Cushman & Wakefield puts the average Melbourne office fitout at A$2,535 per square metre, at December 2025 pricing. JLL's national average for a moderate, medium-quality office is A$3,011 per square metre, including professional fees. By type of office, Rider Levett Bucknall's Melbourne rates run from about A$1,440 per square metre for open-plan government space to A$5,500 for fully partitioned legal floors, and far more for executive and front-of-house areas. Every figure here comes from a published source, linked where it appears.
These are benchmarks, not quotes. Your number depends on the brief, the building and how much of the existing fitout can stay, which is why I would test the space before relying on any of them.
The published benchmarks
| Source | Edition | Figure | What it includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cushman & Wakefield | APAC Office Fit Out Cost Guide 2026, pricing at December 2025 | Melbourne average A$2,535/m² | Builder's works, mechanical and electrical, furniture, AV and IT |
| JLL | Australia and New Zealand Fit-Out Cost Guide 2026, Q1 2026 | Australian average A$3,011/m² for a moderate-style, medium-quality office | Builder's works, services, security, IT, AV, furniture and professional fees |
| Rider Levett Bucknall | Riders Digest Melbourne 2026, Q4 2025 | Ranges by office type (below) | Good-quality office accommodation including loose and fixed furniture; excludes GST |
JLL's figure is a national average, not a Melbourne one. It also shows where the money goes (rounded): builder's works about 50%, mechanical and electrical services 20%, security, IT and AV 14%, furniture 11% and professional services 4%. None of the three guides says whether its rate is per square metre of lettable or gross floor area, and only Rider Levett Bucknall states that its figures exclude GST.
Melbourne ranges by type of office
Rider Levett Bucknall's Melbourne rates, per square metre, excluding GST, including furniture:
| Type of office | Open plan | Fully partitioned |
|---|---|---|
| Insurance offices and government departments | A$1,440 to A$2,450 | A$1,740 to A$3,100 |
| Major company headquarters | A$1,820 to A$3,650 | A$2,150 to A$4,200 |
| Solicitors and financiers | A$2,400 to A$4,400 | A$3,000 to A$5,500 |
| Executive areas and front of house | A$5,500 to A$20,250 |
The same guide puts a typical CBD office floor refurbishment at A$1,540 to A$3,750 per square metre.
What moves the number
- Enclosed rooms. Every published range rises with partitioning. A brief with many meeting rooms and offices costs more per square metre than an open floor of the same size.
- Reception and client areas. Front of house is the most expensive space per square metre in the RLB rates, so its size and finish matter more than its share of the floor suggests.
- Technology. Rooms fitted for video calls add AV, cabling and acoustic work that an open floor does not need.
- What you keep. Partitions, ceilings, floors and joinery that suit the new plan are the cheapest square metres in the project.
- When the work happens. RLB's rates exclude after-hours work, which occupied buildings and shopping centres often require.
What usually sits outside the price
Check what each number includes before comparing it with a builder's quote. The Rider Levett Bucknall and Cushman & Wakefield office rates include furniture, so don't add it twice. Items that often sit outside a builder's fitout price:
- GST
- Design and consultant fees
- Loose furniture, AV and IT, if bought directly
- Signage
- Landlord charges for works to base-building services
- Make-good at the end of the lease: Cushman & Wakefield's 2026 guide puts Melbourne reinstatement at about A$420 per square metre
Prices are still rising
The ABS producer price index for non-residential building construction in Victoria rose 3.7% in the year to the June quarter 2026. Rider Levett Bucknall forecasts Melbourne construction prices rising 4.0% a year from 2026 to 2029, and Altus Group forecasts 5.5% for Melbourne in 2026 and 4.0% in 2027. If your fitout will be priced in 2027, allow for that in the budget.
Incentives can change the maths
Melbourne CBD landlords are offering large incentives while vacancy stays high. Knight Frank reported net prime incentives averaging 48.1% across the CBD in the June quarter 2026, ranging from 36% to 55% by precinct. Incentives can take the form of rent-free periods or a fitout contribution, so it is worth knowing what the fitout will cost before you negotiate. I covered what to test in a tenancy in before signing a commercial lease.
Cafes, restaurants and shops
I could not find a quantity surveyor publishing current Melbourne rates for cafe, restaurant or shop fitouts, so this guide does not quote one. The drivers are well known: kitchen exhaust and grease arrestors, cool rooms, equipment, the bar, and for centre tenancies, the landlord's design requirements and works to the centre's services. Those vary too much between sites for a per-square-metre figure to mean much.
How to get a number you can rely on
- Start with a test fit to confirm what the space needs to hold.
- Get a budget from a builder or quantity surveyor once the concept plan is agreed.
- Price the design intent documentation with two or three builders before you commit.
Each step narrows the range while it is still cheap to change course.
Sources: Cushman & Wakefield; JLL; Rider Levett Bucknall; Australian Bureau of Statistics; Altus Group; Knight Frank; CommercialRealEstate.com.au (incentive types). Figures checked October 2026.