8 Questions to Ask Your Landlord Before Signing a Commercial Fitout

The AFSS lists every essential fire safety measure in the building (sprinklers, hydrants, smoke detection, fire doors, mechanical ventilation, fire-rated walls, etc.) and confirms each one passes its performance criteria. If your fitout disturbs any of these systems, the affected measures must be re-inspected and re-certified. The AFSS tells you what is in the building so you can scope the cost.

A fitout guide is the landlord's rulebook for tenant fitouts. It typically covers permitted working hours, loading dock booking, services capacity, contractor insurance requirements, AFSS obligations, restrictions on visible signage and structural penetrations, after-hours access charges, and any approved contractor lists. CBD towers, retail centres, and multi-tenant industrial buildings usually have one. Standalone shops often do not.

Working hours depend on (a) the local council DCP and (b) the landlord's building rules, whichever is tighter. Most Sydney councils permit construction work between 7am-5pm Monday to Friday and 8am-1pm Saturday, with nothing on Sundays or public holidays. In a multi-tenant office building, the landlord may restrict noisy work to outside business hours. Working outside permitted hours costs more (penalty rates, after-hours building access, security).

In multi-tenant buildings, the loading dock is usually shared and bookable through the building manager. Bookings are typically 15 to 60 minutes, often outside business hours, and may require security clearance for trades and trucks. Some buildings restrict vehicle height (3.5m to 4.0m is common), which affects what can be delivered. Standalone shops usually have no loading dock and you load from the street with a temporary parking permit from council.

Multi-tenant office and retail buildings usually run base building HVAC during business hours (often 7am-7pm weekdays). Outside those hours, the tenant pays per hour for HVAC to the tenancy zone. Typical charges are $30 to $80 per hour per zone. There may also be after-hours building access fees ($15 to $50 per access). For businesses that trade outside business hours (gyms, restaurants, late-night retail), this adds up to thousands per month.

Existing services capacity at the tenancy boundary determines what can be plugged in without an upgrade. For electrical, ask for the existing supply size in kVA or amps and the size of the tenancy switchboard. For water, ask for the supply size (DN20, DN25, DN32, etc.) and the available pressure. For gas, ask for the meter size and available pressure. If the existing capacity is too small for your fitout, the upgrade cost falls on the tenant unless you negotiate otherwise.

Make-good means returning the premises to a defined state at the end of the lease. The default in most leases is "base building condition", which means stripping the fitout back to bare slab, services capped, ceilings removed. On a $250,000 fitout, this can cost $30,000 to $60,000. Negotiate alternatives at HoA stage: "make-good to condition at lease commencement", or "no make-good required", or "landlord to take fitout in lieu of make-good".

Some landlords require tenants to use the building's nominated contractors for certain trades, typically fire services, access control, BMS integration, and sometimes mechanical. The reason is to maintain a known service standard across the building. The cost is that these contractors often charge a premium because they have a captive market.