The fair way to compare fit-out quotes is to rebuild each one on the same basis: the same drawings, the same allowances, the exclusions priced in and every figure ex GST. Two quotes for the same shop can be tens of thousands of dollars apart, mostly because of what each builder left out or left open.
Once they're evened out, the order often changes. In the worked example below, a quote that looked $29,500 cheaper ends up $3,900 dearer.
Why are two fit-out quotes for the same shop so different?
Mostly because each builder priced a slightly different job. Builders price what the drawings show and assume the rest: one assumes the switchboard can take a new air-conditioner, another allows for a new board.
The biggest swings come from scope. Where the drawings leave something open, every builder fills the gap differently, and where each company priced its own design, you're comparing two different shops (the problem behind what free fit-out design does and doesn't include).
Allowances come next. A provisional sum of $8,000 ex GST for the exhaust and one of $25,000 are both estimates, but the first makes the total look $17,000 better. Then the exclusions: one builder includes after-hours work and waste removal, the other leaves both to you.
The rest is the cost of running the job, which builders call preliminaries. A 2025 University of Melbourne study of Australian contractors notes that the way these costs are priced can lead to significant discrepancies in tender prices.
What should a fit-out quote breakdown show?
An itemised quote puts a price on each part of the work, so you can see where two builders differ. A single lump sum with a page of conditions can't be compared with anything. Ask for at least these lines.
| Line | What it covers | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Preliminaries | Supervision, site set-up, insurance, protection, waste, cleaning | One line, or spread through the trades |
| Strip-out | The old fit-out removed, services made safe | What it assumes about asbestos |
| Walls and ceilings | Partitions, bulkheads, ceilings, fire-rated walls | Quantities match the drawings |
| Electrical | Lighting, power, switchboard, data | Whether a power upgrade is included |
| Plumbing and gas | Basins, hot water, floor wastes, grease trap | Who connects to the building's services |
| Mechanical and fire | Air-conditioning, exhaust, sprinklers, emergency lights | Work reserved for the landlord's contractor |
| Joinery and shopfront | Counters, display joinery, shopfront, signs | A fixed price or an allowance |
| Finishes | Floors, tiling, waterproofing, paint | The products in the specification |
| Equipment | Kitchen, salon, clinic or gym equipment | Supply, installation or connection only |
| Allowances and margin | Every PC item and provisional sum; overheads and profit | The margin added to any increase |
Below the lines, the quote should state the exclusions, the GST basis, the payment stages, how long the price is valid and how long the build takes.
What are PC items and provisional sums?
Both are allowances: amounts in the price for something that can't be priced exactly yet. When the real cost is known, the price is adjusted by the difference, up or down.
A prime cost (PC) item is an allowance to supply a product nobody has chosen yet, such as light fittings or tapware; the installation is usually priced elsewhere. A provisional sum (PS) covers work that can't be measured yet, such as removing asbestos once it has been tested, or a grease line whose route depends on what's under the slab.
Say a quote carries a $12,000 provisional sum (ex GST) for the kitchen exhaust, and the real cost is $19,500. The price goes up by the $7,500 difference, and many contracts let the builder add its margin to that increase. At 15%, that's another $1,125, so you pay $8,625 more than the quote said.
A NSW construction law firm calls "an unrealistically low allowance" the most common pitfall with these items, because it makes a quote look cheaper than it is. In a commercial fit-out, the contract decides how allowances are adjusted and what margin applies, so read that clause before you sign. For each allowance, ask what it covers, whether it includes installation, and whether the figure is realistic. A low allowance only delays the cost.
Which exclusions catch business owners out?
Budgets usually go over on the exclusions. These are the ones that cost small businesses most often; for the full list, with council fees, see what a café or restaurant fit-out costs in Sydney.
Services upgrades
A bigger switchboard, three-phase power, a larger gas meter or a new sewer or grease line. One Sydney hospitality shopfitter's published estimator leaves out structural changes, sewer or grease lines to the street and landlord switchboard upgrades. Ask early whether the building can supply what you need, and who pays if it can't.
Authority fees and the long service levy
Council, certifier and Sydney Water fees are paid to the authority, and most builders exclude them. On building work of $250,000 or more (including GST), the NSW long service levy of 0.25% applies, and work can only start once it's paid. Check which quote includes it.
After-hours work
Shopping centres and office buildings often allow noisy work and deliveries only outside trading hours. One national centre landlord's 2025 fit-out requirements say exactly that. Ask each builder how many nights it has allowed for.
The centre's own requirements
A shopping centre usually sets a standard of construction in its fit-out guide, and the NSW Small Business Commissioner notes that a tenant doesn't have to carry out fit-out work that the guide leaves out. Some work is reserved for the landlord's contractors, at your cost: in the same landlord's requirements, that includes changing the sprinklers to suit your layout. That work often sits outside every quote, or appears as an allowance in only one.
At Central Eyecare in Punchbowl, the store had to meet the centre's design and tenancy requirements as well as the owner's brief. Send the centre's guide to every builder with the drawings, and ask each one to confirm it has been priced.
Equipment
Fridges, coffee machines, salon basins, treatment beds, gym machines. Many builders price only the connections. For every piece, write down who supplies, installs and connects it.
Asbestos
A workplace built before 31 December 2003 must have an asbestos register, so ask the landlord for it before you ask for quotes. Friable asbestos, and more than 10 m² of bonded asbestos, must be removed by a licensed professional. If the register shows some, ask every builder to price the removal as a provisional sum.
GST
Some builders quote ex GST, others include it, and a few mix the two. At 10%, $168,500 ex GST is $185,350 including GST, so put every figure on one basis before you compare.
Where are the margin and preliminaries in a fit-out quote?
Preliminaries are the costs of the job itself rather than of any one trade: the site supervisor, setting up and protecting the site, insurance and permits, waste and the final clean. Some builders show them as one line. Others spread them through the trades, so their electrical price looks dearer and their preliminaries look like nothing. Ask which before you compare trade by trade.
Margin covers the builder's office overheads and profit, shown as a percentage or included in the rates. The margin you most need in writing is the one added to variations and to allowances that go over, because that's the part of the price still open after you sign.
I wouldn't push a builder's margin down to nothing. A builder losing money on a job has every reason to look for variations.
What should the quote say about payment?
The quote, or the contract that comes with it, should set out the deposit, the progress payments and anything held back until the defects period ends. These decide how much of your money the builder holds at any point: a 30% deposit and a 10% deposit on a $180,000 job (ex GST) are $36,000 apart before anything is built.
Progress payments should follow work actually done. Under NSW security of payment law, a builder can claim once a month unless the contract says otherwise. If you disagree with a claim, you have 10 business days to answer with a written payment schedule saying what you'll pay and why, or you're liable for the full amount. Unless the contract sets a shorter time, a claim is due within 15 business days. Have a solicitor read the payment clauses before you sign; our guide to fit-out contracts, variations and progress payments goes through them.
How do you compare fit-out quotes side by side?
A spreadsheet with one column per builder is enough.
- Check that every quote is for the same drawings and specification, by revision number.
- Put every figure on one GST basis. Ex GST is simplest.
- For each allowance, use one realistic figure in every quote (your designer's, a quantity surveyor's or the highest sensible builder's), plus each builder's margin on any increase.
- Price each exclusion that one builder includes and another leaves out.
- Leave out costs no builder includes, such as council fees. They don't change the order.
- Compare the adjusted totals, then what each quote still leaves open.
Take three quotes for the same 80 m² shop in a shopping centre, all on the same drawings. The figures are illustrative, made up to show the method, and all ex GST.
| Builder A | Builder B | Builder C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headline price | $139,000 | $168,500 | $205,000 |
| Joinery: allowance topped up to $28,000, plus margin on the increase | +$16,800 (allowance $14,000, margin 20%) | +$2,200 (allowance $26,000, margin 10%) | $0 (fixed price) |
| Switchboard upgrade at $12,000 | +$12,000 (excluded) | +$7,700 (allowance $5,000, margin 10%) | $0 (included) |
| Centre's sprinkler changes by its contractor, $8,000 | +$8,000 (excluded) | +$8,000 (excluded) | $0 (allowance of $8,000) |
| After-hours work | +$11,000 (normal hours only) | $0 (included) | $0 (included) |
| Waste removal and final clean | +$3,500 (excluded) | $0 (included) | $0 (included) |
| Adjusted total | $190,300 | $186,400 | $205,000 |
Builder A looked $29,500 cheaper than B. Adjusted, it costs $3,900 more, and the gap between the lowest and the highest quote fell from $66,000 to $18,600.
Should you take the cheapest quote?
Take the lowest adjusted total only after you've checked what it still leaves open. In the example, almost nothing in Builder C's price depends on an allowance. With a fixed opening date and rent running, that certainty can be worth $18,600.
Compare the build time too, because every extra week is rent without trading. And look at how each quote was put together. A builder who comes back with questions about your drawings and a clear list of exclusions has read them.
Which questions should you send back to each builder?
Send the same written list to every builder, so the answers line up.
- Which drawing revisions and specification is this price based on?
- Which items are PC items or provisional sums, what does each cover, and is it supply only or supply and install?
- What margin do you add to variations, and to an allowance that goes over?
- What have you excluded, and can you price the exclusions you would normally do?
- How many nights of after-hours work have you allowed for?
- Have you priced the centre's or landlord's requirements, including any work its contractors must do?
- Who supplies, installs and connects each piece of equipment?
- Is the price ex GST, and does it include the long service levy?
- What deposit and payment stages do you propose?
- How long is the price valid, and how many weeks will the build take?
What this means for you
- Get full drawings and a specification before you ask for quotes. If you don't have them yet, our architects can prepare a set that several builders can price.
- Ask the landlord for the asbestos register and, in a centre, the fit-out guide, and send both to every builder with the question list.
- Build the comparison table on one set of allowances, ex GST.
- Choose on the adjusted total, what's still open and the builder.
When our construction team prices a fit-out, the quote lists the inclusions, the exclusions and any provisional sums with their amounts, so it goes straight into the same table as everyone else's. We price drawings you bring, too.
Questions people ask
Do builders charge for fit-out quotes?
Plenty of fit-out builders advertise free quotes, and with complete drawings a quote is normally part of winning the work. A builder may charge for a detailed estimate on incomplete drawings, or for opening up ceilings to check services, so ask before the visit. A free quote on incomplete drawings will be full of allowances, so its total tells you less.
How many fit-out quotes should I get?
Three is usually enough. Beyond four, the comparison takes longer than it saves, and good builders are less keen to price a job they know has gone to six others. Send every builder the same drawings, specification and question list, with one due date, so the answers come back comparable.
Why can't a builder give me a firm price without drawings?
Because it would have to guess the scope and price the guess with a margin for being wrong. Without drawings, every service run, piece of joinery and finish becomes an allowance that can change the final price. A layout and a specification turn most of them into fixed lines, which is also what makes quotes comparable.
Can a quantity surveyor compare the quotes for me?
Yes. A quantity surveyor can check whether the quotes cover the same scope, test the allowances and price the gaps. The NSW Small Business Commissioner suggests that, depending on the cost, it may be worthwhile to have an independent certified quantity surveyor verify the costs of preparing the premises for a fit-out.
Sources
- Fit-outs: who pays?, NSW Small Business Commissioner, checked October 2026
- Understanding the costs of leasing, NSW Small Business Commissioner, checked October 2026
- About Security of Payment for construction contractors, NSW Government, checked October 2026
- Responding to a payment claim made under Security of Payment laws, NSW Government, checked October 2026
- Long service levy, NSW Government, checked October 2026
- Asbestos, SafeWork NSW, checked October 2026
- What are provisional sums and prime cost items in construction?, Coleman Greig Lawyers, 4 September 2023
- Challenges in pricing preliminaries costs for contractors: an Australian case study, O'Leary and Vaz-Serra, University of Melbourne, 2025
- Tenancy fit-out requirements published by a national shopping centre landlord, November 2025
- Café and restaurant fit-out estimator published by a Sydney hospitality shopfitter, 2026
