protection, dust hoardings, negative-pressure barriers around the work zone where required.
Fire-services isolation — when smoke detectors are isolated for dust-generating work, the building’s fire panel goes on test mode under a permit-to-work system.
Reinstatement standards — many buildings specify exactly how services are capped, labelled and handed back. Capping a chilled-water tee with the wrong fitting can fail a make-good inspection.

This is why commercial make-goods require contractors who speak the building management language — and why a quote from a residential demolition contractor who’s never run a Melbourne CBD tower job is rarely a real quote.

After-Hours: Why Most Melbourne Make-Good Demolition Happens at Night

Almost every commercial make-good in central Melbourne runs after-hours — typically 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM weeknights or weekend windows. The reasons are practical and unavoidable:

Operating tenants and trading hours — make-goods in shopping centres like Chadstone, Highpoint, Northland, Eastland, Doncaster Westfield, Werribee Plaza, Fountain Gate and Emporium can’t happen during retail hours.
Lift and dock access — CBD towers in Collins Street, Bourke Street, Queen Street, Spring Street, Spencer Street, William Street, King Street, Lonsdale Street, Little Collins, Flinders Lane, Southbank and Docklands restrict goods-lift use during business hours.
Noise and vibration restrictions — Melbourne CBD and inner-city councils restrict construction noise to defined hours, with stricter limits in City of Melbourne, City of Yarra, City of Stonnington, City of Port Phillip and City of Boroondara local laws.
Adjacent occupied tenancies — even when your floor is empty, the floors above and below typically aren’t.

The trade-off is real: after-hours make-good labour rates run 30–60% higher than daytime rates, and productivity is lower because dock and lift access is rationed in time-slotted blocks. But for most CBD and shopping-centre tenancies, daytime work simply isn’t an option.

Where after-hours scheduling isn’t required — typically suburban standalone retail, industrial warehouses in Dandenong, Laverton, Tullamarine, Campbellfield, Hallam and Truganina, and ground-floor street-front tenancies in suburban high streets — daytime work runs at standard rates and is usually significantly cheaper. If your make-good is in a warehouse fitout in an industrial estate, you’ve already saved 30–60% on labour compared with a CBD-tower equivalent.

Realistic Make-Good Demolition Timelines for Melbourne

Tenancy Type	Typical Size	Make-Good Duration	Notes
Small CBD office	up to 200 m²	2–4 nights	After-hours, single dock booking, light asbestos exposure
Mid-size office floor	300–800 m²	5–10 nights	After-hours, multiple dock bookings, services-heavy
Full floor commercial	800–1,500 m²	2–3 weeks	After-hours, complex services, building-management coordination
Retail tenancy (shopping centre)	100–500 m²	3–7 nights	After-hours mandatory, centre induction, signage and joinery focus
Hospitality (café/bar/restaurant)	100–400 m²	1–2 weeks	Kitchen degassing, grease-arrestor compliance, signage
Medical/dental clinic	150–400 m²	1–2 weeks	Medical-gas decommissioning, specialised waste streams
Industrial warehouse fitout	500–2,000 m²	1–3 weeks	Daytime work usually possible, racking, mezzanines, plant
Multi-level commercial	1,500 m²+	3–8 weeks	Stage-gated by floor, lift and dock rationing critical

These are on-site durations. The full project lifecycle — quote, scope confirmation, building-management paperwork, WorkSafe notification, strip-out, asbestos clearance, final inspection, documentation handover — typically adds 2–4 weeks at the front end and 3–7 days at the back end.

For the broader demolition lifecycle, our From Quote to Cleared Site: Realistic Demolition Timeline Melbourne guide walks through every stage.

The Documentation Pack: Your Bond Release Evidence

At handover, a properly run end-of-lease make-good should hand you a documentation pack that the landlord’s building surveyor, facility manager and lawyer can all reconcile against your lease schedule — line by line. Kept for at least 5 years (we recommend 7), the pack typically includes:

The hazardous materials survey and asbestos register (and the updated register post-removal)
The Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) for the works
The WorkSafe Victoria notification confirmation and reference number (where asbestos was removed)
The asbestos clearance certificate issued by an independent licensed assessor
EPA Waste Tracker records for every reportable priority waste movement
Weighbridge dockets and disposal receipts for every waste load, including the disposal facility name
Refrigerant recovery certificates from licensed refrigerant handlers
PCB ballast and mercury lamp disposal records (where present)
Electrical isolation and capping certificates from the licensed electrician
Plumbing capping certificates for plumbing terminations
Fire-services isolation and reinstatement permit records
Building-management sign-off on protection, reinstatement and final clean
The contractor’s Certificate of Currency for public liability insurance
Before, during and after photographs of every services termination point and reinstated area

This is the pack that satisfies the make-good clause. A landlord can’t reasonably withhold the bond when this pack lands on their lawyer’s desk with the lease schedule reconciled item-by-item. Without it — even if the physical strip-out is perfect — bond release routinely takes 3–6 months while the landlord tries to assemble evidence the tenant should have provided at handback.

Common Mistakes That Cost Melbourne Tenants Their Bond

After hundreds of Melbourne commercial make-goods, the same handful of mistakes keep appearing. Every one of them is expensive. Every one of them is avoidable.

Mistake 1: Reading the make-good clause for the first time at the end of the lease

The clause has been there since day one. Read it then, plan against it, and revisit it 6–9 months before expiry.

Mistake 2: Treating a make-good as a “rubbish removal” job

Make-good is regulated demolition work involving WorkSafe duties, EPA waste obligations and lease-condition reinstatement to a specified standard. Calling a skip-bin operator and a couple of handymen isn’t a make-good strategy — it’s a duty breach in waiting.

Mistake 3: Using the lowest-quoted contractor without checking commercial experience

A contractor who has never run a CBD-tower or shopping-centre job has never managed the after-hours dock window, the building induction portal or the centre-management protocol. They will discover those constraints mid-project, at your expense.

Mistake 4: Skipping the hazardous materials survey

The asbestos register the building manager holds is a starting point, not a complete picture. Many tenancies have ACM under later fitout layers that the register never captured. Discovering it mid-strip-out costs 2–4× the price of finding it pre-strip-out — and it stops the project for clearance.

Mistake 5: Not separating reportable priority waste

Asbestos, contaminated soil, PCB-containing ballasts and certain chemical residues are reportable priority waste under EPA Victoria’s regime. Treating them as “rubbish” rather than as regulated waste streams is a duty breach under both EPA and Commonwealth law — and a documentation gap the landlord’s lawyer will catch.

Mistake 6: Not coordinating with the incoming tenant’s fitout programme

If a new tenant is moving in straight after, your handback date affects their fitout startup. A make-good that finishes a week late delays a builder, which delays a tenancy commencement, which can trigger lease variation claims the landlord will pursue against your bond.

Mistake 7: Ignoring the after-hours premium until the quote arrives

If your tenancy is in a CBD tower, a shopping centre or any building with operating neighbours, assume after-hours work when you’re budgeting. Discovering the premium at quote stage when you’ve already provisioned for a daytime rate sets the project up for under-funding.

Mistake 8: Skipping the documentation pack

The strip-out can be physically perfect, but if the documentation pack isn’t handed over on keys-back day, the landlord has no evidence the make-good clause was satisfied. Without evidence, the bond is held. The pack is the bond release.

Mistake 9: Treating “fair wear and tear” as a get-out-of-jail card

Fair wear and tear covers ordinary deterioration from normal use — not fitout elements you installed, not modifications you made, not damage from your strip-out. Make-good disputes mediated by the Victorian Small Business Commission turn on photographic evidence of the base-build condition versus the handback condition.

Gone and Clean Demolition – Contact

📞 Call us: 0475 143 106
📧 Email: goneandcleandemolition@gmail.com
🌐 Contact Us: Gone and Clean Demolition – Contact

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between a “make-good,” a “strip-out,” a “defit” and a “reinstatement”?

They overlap heavily. Make-good is the lease-driven obligation to return the premises to a contractually-specified condition at end of lease. Reinstatement is sometimes used interchangeably, particularly in older lease drafting, and sometimes refers specifically to the requirement to undo alterations made during the term. Strip-out is the demolition-trade term for the on-site work, regardless of who’s commissioning it. Defit is sometimes used by project managers to describe an incoming-tenant clear-out before a new fitout is installed. The on-site work is largely the same — the difference is who’s paying and against what scope document.

Do I need a building permit for an end-of-lease make-good demolition?

Usually not for soft-strip-only work that doesn’t touch structural elements. Removing partitions, joinery, finishes and tenant-installed services within your tenancy generally doesn’t trigger a building permit under the Building Act 1993 and Building Regulations 2018. Building permits become necessary when structural elements are altered — load-bearing walls, fire-rated separations, structural slab penetrations or significant services modifications affecting fire and life safety. Our Building Permits vs Demolition Permits Melbourne guide covers the distinction.

Does my make-good need a Section 29A consent?

No — Section 29A consent under the Building Act 1993 applies only to demolition of buildings and parts of buildings, not to fitout strip-outs that don’t touch the structure. A pure end-of-lease make-good within a commercial tenancy sits below the Section 29A threshold.

How long before lease end should I engage a make-good contractor?

At least 8–12 weeks before keys-back for small office and retail tenancies, and 14–20 weeks for larger or services-heavy spaces. That timeline allows for the hazardous materials survey, the WorkSafe notification window for asbestos work, the building-management induction, the after-hours dock bookings, the on-site strip-out, the asbestos clearance certificate, and final reinstatement and inspection. Tenants who engage 3 weeks out almost always pay premium rates and risk bond delays.

Can I do part of the make-good myself to save money?

Generally no, and rarely a saving. Commercial make-goods trigger the same WorkSafe, EPA and building-management compliance pathway regardless of who’s doing the work. Without the right licensed trades, public liability insurance and building-induction status, you’d be a duty-holder in your own right with no realistic path to compliance. Any DIY effort that disturbs bonded asbestos escalates the asbestos line item 2–4×. The very small saving on labour is almost always lost on rework, compliance gaps and bond risk.

What is “base build” and how do I know what condition counts?

Base build is the condition the landlord originally delivered the tenancy in before any tenant fitout. The exact base-build condition is defined in your lease schedule (usually as a drawing or photographic appendix). If it isn’t defined, parties commonly fall back on the Property Council of Australia “Make Good Guideline” — though landlords and tenants frequently disagree on interpretation.

Will my bond or bank guarantee be at risk if the make-good isn’t perfect?

Yes, if the make-good clause isn’t satisfied. Under most Melbourne commercial leases, the landlord can call on the bank guarantee or hold the cash bond against costs incurred bringing the premises back to the contractually-specified condition. The Victorian Small Business Commission mediates many of these disputes under the Retail Leases Act 2003 — but mediation takes months, and during those months your guarantee is still being held. The right documentation pack at handback is the single most effective protection.

Is asbestos common in Melbourne commercial buildings?

Very common in buildings built before the end of 2003 — and routinely encountered in our make-goods in CBD towers, suburban office blocks, shopping-centre tenancies, hospitality fitouts and industrial premises. Vinyl floor tiles, cement-sheet linings, textured ceiling coatings, fibro infill panels and pipe lagging are the most common materials. Newer buildings (post-2004 construction) are typically asbestos-free, though tenants who later installed second-hand materials or older partition systems occasionally introduce ACM into otherwise-clean buildings.

What happens if asbestos is discovered partway through the make-good?

Work stops in the affected zone, a competent person assesses the material, and licensed removal is sequenced before further work proceeds. A reputable contractor’s quote includes a clear variation process for “additional ACM discovered” — typically at the same per-square-metre rate as the scoped asbestos, plus the variation administration. Contractors who tell you “it’ll be fine, we’ll just clean it up” are not running compliant projects, and the duty-holder exposure falls on you as the tenant as well as on them.

What is a modified make-good and how do I negotiate one?

A modified make-good is a written agreement (usually documented in a separate side deed) where the landlord agrees to accept some or all of the existing fitout in place, in exchange for a cash payment, a reduced reinstatement scope, or a transfer arrangement with the incoming tenant. They became common during and after the Commercial Tenancy Relief Scheme of 2020–2022. Negotiation works best 6–9 months before expiry, when both parties have time and the landlord hasn’t yet committed to an incoming-tenant fitout programme. Read the deed, not the lease, when scoping the make-good once the side deed is signed.

What’s cash-in-lieu and when does it make sense?

Cash-in-lieu is a settlement where the tenant pays the landlord an agreed sum that substitutes for the physical make-good work. It’s most attractive where the landlord has already lined up an incoming tenant with their own fitout programme, where the building is scheduled for repositioning, or where the tenant prefers to pay a premium to avoid the time and project-management overhead. The cash-in-lieu number is usually 20–40% higher than the same scope quoted as a fixed-price strip-out — that premium is the landlord’s contingency. If you have time and capability, running the make-good yourself is almost always cheaper.

Who owns the salvaged materials from the make-good?

By default, the tenant — unless the lease specifies otherwise. Demountable partition systems, joinery, AV equipment, kitchen equipment and signage usually belong to the tenant and can be sold, donated or sent to recycling. Landlord-supplied base-build fittings stay with the landlord. Where there’s ambiguity, confirm in writing before the strip-out starts.

Can the same contractor do the make-good and the new fitout?

Some can, most don’t. Make-good (demolition trade) and fitout (carpentry, joinery, services, finishes) are different disciplines, different trade qualifications, different insurance categories. Some larger commercial contractors run both divisions. As demolition specialists, we focus on the make-good — sequencing the asbestos and waste compliance properly, and handing a clean, documented tenancy to whichever builder you’ve engaged for the new fitout.

Is end-of-lease make-good work tax-deductible?

Generally yes, for GST-registered tenants — make-good costs are normally treated as deductible business expenses in the year incurred, and the GST is normally claimable. Confirm with your accountant; the position differs for capital works versus expense items, and for tenancies treated under different lease accounting frameworks.

What if the lease is silent on make-good condition?

Where the lease is silent or ambiguous, parties commonly fall back on industry guidance such as the Property Council of Australia’s “Make Good Guideline”, and on the principle that the tenant must return the premises in substantially the same condition as at commencement, fair wear and tear excepted. Where retail leases apply under the Retail Leases Act 2003, the Disclosure Statement is often the controlling document. Where parties can’t agree, the Victorian Small Business Commission mediates retail-lease disputes, and the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) has jurisdiction. Get a commercial lease lawyer involved early.

Get a Compliant Melbourne End-of-Lease Make-Good Demolition Quote

We’re a fully licensed Melbourne demolition company with Class B (non-friable) asbestos removal capability — meaning your end-of-lease make-good, your asbestos removal, your EPA Waste Tracker compliance, your refrigerant degassing coordination, your building-management paperwork and your full make-good documentation pack are all delivered under one insured roof, across every Melbourne commercial precinct and regional Victorian centre.

We run end-of-lease make-good demolitions across:

Melbourne CBD and inner: Collins Street, Bourke Street, Spring Street, Queen Street, Spencer Street, King Street, William Street, Lonsdale Street, Flinders Lane, Little Collins, Docklands, Southbank, South Wharf
Inner-east commercial: Richmond, Cremorne, Burnley, Hawthorn, Camberwell, Kew, Glen Iris, South Yarra, Toorak, Prahran, Windsor, Malvern, Armadale
Shopping centres and retail precincts: Chadstone, Highpoint, Northland, Eastland, Doncaster Westfield, Knox City, Westfield Fountain Gate, Westfield Plenty Valley, The Glen, Forest Hill Chase, Stud Park, Pacific Werribee, Bayside Shopping Centre Frankston, Emporium, QV, Melbourne Central, Bourke Street Mall
High-street retail strips: Bridge Road, Smith Street, Brunswick Street, Lygon Street, Chapel Street, Toorak Road, Glenferrie Road, High Street Armadale, Acland Street, Fitzroy Street, Church Street Brighton
Industrial and warehouse precincts: Dandenong, Hallam, Tullamarine, Campbellfield, Laverton, Truganina, Altona, Braeside, Moorabbin, Clayton, Notting Hill, Mulgrave, Scoresby, Bayswater, Kilsyth
Suburban office precincts: Box Hill, Glen Waverley, Mount Waverley, Burwood East, Hawthorn East, Cheltenham, Mentone, Moonee Ponds, Essendon, Heidelberg
Regional Victoria: Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Yarra Ranges, Macedon Ranges, Mornington Peninsula

Whether it’s an end-of-lease office make-good in a Collins Street tower, a retail make-good in Chadstone or Highpoint, a restaurant make-good in Richmond or South Yarra, a medical clinic make-good in Camberwell or Glen Waverley, or a warehouse make-good in Dandenong or Laverton — we scope every line against your lease schedule, sequence the asbestos and waste compliance properly, run after-hours where the building demands it, and hand back a documentation pack your bond release can ride on.

Call us today for a free site inspection and a fixed-price end-of-lease make-good quote — with asbestos removal, refrigerant degassing, EPA waste tracking, building-management coordination and the full make-good documentation pack properly itemised, and every WorkSafe Victoria, EPA Victoria and lease requirement covered from quote to handback.

Disclaimer: This guide summarises end-of-lease make-good demolition methodology and compliance obligations for commercial tenancies in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria as of May 2026 in plain English. It is not legal, leasing, planning, structural or compliance advice. Lease terms vary, regulator requirements change regularly, and your specific make-good obligation is governed by your individual lease document. Always read your current lease schedule, check the current Building Act 1993, Building Regulations 2018, OHS Act 2004, OHS Regulations 2017, WorkSafe Victoria Compliance Code: Demolition, Environment Protection Act 2017, Environment Protection Regulations 2021, and Retail Leases Act 2003 (where applicable), or consult a qualified commercial lease lawyer, building surveyor, licensed demolition contractor or OHS professional, before relying on this information for a specific project. Fee unit values reset on 1 July each year.