What Is Make Good in Construction?
Make good — also called making good or reinstatement — is the work needed to restore a building or area to an agreed condition, most commonly a tenant returning a leased commercial space to its original or an agreed base state at the end of a lease. The same term also covers smaller-scale repair: patching, painting or reinstating existing finishes disturbed when new work — a new doorway, a removed wall, a relocated service — is carried out. What exactly “good” means is set by the lease or contract, not assumed, which is why make-good scope disagreements are common.
Key takeaways
- Make good is the work of restoring a space to an agreed condition — most often a tenant reinstating a leased fit-out at lease end, or a trade repairing finishes disturbed by new work.
- The lease or contract, not general assumption, defines what condition counts as made good, so the exact clause needs reading before scoping the work.
- Commercial lease make-good typically means stripping out the tenant’s fit-out and reinstating base building condition across walls, ceilings, floors and services.
- Disputes over make-good are common because terms like original condition and reasonable wear and tear are often left loosely defined in the lease.
What counts as make good?
Make good means putting a space back to a condition both parties agreed to at the start — not brand-new condition, and not simply tidy. In a commercial lease, that agreed condition is usually the base building state the tenant received the space in before their own fit-out went in: partitions removed, services capped or reinstated, floor coverings and ceilings returned to base standard, and any tenant-specific joinery, signage or cabling taken out.
The same term applies on a smaller scale in ordinary construction work: when a plumber cuts a hole in a plasterboard wall to run new pipework, making good means patching, sanding, painting or re-laying that surface back to a reasonable match with what was there before.
Reasonable wear and tear
Most leases exclude fair wear and tear from make-good obligations — a tenant is not expected to repaint a wall that has simply faded over years of normal use. Where that line sits is one of the most argued points in any make-good dispute.
Make good in commercial leases
Commercial and retail leases almost always include a make-good clause, worth reading closely well before the lease ends because the scope can be broader than tenants expect. Typical obligations cover removing the tenant’s fit-out entirely, reinstating partitions, ceilings, floor coverings and services to base building standard, and repairing any damage caused during removal.
- Strip-out of tenant fit-out — partitions, joinery, signage, IT and data cabling
- Reinstatement of ceilings, floor coverings and wall finishes to base building condition
- Capping or reconnecting services altered by the tenant
- A final inspection against the lease’s make-good clause
How make-good work is scoped and priced
Pricing a make-good job starts with the lease clause itself, not the space as it currently stands — the target condition has to be defined before a scope of works can be written. A site walk-through comparing the current fit-out against the base building drawings, where they exist, surfaces the actual list of removal, reinstatement and repair items.
From there, make-good is priced like any other renovation scope: measured quantities for demolition, patching, painting, flooring and services, priced against labour and material rates, plus an allowance for items only discovered once strip-out is underway.
Pricing a make-good job with My Trade Hub
Make-good scopes are frequently squeezed by a tight lease-end deadline, which makes a fast, defensible quote more valuable than usual. My Trade Hub’s automated quantity takeoff measures a make-good scope from uploaded plans or as-built drawings, and applies your own editable rates library across demolition, patching, painting, flooring and services items to build a priced Bill of Quantities.
Because every rate stays editable, you can adjust for site-specific conditions — after-hours access, shared building constraints, disposal costs — and produce a tender-ready quote the tenant or landlord can act on quickly.
Frequently asked questions
What is make good in a commercial lease?
Make good in a commercial lease is the tenant’s obligation to restore the leased space to an agreed condition, usually base building standard, before handing it back at lease end. It typically covers removing the fit-out and reinstating partitions, ceilings, floor coverings and services.
Who pays for make-good — the tenant or the landlord?
The tenant is almost always responsible for make-good costs under a commercial lease, since it is the tenant’s fit-out being removed under the lease clause. The landlord typically only pays if it agrees to waive make-good in exchange for something else, such as keeping the fit-out.
Does make good include normal wear and tear?
No. Most leases specifically exclude fair wear and tear from make-good obligations — a tenant is expected to fix damage and reinstate the space, not repair the natural ageing of finishes from ordinary use.
Can a landlord and tenant negotiate the make-good scope?
Yes. Landlords and tenants commonly negotiate an alternative to full make-good — for example the landlord keeping an existing fit-out as is, or accepting a cash settlement instead of physical reinstatement — provided both parties agree and vary the lease accordingly.
How far in advance should make-good be scoped before lease end?
Ideally several months before the lease expiry date, since strip-out, reinstatement and any disputed items can take longer than expected and most leases set a hard date for handover in the agreed condition.
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