Most fitout delays don't come from the build. They come from decisions nobody made three weeks before the build started — a landlord consent still sitting in someone's inbox, a chair order nobody placed because "we'll sort furniture later," an IT cutover that was never actually scheduled against the electrical rough-in.
If you're planning a Melbourne or Geelong office fitout, here's what actually needs to be locked in before the first trade sets foot on site — not a generic project management checklist, but the specific items that cause real slippage.
Before you sign anything
Lease and make-good terms. Read the make-good clause before you sign the new lease, not after you've committed to the old one's exit date. Some leases require you to strip back to base building; others let you leave fit-for-purpose improvements for the next tenant. This changes your budget and your timeline for both ends of the move.
Landlord consent process. Most commercial leases require written landlord approval for any works beyond cosmetic. Ask what the landlord needs — drawings, insurances, contractor inductions — and how long they typically take to sign off. Two to three weeks is normal in Melbourne CBD buildings; treat anything faster as a bonus, not the plan.
A realistic budget range, not a single number. Melbourne fitouts run roughly $450 to $800 per sqm for a basic refresh, $800 to $1,500 for a mid-range fitout, and $1,500 to $2,800+ for a premium build with custom joinery and branded finishes. Geelong tends to sit 10 to 20 percent below Melbourne for comparable scope. Know which tier you're in before you start asking for quotes, or every number you get back will look wrong.
Before design starts
Headcount and growth plan. Not just today's headcount — where you'll be in two to three years. A fitout sized exactly for current staff numbers with no slack is the fastest way to end up hiring a second fitout provider sooner than planned.
Adjacency requirements. Which teams need to sit near each other, which need separation, where the meeting rooms and quiet spaces go. This is a conversation with whoever actually runs day-to-day operations, not just whoever signs off on budget — they know where the current layout actually breaks down.
Power and data audit, especially in older buildings. Older Melbourne CBD tenancies often have cabling and distribution boards left over from a previous tenant that don't suit a modern layout. Get this checked early; discovering it during the electrical rough-in adds cost and time you didn't budget for.
Before you order anything
Long-lead furniture, ordered with the design — not after the build starts. Quality task chairs, height-adjustable desks and acoustic pods regularly carry four to eight week lead times. If furniture decisions wait until the walls are up, you'll either delay handover or move into an office with borrowed chairs.
IT and AV scheduling against the electrical program. Data cabling, access points and meeting room AV need to be coordinated with the rough-in stage, not bolted on after furniture arrives. Confirm who owns this — your IT provider, the fitout contractor, or both — before week one.
Joinery and custom finishes. A laminate kitchen is a stock item. A stone-top breakout kitchen or a custom-veneer boardroom table is a fabrication job with its own lead time, often four to six weeks. Decide on these early, because they're usually the first thing that gets rushed when a timeline slips.
Before the build starts
A buffer week. A fitout with zero contingency is really a longer fitout the moment one delivery runs late — and something usually does. Build the buffer into the schedule Michael's team gives you, don't treat it as an optional extra.
Occupied-building logistics, if staff stay on site. Dust control, noise scheduling, after-hours trades and temporary partitioning need to be written into the program from day one if your team keeps working through construction. Retrofitting these mid-project costs more than planning for them upfront.
A defect and snag week before go-live. Don't assume day one is move-in ready. Book a proper snag list review before handover so problems get fixed before staff arrive, not after.
The one question that catches people out
If you can't answer "when do the chairs need to be ordered by" with an actual date, you don't have a fitout timeline — you have a hope. Most of the checklist above exists to turn that hope into a schedule someone can actually be held to.
Where this fits with cost and timeline planning
This checklist works alongside two other things you'll need early: a realistic cost range for your square metreage and a timeline mapped to your actual move-in date, not a generic industry average. If you're still working out what a fitout actually involves stage by stage, that's covered separately too.
Get the checklist turned into a schedule
A checklist tells you what to sort. It doesn't tell you in what order, or what happens when two items collide — like when the landlord consent is still pending and your furniture lead time is already ticking. That's what a Melbourne or Geelong office fitout consultation is for: we walk the space, work through the list against your actual move-in date, and tell you honestly where the risk sits before you commit to a contractor.
Book a free site visit and we'll turn this checklist into a schedule with real dates against it.
FAQ
How far ahead should I start this checklist before a planned move-in date? For an 8-week standard fitout, start eight to ten weeks out. For a full 12-week commercial fitout, start at least three months ahead so long-lead furniture and joinery aren't the thing holding up handover.
What's the single most common item people miss? Furniture lead times. Chairs, height-adjustable desks and acoustic pods are treated as an afterthought when they should be ordered alongside the design, not after the walls go up.
Do I need a full design consultation, or is a checklist enough? If your project is under $20,000 or you already know exactly what you want, a direct fitout quote usually covers it. Bigger or more complex projects benefit from a proper space plan first, since the checklist only works if the layout behind it is already right.
Who should own the landlord approval process — us or the fitout contractor? Whoever manages the landlord relationship day to day, usually you or your tenant rep, should confirm requirements early. A good fitout contractor will then prepare the actual submission pack — drawings, insurances, inductions — so you're not chasing paperwork mid-project.
What happens if I skip the buffer week? Nothing, until a delivery slips — which happens on most projects at least once. Without a buffer, that single delay pushes your entire move-in date rather than absorbing into slack that was already planned for.
