SF-00General arrangement

Shop fitout: fitting out a shop or café

Before a counter is built, a shop or café fit-out has to answer to the lease, the council, the access rules, the food standard and the building code, and at the end of the lease to the make-good clause. This guide, published by Dotto, reads each of them from the official sources, one sheet at a time.

Rules differ between states and councils. Each sheet says whose rule it is, quotes or links the source, and is general information rather than legal or building advice.

Plan of a shop tenancy, keyed to the six sheets A line plan, seen from above, of a small shop tenancy with no dimensions. A dashed lease line runs around the tenancy (1). A circular approval stamp sits at the top right corner (2). The front door in the shopfront along the bottom edge has a dashed path running in from the street (3). At the back, behind a long counter, is a kitchen with a hand basin on its wall (4). A rear door in the back wall carries an exit sign, with a dashed travel line leading to it (5). The shopfront glazing and two internal partitions are hatched to show work to be removed at the end of the lease (6). 1 2 3 4 5 6
  1. 1The lease line: who pays for the fit-out.
  2. 2The stamp: planning and building approval.
  3. 3The front door: access and the Premises Standards.
  4. 4The kitchen: Standard 3.2.3, food premises.
  5. 5The rear exit: exits, signs and emergency lighting.
  6. 6The hatching: what comes out at make-good.

Drawing register

Six sheets, one question each

A joiner’s shop drawing shows how one piece is made, and leaves sizes it cannot know to the site. These sheets work the same way: they carry no prices, dimensions or product names, only the rules each authority sets and where to read them.

  1. SF-01 The fit-out and the retail lease Who pays for the fit-out, and what the lease and disclosure statement have to say about it? Covers NSW, with a Victorian note Sources NSW Small Business Commission
  2. SF-02 Approvals for a fit-out Does the new use or the building work need planning or building approval? Covers NSW, Vic Sources NSW Planning Portal; Victoria’s planning department and Building and Plumbing Commission
  3. SF-03 Access and the Premises Standards When does a fit-out reach the entrance and the path to it, and who must comply? Covers National Sources Disability (Access to Premises - Buildings) Standards 2010
  4. SF-04 Food premises What does Standard 3.2.3 say about floors, walls, hand basins and storage? Covers Australia Sources Food Standards Code; FSANZ
  5. SF-05 Exits and fire safety How far to an exit, and when are exit signs and emergency lighting needed? Covers National, NSW, Vic Sources National Construction Code 2025; Victorian Small Business Commission
  6. SF-06 Make-good at the end of the lease What can the lease ask for when you hand the premises back? Covers NSW, Vic Sources NSW and Victorian small business commissions
Printed architectural floor plans, some rolled and some flat, with a wooden ruler, a wooden set square, an eraser, a blue pen and a red and a blue pencil lying on them.
Plans, a ruler, a set square and a red and a blue pencil. Photo by ds_30 on Pixabay.

Before you sign

Four checks from the official sources

  1. Ask the council about the use

    The NSW Small Business Commission’s advice is to check with the council, before signing, that the premises can be used for your business and which permits you need, and to ask the council’s duty planner about any fit-out, rather than relying on what the landlord says. Victoria’s Small Business Commission asks tenants the same question in its brochure: have you checked that the council allows your intended use? Sheet SF-02.

  2. Read the fit-out lines in the lease and disclosure statement

    In NSW, the disclosure statement must say who pays the costs of preparing the premises for a fit-out, and the lessee must agree in writing to the most it will pay towards them before the lease begins. Sheet SF-01.

  3. Know your building class

    The National Construction Code puts cafés, restaurants and shops in Class 6, and the Premises Standards reach new work in Class 6 buildings. NCC 2025 takes effect on different dates in different states. Sheet SF-05.

  4. Price the end as well as the start

    Victoria’s Small Business Commission asks tenants to budget for fit-out, moving and make-good costs before signing. Sheet SF-06.

About this guide

A guide published by Dotto for people leasing and fitting out a shop, café or other retail or hospitality tenancy. It explains the official rules in plain language and gives the source for each, listed at the foot of every page. It carries no prices, measurements or product recommendations, and it does not replace advice from your council, a certifier or building surveyor, an access consultant, your food enforcement agency or a lawyer for your own lease and premises.

Food businesses in Australia may only use premises and equipment that comply with Standard 3.2.3 of the Food Standards Code. Sheet SF-04 quotes the clauses a fit-out touches.