Taking an ecommerce brand into its first physical store the same question early: how do you set the budget, and how do you keep it there? Without a previous store to compare it against, the importance of getting the categories right from the beginning cannot be underestimated. 

Scope first, budget second

You can’t set a budget until the scope is fixed. A refresh of an existing space and a from-scratch build are two different jobs with two different price tags, and the gap between them is usually bigger than people expect. 

A handful of things blow the budget out more than anything else: 

Size of the space. More square metres means more materials, more labour and a longer program, that’s straightforward enough. What’s less obvious is that a small format still needs the same core systems as a larger one, so cost doesn’t scale down neatly. Shopfront considerations and how involved the design is can also dramatically impact total spend. Sometimes the smaller store costs more per square metre than expected. 

Location. Building a site in an Australia or New Zealand CBD with restricted loading dock access and centre-imposed after-hours rules may cost more to build than a suburban strip shop with the same floor area. Freight and trade access change with the postcode, not just the state.

Store type. A boutique clothing store, a pop-up perfume store and an accessories store are pricing three different things: fitting rooms and lighting for one, fixtures built to go up fast and come down again for the pop-up, and secure display cabinetry for the third. 

Materials and finishes. The gap between a standard finish and a premium one is real, and it’s exactly where a first budget tends to drift without anyone noticing until it’s harder to walk back. Fix the finish level early rather than deciding it store by store. 

Labour. Trades price differently by state and by how compressed the program is. Night work in a live, trading centre costs more than the same job in a vacant strip shop during business hours. We’ll dive further into that below. 

What’s in a retail fitout budget

Base build and landlord works. In most shopping centres in Australia and New Zealand, the landlord delivers a base level of services: sprinklers, air conditioning capacity, structure, sometimes called Cat 1 works. Everything from there, including partition walls, suspended ceilings, flooring and any structural alteration, sits on the tenant side of the line. Confirm which side of that split applies to your site before pricing anything else. It’s the single biggest swing factor in a retail budget, and the easiest one to get wrong on a first store. 

Demolition and site preparation. Very few spaces arrive ready to build in. Clearing the existing fitout is a line item, not a given.

Shopfront and signage. External glazing, shutters, entry doors, illuminated branding.

Mechanical, electrical and plumbing. Lighting, power, data cabling for point of sale (POS), HVAC. Add specialist plumbing if there’s a cafe or food component.

Joinery and fixtures. Shelving, display units, cashier desks, fitting room furniture.

Professional fees and approvals. Design and engineering fees, authority permits, landlord supervision costs.

Soft costs and contingency. Project management, out-of-hours labour premiums, an end-of-lease make-good reserve, and the 10 to 15 percent buffer.

What’s usually excluded: the base building structure itself, structural columns, central fire services to the tenancy boundary, and the primary building plant. That side stays the landlord’s.

Typical share of budget by category 

Treat this as a starting reference rather than a fixed rule: 

Cost category	What’s included	Typical share of budget
Base build and landlord works	Structural alterations, partition walls, suspended ceilings, flooring	15-20%
Demolition and site preparation	Clearing the existing fitout, prepping the shell	5-10%
Shopfront and signage	External glazing, shutters, entry doors, illuminated branding	5-10%
Mechanical, electrical and plumbing	Lighting, power, data cabling for POS, HVAC, specialist plumbing where relevant	20-30%
Joinery and fixtures	Shelving, display units, cashier desks, fitting room furniture	15-25%
Professional fees and approvals	Design and engineering fees, authority permits, landlord supervision	8-15%
Soft costs and contingency	Project management, out-of-hours labour premiums, make-good reserve, 10-15% contingency	10-15%

These bands move a lot by project type. A flagship with heavy joinery skews toward fixtures. A base-building-heavy site with old services skews toward mechanical, electrical and plumbing. Use this to sense-check a quote’s shape, not as a target to hit. 

Where a retail fitout budget goes wrong

Pricing before the drawings are locked. A budget built against a floor plan sketch tends to turn into a series of expensive variations once real drawings exist. 

Design changes after construction starts. A change is cheap on paper before anyone has broken ground, and expensive once trades are already on site. 

Overlooked infrastructure. Electrical upgrades, data cabling, accessibility requirements and fire compliance have a habit of surfacing late, usually right after the wall that should have carried them is already closed. 

Treating POS, security and network cabling as a separate project from the build. It isn’t. It needs to go in before the ceiling closes, not after someone remembers it exists. 

Budgeting freight and installation as if the fixture arrives by itself. Specialised transport and dedicated install labour are their own cost, separate from the object being moved. 

No contingency. Skipping the buffer leaves a project exposed the first time a site condition surprises someone, and a site condition always surprises someone. 

Night work. Centre trading hours force after-hours installation, and after-hours labour costs more than daylight labour. A program costed on daytime rates is already wrong before it starts. 

How Storepro prices a fitout

Most of our team came from retail before they came to construction. We’ve managed stores and delivered rollouts ourselves, which changes what you notice in a budget before it becomes a problem on site.

Storepro’s approach is cost development, not cost estimation. Pricing happens against finished drawings, not a floor plan sketch. Quotes get compared across more than one supplier before a number is locked in. The contingency line gets built around the specific risks of a site, not a flat industry percentage.

Once the build starts, the same categories keep tracking. A variation shows up against the item it belongs to the week it happens, not at the final invoice. One point of contact carries the number through the project, so a question about where things stand has one person to ask, not a chain of subcontractors to chase.

For a first store, with nothing to compare it against, that discipline is what turns an estimate into a number a business case can be built on, and keeps it one worth trusting once the build starts.

Let’s talk about what you’re trying to deliver.

Frequently asked questions

What’s included in a retail fitout budget in Australia or New Zealand? 

Base build and landlord works, demolition and site preparation, shopfront and signage, mechanical and electrical services, joinery and fixtures, professional fees and approvals, and soft costs including contingency. The base building structure itself is usually excluded, since that stays the landlord’s responsibility in most Australian shopping centres. 

How much contingency should a retail fitout budget include? 

10 to 15 percent, set aside before the project starts rather than added in after a site condition causes a problem. 

What’s the biggest cost driver in a retail fitout? 

Services (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) and labour typically move the budget more than any other category, which is why infrastructure and compliance need to be scoped early rather than assumed. 

Does a retail fitout budget change by location in Australia? 

Yes. A CBD site with restricted loading dock access and centre-imposed after-hours rules costs more to build than a similar suburban store, before any finishes are chosen.