Project Value Planner · Melbourne & Victoria
Four things shape how a building project works out for you: what the work costs, how long it takes, what the finished space can earn or is worth, and what risk it leaves behind. Most quotes only cover the first.
These free calculators let you test the other three with your own figures, and we are happy to walk through them with you before you commit. The results are estimates to help you plan — they are not a forecast or a promise of any return.
or run your own numbers — four calculators, no email required
At typical 5–7% cap rates, every extra $1 of net rent is roughly $14–$20 of capital value.
02Your risk isn't the build cost. It's the variance and the date.
03Days to trade, and how long a fitout takes to pay for itself.
04The real question is renovate or move — and moving costs more than people think.
05Demolition is rarely the deciding number. The 7-star rule and the planning path usually are.
Third-party market data as at the dates shown. General market context, not a representation about your property.
The mechanism
Usually not, because a low price that moves costs more than a realistic one that holds.
Variations, provisional sums that land badly and mid-build re-scoping are where feasibilities die. We price scope in full at tender, name the exclusions in writing, and run a documented variation process so nothing arrives unannounced.
Ask any builder for their percentage of projects completed within the original contract sum. If they can't answer, that's the answer.
Every week of program is a week of rent, trading revenue or holding cost.
Every week of program is a week of rent, trading revenue or holding cost. That is why a realistic, well-run program can matter as much as the price on the tender.
Escalation works the same way. At RLB's forecast 4.0% a year for Melbourne, every month a start is delayed adds cost before a trade sets foot on site.
Yes, and in commercial property the gap is measurable.
CBRE reports office rents 2–4% higher for each notch of higher NABERS rating within a CBD, and a 7% occupancy advantage for 5.5- and 6-star buildings over their 4-star peers.
Fitted space is also moving faster than empty space. In a Melbourne CBD at 18.9% vacancy with incentives near 50%, the fitout is not a cost centre. It is the leasing strategy.
It costs you at refinance, sale, lease expiry or claim — the four moments you cannot postpone.
Defects, non-compliant work, an unresolved make good, a permit never closed out. We hand over a documented pack — warranties, as-builts, compliance certificates — because that pack is what protects the value you just paid to create.
Four positions
We work with all four. The construction is often similar; the number we optimise for is not.
At typical 5–7% cap rates, each extra dollar of sustainable net annual rent is roughly $14 to $20 of capital value — every property is valued on its own facts.
Commercial property is valued off income: value ≈ net annual income ÷ cap rate. An upgrade that lifts sustainable net rent adds to capital value from day one of the new lease, not over the life of the works.
What we do: amenities upgrades, cladding replacement, leak and defect rectification in high-rise, make good and defit, tenancy fitouts and spec suites, insurance repairs.
Optimising for: net rent ÷ cap rate
A feasibility built on a number that moves 12% is not a feasibility.
We come in at the front end — town planning, subdivision, design and construct, procurement — so the figure in your model is one a builder has stood behind, and the program has a critical path with names against it.
We already sit in feasibility meetings alongside architects, engineers, building surveyors, interior designers, real estate agencies and developers.
Optimising for: variance and date certainty
The payback clock starts the day you open, not the day you sign.
Fit-out cost per square metre varies widely by sector. Office, medical, pharmacy, childcare, hospitality and retail all run to different numbers, and your site, base building and council will move them again.
We also scope your make good at the start of the lease, not the end. An unfunded make good found in the final year is one of the most avoidable losses in commercial tenancy.
Optimising for: payback months
Moving has its own price, and none of it ends up in an asset you keep.
Land transfer duty, agent's commission, legal fees, removalists. A renovation budget goes into the property you already own. Price the move honestly with the Victorian SRO duty calculator, then compare it against a real priced scope.
What we do: alterations and additions, full renovations, architectural and luxury homes, townhouses, and — where the land supports it — town planning and subdivision.
Optimising for: unrecoverable cost avoided
The other decision
The decision is not about the age of the house. It is about how much of what you are paying for you actually get to keep. Here is the arithmetic, and the Victorian rules that change it.
When the house has good bones and the change you want is additive, not corrective.
When the renovation is really a reconstruction, or the thing you want can't be reached from the existing plan.
Demolition is usually a smaller number than people expect, and hazardous material is usually the variable that moves it.
The cost of demolishing a house depends on its size and construction, site access, and above all whether hazardous materials such as asbestos are present. A demolition building permit is also needed. Get a site-specific price before you set a budget.
Site access, foundation type, tree removal, service disconnections and disposal fees move all of these. On a Melbourne knockdown rebuild, demolition is rarely the reason the numbers do or don't work — the new build cost and the planning path decide it.
Asbestos is a live consideration on most Victorian houses built before the late 1980s. Assume it is there until a licensed assessor says otherwise.
In Victoria, a new home needs a minimum 7-star NatHERS rating and must meet a Whole of Home annual energy use budget. A renovation or extension does not trigger that standard.
The requirement became mandatory for homes with a building permit issued on or after 1 May 2024; homes permitted before that date are exempt. The Whole of Home budget covers fixed appliances — heating, cooling, hot water, lighting, pool and spa pumps — and can be met by combining better-than-minimum thermal performance, efficient appliances and on-site solar. Solar is not mandatory; it is one way to offset the remaining energy use (Victorian Government).
Read it both ways, because it cuts both ways. Against rebuilding: a new home carries a compliance cost a renovation of the same value does not. For rebuilding: you end up with a house that costs materially less to run, with a rating a buyer or valuer can see — where a renovation leaves you the thermal performance of whatever you kept.
Three things, and all of them are cheaper to find out about before you buy or budget than after.
Melbourne currently has the lowest forecast construction cost escalation of the Australian capitals.
Rider Levett Bucknall's Q1 2026 update puts Melbourne's Tender Price Index at 4.0% for 2025 and a forecast 4.0% for each of 2026 through 2029 — the most modest of the Australian cities, with labour shortages, mega-project overruns and a limited Tier 1 subcontractor pool named as the pressures behind it. Deferring a rebuild has a cost of its own, and it can be more than the deferral was meant to save.
Market context
Published third-party data, each source and date named. Not our figures, and not forecasts for your property — the conditions any Victorian project is being priced into right now.
| Figure | What it measures | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 4.0% p.a. | Melbourne Tender Price Index — 2025 actual and forecast for each year 2026–2029, the lowest of the Australian capitals. | Rider Levett Bucknall, Q1 2026 |
| 2–4% | Higher office rent for each notch of higher NABERS rating within a CBD. 5.5- and 6-star buildings also hold a 7% occupancy advantage over 4-star peers. | CBRE Australia |
| 18.9% | Melbourne CBD office vacancy, July 2026, with incentives of 46.3–49.2% by grade. Modern spec suites under 300 m² are leasing faster than generic fitouts. | Tenant CS, Q2 2026 |
| 4.5–8.0% | Indicative Australian yields by sector — medical from 4.5%, large-format retail to 8.0%. In the common 5–7% band, $1 of sustainable net annual rent is worth roughly $14–$20 of capital value. | Bold Property Group, 12 Apr 2026 |
| 7 stars | Minimum NatHERS rating for new Victorian homes, plus a Whole of Home annual energy budget. Applies to building permits issued on or after 1 May 2024. Renovations and extensions are not caught. | Victorian Government, from May 2024 |
Third-party data, current as at 7 September 2026. Next review 7 March 2027.
Run the numbers
These do arithmetic on figures you enter. They are not valuations, forecasts, quotes or advice — they exist so you can pressure-test an idea before you spend a day on it. Enter your own figures to see a result. No email required.
Enter your own figures in every box to see a result.
Estimate only, from the figures entered. Not a valuation, forecast or quote.
Enter your own figures in every box to see a result.
Estimate only, from the figures entered. Not a valuation, forecast or quote.
Enter your own figures in every box to see a result.
Estimate only, from the figures entered. Not a valuation, forecast or quote.
Enter your own figures in every box to see a result.
Estimate only, from the figures entered. Not a valuation, forecast or quote.
Method
This sequence is the order of operations — each step depends on the one before it.
What the asset has to earn, by when, and what constrains it. Before drawings, before rates.
Not to a wish list. We tell you where money changes the return and where it only changes the invoice.
Provisional sums named, not buried. You should be able to hand our price to your accountant without a translator.
Long-lead items, approvals and inspections mapped, because the date is a financial input, not a courtesy.
Warranties, as-builts and compliance documentation — so the value survives due diligence, refinance or sale.
Then the useful question is whether the quote holds.
Send it to us with the drawings and we will tell you, at no charge, where we think it will move and what it excludes. If it is a good number, we will say so — that is a better outcome for you than a second tender you didn't need.
Standing
Independent, privately owned, Melbourne-based. Established 2023, with a leadership team that has been doing this a lot longer.
Whole-of-project capability under one roof: town planning, subdivision, design and construct, procurement, project management, commercial fitout, defit and make good, renovations, extensions, knockdown rebuilds, and insurance building repairs. Standing relationships with architects, engineers, building surveyors, interior designers, real estate agencies and property developers. The majority of our work comes from word-of-mouth referrals.
Collective industry experience across the leadership team
Projects completed · 6+ live
Housing Industry Association member
Trusted trade partners across Victoria
Definitions
Plain definitions for the words that do the work in a return conversation.
Questions
Thirty minutes, no drawings required. We'll tell you what the construction side of your return looks like — including when we think it isn't there.
The content on this page is general information only. It has been prepared without regard to any person's objectives, financial situation or needs. It is not financial product advice, investment advice, taxation advice, legal advice, a valuation, a property report, or an offer or inducement to enter into any transaction.
AxisPro Constructions Pty Ltd is a building and construction company. It is not a licensed financial adviser, licensed real estate agent, certified practising valuer, tax agent or legal practitioner, and it does not hold an Australian Financial Services Licence. Before making any investment, purchase, leasing, taxation or construction decision, you should obtain independent advice from appropriately licensed and qualified professionals and consider your own circumstances.
Calculators and worked examples. All calculators, scenarios and example figures on this page are illustrative and based on assumptions you enter or that we have stated. They are simplified: they do not account for GST, income tax, capital gains tax, land tax, finance and interest costs, vacancy, leasing incentives, agent and professional fees, statutory charges, escalation, contingency or market movement. Actual outcomes will differ. No result produced on this page is a valuation, forecast, projection, quotation, or a representation that any particular return, rent, value, saving or timeframe will be achieved.
Third-party data. This page cites third-party market data, with each source and date named where used. That data was published by third parties, has not been independently verified by AxisPro, relates to the periods and markets stated, and may since have changed. It is included as general market context, not as a representation about your property.
Building and planning information. Statements about energy rating requirements, heritage controls, demolition approvals and building permits describe Victorian rules as at the date below and are general in nature. They are not planning or building advice for any particular site. Your building surveyor, town planner and the relevant council are the authorities for your property.
Costs and programs. Any cost, rate, area or program information is indicative and subject to site conditions, design development, scope, availability, statutory approvals and market pricing at the time. Nothing on this page constitutes a quotation, tender, estimate or offer capable of acceptance. Prices are binding only when set out in a signed written contract.
No guarantee of outcome. Past projects are not an indication of future results. AxisPro does not guarantee any financial return, valuation, rental, sale, approval or completion outcome arising from information on this page.
Your rights. Your rights are not affected: nothing on this page excludes, restricts or modifies any guarantee, right or remedy you may have under the Australian Consumer Law or the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 (Vic) that cannot lawfully be excluded. Subject to that, and to the extent the law permits, AxisPro Constructions Pty Ltd (ABN 23 670 453 906) is not liable for loss or damage arising from reliance on the general information on this page. Use of this website is subject to our Terms of Use.
Information current as at 7 September 2026. AxisPro Constructions Pty Ltd · 85 Bell Street, Coburg VIC 3058 · 1800 294 777 · info@axispro.com.au
