Fitting out an office, shop, cafe, clinic, gym or warehouse office? You’ll often need a commercial fit out permit in Melbourne before work starts, because a fit-out usually changes more than finishes. New partitions affect exits, new ceilings affect fire services, and new toilets or entries affect access for people with disability.
Our building surveyors help business owners, landlords, designers and builders work through the building permit. We check the use and building classification, flag what the base building needs, issue the permit and carry out the inspections through to the occupancy permit or certificate of final inspection.
Building work, including alterations, needs a building permit unless an exemption applies. The Building Regulations 2018 exempt some alterations, but only where the work won’t:
Many commercial fit-outs touch at least one of these. New offices and partitions change the paths to exits, new ceilings move detectors and sprinkler heads, and a commercial kitchen or mezzanine adds complexity. A change of use needs careful assessment too. Send us your layout and we’ll confirm whether a permit is required.
Every building, or part of one, has a classification under the National Construction Code (NCC). Common fit-out classes include:
Turning an office into a cafe changes the classification, and a building must not be used for a purpose other than the one it’s approved for. The regulations let the building surveyor decide how far the existing building must be upgraded for its new use.
An occupancy permit records a building’s approved use and classification. If your building permit says one is required, the tenancy can’t be occupied until it’s issued. For commercial buildings, it also lists the essential safety measures the owner must maintain, and how often each must be inspected and tested.
Where no occupancy permit is required, you’ll receive a certificate of final inspection instead. Either way, build the final inspection into your opening date and have plumbing and other compliance certificates from your trades ready, because the building surveyor needs the documents your permit calls for before signing off the work.
Fit-out problems are cheapest to solve on paper. Our process is designed to surface issues early, ideally before you sign a lease, order joinery or book trades for your opening date.
Share the address, current and proposed use, floor plans (a sketch is fine at first), the landlord’s fit-out guide and any planning permit. We’ll quote and flag early risks, such as a change of use.
We confirm the classification, then check exits, fire safety, access for people with disability, toilets and energy efficiency, and tell you what the design or the base building needs to comply.
Once the documents comply, any required planning permit is in place and the government building permit levy has been paid, we issue your building permit and lodge it with council.
We carry out the mandatory inspections listed on your permit, review your trades’ compliance certificates, then complete the final inspection and issue your occupancy permit or certificate of final inspection.
Every type of fit-out has its own pressure points. Common examples:
We also work on childcare centres and other commercial building projects.
New fit-out work must meet the Disability (Access to Premises – Buildings) Standards 2010. The standards can also require an “affected part” to be upgraded: the principal pedestrian entrance and the accessible path from it to the new work. Under a lessee concession, a tenant fitting out part of a building with more than one occupant generally isn’t required to upgrade that affected part.
Exits, exit signs, emergency lighting and sprinklers are examples of essential safety measures. The owner must keep them maintained and prepare an annual essential safety measures report, and council or the fire brigade can ask to see the records.
A building permit can’t be issued until any planning permit the project needs has been obtained, and the building permit must be consistent with it. Depending on the zone and overlays, a new use, business signage, a liquor licence or reduced car parking may need a planning permit. Check with council’s planning department before you sign a lease.
It’s also worth confirming which edition of the NCC applies. Victoria adopted NCC 2025 on 1 May 2026, and projects whose design was already under way before then may be able to use the previous edition, so tell us where your design is up to.
JLN Building Consultants is a building surveying consultancy based in Niddrie, in Melbourne’s north-west. Our directors bring over 20 years of combined experience across construction and building surveying, and our commercial work ranges from offices, shops and cafes to warehouses, schools and childcare centres.
Tell us about the tenancy before you sign, and we’ll flag classification, access and fire safety questions while there’s still time to raise them with the landlord.
Common questions about commercial fit-out and change of use permits.
Often, yes. New partitions, offices, ceilings or kitchenettes can affect exits, fire detection, sprinklers or access, which takes the work outside the exemption for minor alterations. Purely cosmetic work such as painting, carpet and loose furniture usually doesn’t need a permit. Send us the proposed layout and we’ll confirm what applies.
It’s when a building or tenancy is used for a different purpose from the one it’s approved for, particularly where that changes its NCC classification, such as an office becoming a cafe (Class 5 to Class 6). The new use can bring different requirements for exits, fire safety, access and toilets, and may need a planning permit too.
Usually not the whole building. The access standards apply to your new work and can require an upgrade to the principal pedestrian entrance and the path to your tenancy. Where a tenant fits out a leased part of a building with more than one occupant, a lessee concession means that upgrade generally isn’t required. We’ll confirm how it applies to your building.
Only if your project needs one, but if it does, it must be obtained first. The building surveyor can’t issue a building permit until any required planning permit is in place, and the two must be consistent. Our guide to building permits vs planning permits explains the difference.
The site address and tenancy number, the current and proposed use, existing and proposed floor plans (a sketch is fine to start), a description of the works, the estimated cost of works and the landlord’s fit-out guide if there is one. Details of the existing occupancy permit and fire services help us give you a firmer quote.
Send us your layout, lease details and planned opening date, and we’ll tell you what your fit-out needs before you commit. Request a free quote, call 0422 234 951 or email info@jlnconsultants.com.au.
