How to Estimate a Commercial Fit-Out: Office Tender Guide
Estimating a commercial fit-out means measuring every trade package inside the tenancy — partitions, suspended ceilings, floor finishes, joinery and the mechanical, electrical, hydraulic and fire services that make the space usable — then pricing each against your own labour, material and plant rates. On top of that you carry preliminaries for working inside an occupied building, price after-hours and restricted-access work at its own loaded rate, and hold provisional sums for tenant selections that have not been finalised. Unlike a greenfield build, a fit-out estimate also has to satisfy a head contractor’s or landlord’s formal tender documentation before it is even considered complete.
Key takeaways
- A commercial fit-out estimate covers everything inside the tenancy boundary — partitions, ceilings, floor finishes, joinery and the mechanical, electrical, hydraulic and fire services that serve the space.
- Preliminaries for a tenancy fit-out include building management fees, protection of common areas and make-good obligations — not just site shed and supervision costs.
- After-hours and restricted-access work in an occupied building needs its own loaded rate, not your standard daytime rate.
- Provisional sums carry tenant selections — finishes, signage, security — that have not been locked in at tender stage, and they need to be reconciled once selections are made.
- My Trade Hub speeds up fit-out tender prep with automated takeoff from your drawings, an editable rates library and a structured Bill of Quantities — 60–75% faster than doing it manually.
What’s Actually in Scope for a Commercial Fit-Out Estimate
A commercial fit-out estimate covers everything inside the tenancy boundary — the base building is someone else’s problem, but every wall, ceiling tile, cable run and tap fitting from the lease line inward is yours to measure and price.
That scope spans architectural trades and services trades together, and they interact constantly: a partition run dictates where the suspended ceiling grid breaks, and a joinery layout drives where power and data outlets land. Missing that interaction is one of the most common sources of scope gaps in a fit-out tender.
- Partitions and internal walls — stud and plasterboard, glazed partitions, acoustic-rated walls
- Suspended ceilings and bulkheads, including grid, tile and feature detail
- Floor finishes — carpet tile, vinyl, polished concrete, raised access flooring
- Joinery — reception desks, kitchenette joinery, storage and feature joinery runs
- Mechanical services — VAV box alterations, ductwork changes, air conditioning fit-off
- Electrical services — power, lighting, switchboard capacity, cable reallocation
- Hydraulic services — kitchenette and bathroom plumbing, trade waste connections
- Fire services — sprinkler head relocation, fire indicator panel updates, smoke detection
- Data and communications cabling, patch panels and comms room fit-out
Preliminaries and Site Establishment Inside a Tenancy
Preliminaries on a fit-out look different to preliminaries on a new build, because you are working inside someone else’s finished asset rather than a cleared site. The building owner’s rules — not just the project program — drive a big share of the cost.
Get this wrong and the preliminaries line item is where a fit-out tender quietly loses margin, because these costs are easy to under-allow when a template built for greenfield construction is reused without adjustment.
- Building management induction, access cards and after-hours access fees
- Protection of lift lobbies, common-area carpets and finishes during the works
- Temporary hoarding, site signage and dust/noise containment
- Supervision and site management across a compressed handover program
- Insurance and certificates of currency the landlord requires before mobilisation
- Make-good obligations owed back to the landlord at lease end
Pricing After-Hours and Restricted-Access Work
Working inside an occupied building means noisy, disruptive or access-heavy trades — demolition, coring, ceiling grid removal — usually cannot happen during business hours. That work moves to nights or weekends, and it needs to be priced as such, not folded into a standard day rate.
Restricted access also affects logistics that are easy to overlook at estimate stage: loading dock bookings, shared freight lift time, and waste removal routes that are only available outside tenant operating hours all add time and cost that a vacant-site estimate would never carry.
Why after-hours work needs its own rate
A crew working a night shift or a weekend shift is slower and more expensive than the same crew on a vacant daytime floor. Carry a separate, loaded rate for after-hours and restricted-access trades rather than applying your standard rate across the whole job — otherwise the preliminaries and labour lines will not reconcile once the works start.
Tendering to a Head Contractor or Landlord
Most commercial fit-out work is tendered to a head contractor managing the base building works, or directly to a landlord under a fitout deed — and both expect a level of formal documentation well beyond a one-page quote.
That documentation needs to demonstrate compliance with the building owner’s conditions as much as it demonstrates your price, because a technically correct estimate that ignores the head contract’s format still gets returned for rework.
- Pricing against the base building’s fitout guide and any development approval conditions
- Aligning with the head contractor’s standard form subcontract terms (for example AS4000 or AS4902-based conditions)
- Breaking the lump sum into a trade-by-trade schedule the landlord or head contractor can review line by line
- Matching the tender program to the agreed handover and practical completion dates
- Addressing defects liability periods and make-good clauses in the return
Provisional Sums for Tenant Selections
Fit-out tenders are almost always submitted before the tenant has finalised every finish, fitting and fixture — so provisional sums carry those undecided items as a placeholder allowance rather than a firm price.
A provisional sum is only useful if its description is specific enough to reconcile later. A vague allowance for “joinery finishes” invites disputes once the tenant actually picks a laminate, hardware set and edge profile; a clearly scoped provisional sum with a stated basis of measurement does not.
- Joinery finishes and hardware not yet selected by the tenant
- Signage, branding elements and feature graphics
- Specialist flooring, feature walls or acoustic treatments
- Security and access control systems
- Kitchenette appliances and associated fitout
Worked Example: Fit-Out Estimate by Element
The table below illustrates how a commercial fit-out estimate typically breaks down by element and trade. It is a methodology example only — actual rates depend on building class, location, program and the specific scope of works, so treat every figure as illustrative rather than a quote.
The structure matters more than the numbers: separating architectural elements from services, and carrying preliminaries and provisional sums as their own lines, is what makes a fit-out estimate reviewable by a head contractor or landlord.
| Element / Trade | Typical Unit | Illustrative Rate (example) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Partitions & doors | m² of wall | $180–$260/m² (example) | Stud and plasterboard; glazed partitions priced separately |
| Suspended ceilings | m² of ceiling | $65–$95/m² (example) | Grid, tile and bulkhead detail |
| Floor finishes | m² of floor | $45–$120/m² (example) | Carpet tile vs polished concrete vary widely |
| Joinery | linear metre | $450–$900/lm (example) | Reception desks and feature joinery priced separately |
| Mechanical services | % of construction cost | 12–18% (example) | VAV alterations and air conditioning fit-off |
| Electrical & data | % of construction cost | 10–15% (example) | Power, lighting and cable reallocation |
| Preliminaries | % of construction cost | 8–12% (example) | Site establishment, supervision, building fees |
| Provisional sums | lump sum allowance | Set per selection (example) | Tenant finishes and fixtures not yet confirmed |
How My Trade Hub Speeds Up Fit-Out Tender Prep
My Trade Hub does not replace the judgement a fit-out estimate needs — after-hours loadings, provisional sum descriptions and head contract compliance still come from you — but it removes the manual, repetitive work around that judgement so a priced tender comes together faster.
Automated quantity takeoff measures partitions, ceilings, floor areas and joinery runs directly from your uploaded fit-out drawings, so you are not scaling PDF plans by hand. Your editable rates library holds your own labour, material and plant rates — including any after-hours loadings you set — and applies them to the measured quantities automatically; every rate stays editable, so nothing is locked to a generic default. From there, My Trade Hub generates a structured Bill of Quantities and tender documents formatted for submission to a head contractor or landlord. Teams preparing a priced tender this way report getting there 60–75% faster than doing it manually.
Common Mistakes That Blow Out Fit-Out Estimates
The biggest risk in fit-out estimating is treating it like a new build costing exercise dropped into an occupied tenancy — the line items look similar, but the constraints around them are completely different.
Most margin erosion on fit-out jobs traces back to one of a small set of avoidable gaps at tender stage, rather than genuine on-site surprises.
- Pricing preliminaries as if the building were vacant, missing building management fees and access restrictions
- Leaving after-hours and restricted-access work at standard daytime rates
- Underestimating protection of common areas and end-of-lease make-good costs
- Carrying vague, unreconciled provisional sums with no clear basis of measurement
- Missing head contract or landlord fitout guide compliance items in the tender return
Frequently asked questions
How do you estimate a commercial fit-out?
You measure every element inside the tenancy — partitions, ceilings, floor finishes, joinery and the mechanical, electrical, hydraulic and fire services — then price each against your own rates, add preliminaries for working in an occupied building, and carry provisional sums for tenant selections that are not yet finalised.
What is included in an office fit-out tender?
An office fit-out tender typically includes partitions and doors, suspended ceilings, floor finishes, joinery, mechanical/electrical/hydraulic/fire services, data and communications cabling, preliminaries for site establishment, and provisional sums for selections the tenant has not confirmed.
How do you price after-hours work in an occupied building?
After-hours and restricted-access work needs its own loaded labour rate, separate from your standard daytime rate, plus allowances for loading dock bookings, shared freight lift time and waste removal outside tenant operating hours.
What are provisional sums in a fit-out estimate?
Provisional sums are placeholder allowances for items the tenant has not yet selected — such as joinery finishes, signage or specialist flooring — carried at tender stage and reconciled once the tenant confirms their choice.
What preliminaries apply to a tenancy fit-out?
Tenancy fit-out preliminaries include building management induction and access fees, protection of common areas, temporary hoarding, supervision across a compressed program, insurance the landlord requires, and end-of-lease make-good obligations.
How is a fit-out estimate different from a new build estimate?
A fit-out estimate is bounded by the tenancy rather than the whole building, and it carries costs a new build does not — building owner access fees, after-hours loadings, protection of common areas and formal compliance with a head contractor’s or landlord’s tender documentation.
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