Commercial Fitout Cost Australia 2026
Commercial fit-out in Australia is priced per square metre by specification, from a cat A base fit-out through to a full cat B tenant fit-out, with shopfitting, hospitality and medical scopes priced higher again. The biggest cost levers are the specification level, the services scope and the base-building condition. Pick your city below for local pricing, or see the national job-by-job breakdown underneath. Figures are $400-$4,000/m2.
Commercial Fitout by city
Commercial Fitout prices at a glance
| Service | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fit-out feasibility / concept design | $3,000per report | $8,000 | $20,000 |
| Cat A fit-out (base building) | $400/m² | $525 | $700 |
| Cat B fit-out (tenant, standard) | $1,500/m² | $2,000 | $2,500 |
| Cat B fit-out (full / premium) | $2,500/m² | $3,000 | $4,000 |
| Retail shopfitting | $1,000/m² | $2,000 | $2,750 |
| Hospitality fit-out (cafe / restaurant) | $2,800/m² | $3,700 | $4,500 |
| Office partitioning (plasterboard) | $120/m² | $175 | $225 |
| Glazed office partitioning | $500/m | $800 | $1,400 |
| Suspended ceiling (supply + install) | $50/m² | $100 | $150 |
| Office joinery package (kitchenette + reception counter + storage) | $10,000per job | $20,000 | $30,000 |
| Services upgrade to existing base build (mechanical adjustment, power, data) | $200/m² | $300 | $450 |
| End-of-lease make-good | $80/m² | $150 | $350 |
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Get free quotes →Worked commercial fitout pricing scenarios
Three jobs show how the per-square-metre bands translate. A 150m2 office brought up to a cat A base-building standard works out at 150m2 x $400–$700/m2 = $60,000–$105,000. A 300m2 cat B office fit out with workstations, two meeting rooms, a kitchenette and branding, at the standard cat B rate of $1,500–$2,500/m2, lands $450,000–$750,000. And a 100m2 retail shopfit with joinery, feature lighting and a service counter, at $1,000–$2,750/m2, runs $100,000–$275,000. In every case the services trades — mechanical, electrical, fire — are where budgets move most.
Commercial Fitout Costs by Sector
Offices & Corporate
Open-plan workstations, meeting rooms, breakout and end-of-trip facilities across multi-tenant towers and owner-occupied buildings in Australia. Cat A vs cat B scope and the services upgrade drive the rate far more than floor area.
Retail & Shopfronts
Shopfitting for strip shops and shopping-centre tenancies in Australia - shopfront glazing, joinery, display, lighting and POS. Centre trading hours force after-hours work and landlord design approvals that lengthen the programme.
Hospitality
Cafes, restaurants, bars and venues, where commercial kitchens, exhaust, grease arrest and hydraulic and mechanical services dominate the cost. In Australia, any development and building approvals should be in place before work starts, with environmental health (food premises) requirements checked alongside the build. Hospitality fit-outs price above the general band.
Medical, Healthcare & Professional Suites
Consult rooms, treatment areas and reception with heavier compliance - infection control, accessibility, lead-lining for imaging and specialised services - and strict certification before occupancy. Medical and healthcare fit-outs price above the general band.
What affects commercial fitout costs and charges in Australia
Fit out charges in Australia are set less by floor area than by four things: the level of finish, what the base building can already do, how the site can be worked, and where it stands.
Finish level is the biggest lever. The same tenant floor is $1,500–$2,500 per m² at a standard specification and $2,500–$4,000 per m² once bespoke joinery, stone and a branded reception are in the brief, and a joinery package on its own is $10,000–$30,000 per job. Base-building condition is second: a shell pays the cat A layer of $400–$700 per m² first, and an older building whose switchboard and ductwork cannot carry a new layout adds a services rework at $200–$450 per m².
How the site can be worked is the third. Occupied towers push noisy work into nights, and shopping centres into the hours after close, which lifts labour on otherwise ordinary walls at $120–$225 per m² and ceilings at $50–$150 per m². Location is last: tropical cooling, cold-climate heating and travel time to a regional job sit inside the services and preliminaries lines. Make-good at $80–$350 per m² waits at the end of every lease. Use the form on this page to get quotes from commercial fitout contractors in Australia.
How commercial fitouts are quoted
Most fit-out quotes arrive per square metre against a specification level, then get adjusted for the three things that resist averaging: the base building's condition, the services scope (ductwork, switchboards, fire compliance), and joinery. Design-and-construct firms quote the whole job under one contract; construct-only builders price a designer's documentation. The same 200m2 space can honestly quote anywhere from 200m2 x $400/m2 = $80,000 at a cat A base-building level to 200m2 x $4,000/m2 = $800,000 for a premium cat B fit-out, depending on which path and specification you brief.
How to Control Commercial Fitout Costs
Our Methodology
Commercial pricing on this page is compiled from Australian commercial contractors, suppliers, published commercial rate guides and peak industry data. We cross-reference ranges from multiple sources and adjust for city-specific factors. Our guides are produced independently; no contractor can influence a published figure. All prices are GST-inclusive estimates and will vary with your specific site. Read our full methodology →
What a Compliant Commercial Fitout Quote Includes — Cost in Australia
A quote worth comparing itemises demolition and make-safe, partitions and ceilings, floor finishes, electrical and data, mechanical adjustments, fire services and compliance certification, joinery, and preliminaries — plus GST stated plainly. Watch for exclusions written in small type: authority approvals, after-hours labour and base-building upgrades are the usual variation generators on a commercial fit out.
Fitout compliance and certification
Any fitout touching services triggers certification — electrical and fire work must be certified, and layout changes can require building approval depending on state and building class. Budget both time and money for it: certification is a line item, not an afterthought, and end-of-lease make-good obligations mean keeping the paperwork matters years later.
Office fitout cost per square metre across Australia
Across Australia, office fitout budgets are set per m² of tenancy, and the first question is how much of the shell already works. Where ceilings, lighting and air handling are missing or worn out, Cat A base-building work at $400–$700 per m² comes before any tenant layer. A standard Cat B fit-out with partitions, joinery and finishes runs $1,500–$2,500 per m², and a premium Cat B with heavier joinery, feature ceilings and more glazing reaches $2,500–$4,000 per m².
Inside those rates, walls, ceilings and services are the lines that swing a quote. Plasterboard partitioning is $120–$225 per m² of wall, glazed partitioning $500–$1,400 per metre of run, and a new suspended ceiling $50–$150 per m². When the existing base build needs its mechanical, power and data reworked for a new layout, that adds $200–$450 per m², and a kitchenette, reception counter and storage are often bundled as a joinery package at $10,000–$30,000.
Shops and food businesses sit on their own rows: retail shopfitting at $1,000–$2,750 per m², and a cafe or restaurant with a kitchen, exhaust and plumbing at $2,800–$4,500 per m². Small tenancies carry the same shopfront, counter and services as large ones, so they land higher in each row. Before a lease is signed, a feasibility study or concept design at $3,000–$20,000 per report tests the layout against the budget, and the end-of-lease make-good at $80–$350 per m² is worth costing at the same time.
Commercial office fitout cost per square metre in Australia by category, and what moves a fit-out cost from Cat A to Cat B
Office fitout cost in Australia is quoted per square metre of floor, and the category decides the band before the finishes do. A Cat A fit-out, the base-building services, ceilings and floor the landlord usually provides, costs $400–$700/m². A standard tenant Cat B fit-out, the partitions, joinery and finishes that make the space an office, runs $1,500–$2,500/m², and a full or premium Cat B $2,500–$4,000/m². Retail shopfitting sits at $1,000–$2,750/m² and a cafe or restaurant fit-out at $2,800–$4,500/m² because the kitchen and services carry it.
Inside a Cat B rate the big lines are visible on their own: plasterboard office partitioning at $120–$225/m² of wall, glazed partitioning at $500–$1,400 per metre run, and a suspended ceiling at $50–$150/m² where the base build did not leave one. A typical 200m² office at the standard Cat B rate is therefore a different project from the same floor at the premium rate, and the difference is almost all glazing, joinery and ceiling.
An office fitout quote in Australia should state the category it is pricing, the floor area the rate is applied to, and which of the partition, ceiling and services lines are inside the rate. Two quotes at different per-square-metre figures usually differ by category rather than by price, and a per-sqm figure with no category attached cannot be compared with anything.
Commercial fitout costs in Australia: six typical jobs on the rate card
Commercial fit out costs in Australia are easiest to read through the jobs that come up most often, from a tower floor in a capital to a cafe on a regional main street. Each names the rate it draws and the line that catches people out.
- Professional-services floor in a capital-city tower. Open desks, meeting rooms and a reception at the standard cat B rate of $1,500–$2,500 per m²; the glazed rooms at $500–$1,400 per metre are the underestimated line.
- Head office with a client floor. Timber, stone and a boardroom suite put it on the premium row at $2,500–$4,000 per m²; the joinery alone is $10,000–$30,000 per job.
- Industrial-estate front office. A shed gets ceilings, lighting and cooling at the cat A rate of $400–$700 per m², then plasterboard offices at $120–$225 per m².
- Main-street cafe in a regional town. Kitchen, exhaust and cool room put it at $2,800–$4,500 per m² whatever the postcode.
- Shopping-centre tenancy. Shopfitting at $1,000–$2,750 per m², built overnight so the centre keeps trading.
- Floor handed back at lease end. Make-good at $80–$350 per m², usually owed while the new fit-out is under way.
A feasibility report first, at $3,000–$20,000 per report, pays for itself on a long lease. Use the form on this page to get quotes from commercial fitout contractors anywhere in Australia.