Whole-house fit-out landed in Melbourne

The whole-house fit-out we priced

A four-bedroom house: kitchen, laundry, wardrobes, vanities, stone, tiles, tapware and sanitary ware, internal doors and lighting, from three or four factories consolidated in Foshan.

Landed in Melbourne, line by line

Every line from the factory gate to your site. Low, middle and high use the low, middle and high of every published rate at once. Estimate: no delivered Elje job sits behind this figure yet.

Against Melbourne prices

Supply only is the fair comparison with a landed price; installed prices include labour, which you pay either way.

The local figures are built up room by room from published cost guides (kitchen, two bathrooms and an ensuite, laundry, about 10 metres of wardrobes, 150 m2 of floor tile), then the goods share is taken at 55 to 65 percent of the installed total. No published survey prices a whole fit-out by city.

No city fit-out source; national figure used. RLB Riders Digest 2026 (Q4 2025 rates, ex GST) custom-built single and double storey dwellings in Melbourne: $2,700 to $6,900 per m2 GFA.

Is it worth it?

Usually, and by most at a mid to high spec. About $77,003 landed in Melbourne against roughly $75,000 to $175,000 for the same goods locally. At the bottom of that local range a budget fit-out costs about the same as landed; at the spec Elje prices (2-pac, stone, brand-level tapware) the gap is tens of thousands, because one container, one customs entry and one set of Elje fees carry the whole house. Estimate.

The Melbourne market

Melbourne sits about 5 percent above Brisbane on the cost index, level with Perth. Rider Levett Bucknall forecasts a flat 4 percent a year rise in building costs, the gentlest of the capitals. Stone fabricators charge 15 to 20 percent more per metre than in Brisbane or Adelaide, and Melbourne's big tile houses do not publish online prices.

How it gets to Melbourne

Foshan factory to Nansha, Shekou or Yantian, a direct service to the Port of Melbourne, then a short run to the suburbs.

Australia's busiest container port, with terminals at Swanson Dock (DP World, Patrick) and Webb Dock (VICT), a few kilometres from the city.

Outer suburbs and growth corridors: container at the kerb. Inner suburbs: depot unpack and a small truck is usually easier.

What moves the number

• 20 ft or 40 ft. A typical four-bedroom fit-out of joinery, stone, tiles and tapware fits a 20 ft container. Add internal doors and more joinery and it needs a 40 ft, which adds about $4,500 landed at October 2026 rates.
• How many factories. Every factory means a pre-shipment inspection, about US$240 to US$310 a day.
• Consolidation. Goods from several factories are gathered at one Foshan warehouse and go in one container, under one customs entry.
• Freight timing. Carriers have announced rate increases from November 2026. The rate is set when the container is booked, not when you order.
• Elje's fees are the same whatever the size: $990 for the Project Plan and 2 percent of the order for Assured.

What it has to comply with

• One shipment, many rules: WaterMark and WELS for plumbing, AS 4586 slip ratings for tiles, illegal logging due diligence for timber and board, RCM for anything electrical, ISPM 15 for timber packaging.
• Aluminium windows and doors from China attract anti-dumping and countervailing deposits from 15 October 2026 that a certificate of origin does not remove. Price them separately.
• Nearly every fit-out product is Free of duty from China with a ChAFTA certificate of origin; without one, most are 5 percent.

Notes for Melbourne

Cool and changeable. Kitchens and bathrooms run cooler and drier than in Queensland, so standard moisture-resistant board in wet rooms is normal.

• Melbourne gets the most sailings from South China of any Australian port, so there is more choice of vessel and shared container.
• Inner-city Victorian and Edwardian houses have narrow side lanes and laneway access. Plan the delivery before the container is booked.
• Plumbing and building practitioners are registered with the Victorian building regulator. Imported certified products are installed the same way as local ones.

Questions