Strip out and defit, and what it costs
The job at the end of a lease, or the one before a new fitout starts. Priced badly more often than any other trade package.
The short answer
Strip out, defit, make good, commercial demolition. Four words for jobs that overlap, and the reason quotes for them are so hard to compare is that nobody agrees where one stops and the next begins.
Key points
- Allow roughly $80 to $180 per square metre for a commercial strip out, before the extras.
- A clinical defit costs more: capped services, lead lining and slab penetrations.
- Any building built before 2004 needs its asbestos register checked before a tool is lifted.
- Waste disposal and after-hours access are the two costs people forget entirely.
Strip out, defit, make good, commercial demolition. Four words for jobs that overlap, and the reason quotes for them are so hard to compare is that nobody agrees where one stops and the next begins.
What the words actually mean
Strip out or defit is the removal of a tenant's fitout: partitions, ceilings, joinery, floor coverings, and the services that fed them. The structure stays.
Make good is the contractual obligation to return the premises to an agreed condition. A strip out is usually how you satisfy it, but the obligation is defined by your lease rather than by the trade, and the two are worth understanding separately.
Commercial demolition properly means removing structure. If someone has quoted you demolition for a tenancy strip out, check what they think they are pricing.
What it costs
As an indicative planning figure, allow $80 to $180 per square metre for a commercial strip out, excluding GST.
The bottom of that range is an open-plan office with a suspended ceiling, carpet and a handful of partitions, done during business hours with a loading dock and a lift you can book.
The top is a fully partitioned tenancy with extensive joinery, after-hours access only, and a long carry to a skip. On a clinical tenancy you should assume the top of the range before you start adding the items below, none of which are included in a per square metre rate.
What sits outside the rate
- Hazardous materials. Covered below, and capable of dwarfing everything else.
- Capping services. Every basin, steriliser feed, floor waste and slop hopper has to be capped and certified, not simply cut.
- Slab penetrations. Dental practices run suction, air, water and waste under the slab. Filling core holes is structural work.
- Lead lining. Imaging room shielding is a controlled waste stream.
- Fire services. Sprinkler heads and detectors moved to suit your ceiling have to be returned to a compliant layout and recertified.
- Mechanical. Supplementary plant added for consulting rooms, and any roof or facade penetration it came with.
- Waste levies and disposal. Charged by weight and by stream, and a genuine line item rather than a rounding error.
- Access. After-hours work, lift bookings, protection to common areas, and a building manager with rules about all three.
The survey that has to happen first
If the building was constructed before 2004, assume asbestos until a survey says otherwise. Australia banned it at the end of 2003, and it remains in vinyl floor tiles and their adhesive, in wall sheeting, in pipe lagging, in electrical backing boards and in ceiling tiles, all of which are exactly the materials a strip out disturbs first.
Workplace health and safety law requires the building owner to hold an asbestos register for any building of that age. Your builder should be asking for it before quoting, and a builder who does not ask is telling you something about how they will handle it on site.
Where the register is missing or out of date, a hazardous materials survey by a licensed assessor comes first. It costs a fraction of what an unplanned discovery costs, because finding bonded asbestos in the floor adhesive halfway through a strip out stops the job, brings in a licensed removalist and rewrites the program.
When you need a permit
An internal strip out that leaves the structure alone often needs no separate approval, but the boundary is narrower than people assume and it varies by state.
You are likely to need one once you touch anything structural, alter fire separation or egress, change the building's classification, or work on the facade. In Victoria, demolition can also require a report and consent from council under the Building Regulations. In New South Wales the work may fall inside your development consent or need its own approval depending on scope.
The practical test is simple. If the strip out removes anything that was on a building permit or a construction certificate, assume approval is needed and confirm it with the building surveyor rather than the demolisher.
Sequencing it properly
Get the asbestos register before you get quotes. Pricing a strip out without it is pricing a guess, and every builder will carry a different allowance for the same unknown.
Decide what stays. If the incoming tenant is another practice, some of the fitout may be worth more in place than in a skip. This is worth raising with the landlord before you remove rooms somebody would have paid for.
Book the building, not just the builder. Lift access, loading dock times and after-hours approvals are controlled by the building manager and are frequently the binding constraint on the program.
Price it in the second last year of the lease. Early enough to negotiate the make good figure with real numbers, and early enough that the cost does not land in the same quarter as your new fitout.
Sources and further reading
Safe Work Australia on asbestos and workplace exposure, the National Construction Code, and state building regulations on when demolition work needs approval. Rates are indicative planning figures, not a quote.
Model codes of practice for workplace exposure to dust and noise, which is what sits behind extraction on a podiatry drill or an orthotics grinder.
The National Construction Code: building classification, fire separation, egress, sanitary provisions and access.
Victoria's building regulator since 1 July 2025, when it replaced the Victorian Building Authority. Building permits, registered building surveyors and occupancy permits.
The Retail Leases Act 1994 framework and the disclosure a landlord owes a tenant, including on make good and outgoings. Every state has its own equivalent.
Questions
How much does a commercial strip out cost?
Indicatively $80 to $180 per square metre excluding GST. The low end is an open-plan office with a suspended ceiling and carpet, done in business hours with good access. The high end is a fully partitioned tenancy with extensive joinery and after-hours access only. Hazardous materials, capping services, slab penetrations and waste disposal sit outside that rate.
What is the difference between a strip out and a defit?
Nothing meaningful. Both mean removing a tenant's fitout down to the base building, leaving the structure. Make good is different again: it is the contractual obligation in your lease, and a strip out is usually how you satisfy it. Commercial demolition properly means removing structure, which a tenancy strip out does not.
Do I need a permit for a strip out?
Often not, if the work is internal and leaves the structure, fire separation and egress alone. You are likely to need one once you touch structure, alter fire safety or egress, change the classification, or work on the facade. In Victoria demolition can also need a report and consent from council. If the strip out removes something that appeared on a building permit or construction certificate, confirm with the building surveyor.
Does my building have asbestos?
If it was built before 2004, assume so until a survey says otherwise. Australia banned asbestos at the end of 2003 and it persists in vinyl floor tiles and adhesive, wall sheeting, pipe lagging, electrical backing boards and ceiling tiles, which are the first materials a strip out disturbs. The owner is required to hold a register for buildings of that age.
Should I strip out or leave the fitout in place?
Worth asking before you commit. If the incoming tenant is another practice, consulting rooms and a compliant reprocessing room may be worth more in place than in a skip, and some leases let you leave the fitout at your election. Removing rooms somebody would have paid for is the expensive version of complying with your lease.
Send us the floor plan
A site assessment tells you what the tenancy can take and what it will cost to get there, ideally before you have signed for it.