Office Refurbishment Melbourne: Is It Cheaper to Renovate or Move?

For most tenants weighing office refurbishment Melbourne options against a move, renovating costs less than relocating, once make good, downtime and double handling are counted honestly. The gap narrows if your existing building cannot support the services or floor plate you need. This is the calculation worth running properly before either path gets locked in.

National office vacancy reached a thirty year high in the first half of 2025, according to the Property Council of Australia. That shifts real leverage toward tenants in a stay or go decision, whichever way it goes. Colliers now runs a formal “Competitive Stay vs Go” process for large tenants such as AFCA, URBIS, QBE and Grant Thornton, precisely because the choice has become a genuine commercial decision rather than a default assumption that moving is the natural next step at lease expiry.

Why the Stay or Go Decision Has Changed

Two things have shifted the maths in recent years. First, vacancy across most Melbourne submarkets is higher than it has been in decades, which gives tenants more room to negotiate with an incumbent landlord rather than chase a new address. Second, brokers report a genuine rise in owner occupier purchasing, as business owners weigh the cost of continuing to lease against buying and building equity instead, particularly while parts of the commercial property market remain softer than pre pandemic levels.

Neither of those trends says renovating always wins. They say the decision is closer than it used to be, and worth running the numbers on rather than assuming.

Office Refurbishment Melbourne: What It Costs

A refurbishment of an occupied office typically lands in a wide range depending on scope, condition of existing services, and whether you are touching mechanical or electrical systems. Melbourne benchmarking across basic refreshes through to premium fitouts generally spans roughly four hundred to three thousand dollars per square metre, with JLL putting the average for a medium quality fitout at just over three thousand dollars per square metre nationally.

An office refurbishment Melbourne tenants commission is usually cheaper than a full new fitout because you are not paying to duplicate infrastructure that already works. Existing data cabling, air conditioning zoning, and reception areas can often be retained or partially upgraded rather than rebuilt from a bare shell.

What Relocating Your Melbourne Office Actually Costs

A move looks simple until every line item is counted. Beyond the new fitout itself, there is the make good obligation on the space you are leaving, the fitout of the new space from a bare or part fitted shell, and often a period of double rent or reduced productivity while the move happens.

The Real Cost Comparison

Line up both totals honestly and the comparison usually looks like this.

• Office refurbishment Melbourne (renovating in place): fitout cost only, since services, cabling and layout are partially retained
• Relocating: new fitout cost, plus make good on the outgoing space, plus any overlap in rent or lost productivity during the transition

As a rule of thumb, once a make good bill on the outgoing tenancy crosses a certain threshold relative to the cost of an office refurbishment Melbourne quote, staying and upgrading in place becomes the clearly cheaper path. The exact figure depends on the size and condition of your current space, but it is a calculation worth running before a lease decision is made, not after.

When Moving Still Makes Sense

Renovating is not always the answer. If your current building cannot physically support the services, floor plate or expansion you need, no amount of refurbishment budget solves that. This is where a proper feasibility assessment earns its keep, ideally run alongside lease negotiations rather than after a decision has already been made.

How to Make the Right Call

Start the assessment at least twelve to eighteen months before lease expiry. That gives enough time to genuinely test the market, which is also what gives you real negotiating leverage with your current landlord if staying turns out to be the better option. Bring in a design and construct partner early enough to price both paths properly, rather than comparing a rough relocation estimate against an unscoped renovation guess.

Agero has delivered both outcomes for Melbourne tenants and owner occupiers, from office refurbishment Melbourne projects completed around continuing operations  through to full relocations. The right call depends on your building, your lease terms and your growth plan, not a rule that applies to every business the same way.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it cheaper to renovate an office or move to a new one in Melbourne? In most cases yes. An office refurbishment Melbourne tenants carry out usually wins once make good, downtime and double handling are counted honestly against a new fitout. The gap narrows if your current building can’t support the services or floor plate you need.

What does an office refurbishment cost in Melbourne? Office refurbishment Melbourne benchmarking across basic refreshes through to premium fitouts generally spans roughly $400 to $3,000 per square metre, with JLL putting the national average for a medium quality fitout at just over $3,000 per square metre.

What is a make good obligation, and why does it matter to this decision? Make good is the cost of restoring your outgoing tenancy to the condition set out in your lease. It’s the hidden line item that most changes the renovate versus relocate maths, and it’s rarely factored in until late in the decision.

How far before lease expiry should I start comparing renovate vs relocate? At least twelve to eighteen months out. That gives enough time to test the market properly and gives you genuine negotiating leverage with your current landlord either way.

To work through the real numbers on your office refurbishment Melbourne project, get in touch or explore our project portfolio.