Shop & Office Defit in Gold Coast

A shop or office defit, also called a make-good strip out, returns a leased commercial tenancy to the condition your lease requires at end of term, usually a bare shell or the original handover state. Strip It Out provides shop and office defit services across the Gold Coast and Brisbane, working with tenants, landlords and property managers to deliver a clean, on-time handover.

Part of our broader internal strip out and demolition services — see the hub page for the Queensland regulatory framework, process, cost factors and contractor vetting checklist.

A defit typically removes the previous fitout in full: partitions and walls, shopfront joinery and counters, signage and branding, floor coverings, ceiling and lighting changes, and any tenant-installed services. We read your make-good clause carefully, scope the works to match it exactly, and document the result so your bond or handover is signed off without dispute. All waste is removed and the floor is left clean, with concrete grinding available if the slab needs preparing.

What affects the cost of a shop or office defit

Defit pricing depends on the make-good clause and the fitout being removed. The main factors:

• The exact scope your lease specifies: shell, base build, or original condition
• How extensive the existing fitout is
• Centre or building access rules and after-hours requirements
• Patching, painting and ceiling reinstatement, if the lease calls for it

We quote to the clause, in writing, so there is no gap between our scope and what the landlord expects.

How long a shop or office defit takes

Most retail and office defits are completed within one to four days, scheduled around your lease end date and the centre's trading hours. We plan the works backwards from your handover deadline and, where required, work nights or weekends so you hand the keys back on time and stop paying rent.

We handle defits for retail shops, offices, food and hospitality tenancies, and professional suites, in shopping centres, strip retail and standalone buildings. For larger or full-interior projects see our commercial strip out service, and for office partition removal as a stand-alone job.

Strip It Out is fully licensed and insured, family-owned, and has handled commercial make-goods across South East Queensland for more than seven years. We coordinate directly with property managers and centre management to keep the handover smooth. Call for a free, fixed-scope defit quote anywhere across the Gold Coast and Brisbane.

Strip Out Services on the Gold Coast

The Gold Coast is home base for Strip It Out. Since 2018 we have been clearing the way for renovations and fit-outs right across the city — Southport, Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach, Main Beach, Labrador, the canal suburbs of Benowa, Bundall, Mermaid Waters and Broadbeach Waters, and the northern beaches through Runaway Bay and Paradise Point.

The city we know best

Operating from the Gold Coast since day one means we know its building stock street by street. The beachfront and near-beach suburbs are dense with high-rise and walk-up apartments where renovation is constant and body-corporate-aware planning is essential. The canal-estate suburbs — Mermaid Waters, Broadbeach Waters, Benowa, Isle of Capri — hold established waterfront homes now well into renovation age. And Southport, the Gold Coast's CBD and health precinct, anchors a steady stream of commercial work.

Residential and commercial, all of it

For homeowners we handle bathroom and kitchen demolition, tile removal, flooring removal, concrete grinding and full residential strip-outs. For business, the Gold Coast's relentless hospitality and retail churn — Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach and Southport especially — keeps us in commercial strip-out and defit work, clearing cafes, restaurants, shops and offices for the next fit-out.

The home-base advantage

Because the Gold Coast is our base, there is no travel surcharge and no waiting — local jobs get the fastest quotes and the prompt scheduling that comes with a crew already in the area every day. As a licensed, insured, family-owned team, we treat every Gold Coast property with care and leave it genuinely trade-ready.

We provide free, fixed-scope written quotes for all strip-out and internal demolition work across the Gold Coast.