Open My Business — Pre-Lease Checklist
8 critical areas to assess before you commit to a site — built from 35 years of opening shops, bars, cafes and restaurants. Most lease mistakes are visible before you sign. If you know what to look for.
Why this checklist exists
Over 35 years designing and opening physical venues, the same problems come up constantly. Someone finds a site they love, gets caught up in the excitement, and signs before they've properly understood what they're committing to.
The services upgrade nobody budgeted for. The approval that took three times as long as expected. The lease clause that nobody explained properly. The trading restriction that changed the whole concept.
Almost all of it was visible before the lease was signed — if someone had known what to look for.
This checklist exists to give you that second set of eyes before you commit. It covers the 8 critical areas where founders consistently get into trouble — so you go into the conversation with your eyes open.
Where people get burned
The three moments that matter most
This is where most expensive decisions get made — often without enough information. The lease, the site, the services, the approvals pathway. This checklist is built for this moment.
The fitout, the contractor, the services trades, the approvals. Everything that flows from the lease decision. Getting the lease right makes everything that follows easier.
Suppliers, staffing, systems, launch. These are the stages where a well-negotiated lease and a clear approval pathway give you the breathing room to open properly — not just open.
What's in the checklist
Commercial suitability, visibility, access, shape and whether the site genuinely supports the concept — not just the postcode.
Rent, outgoings, option periods, review mechanisms, fitout periods, rent-free periods and contribution conditions.
Bond, bank guarantee and personal guarantee requirements — and how they affect cash flow at the worst possible moment.
Electrical, plumbing, drainage, gas, air-conditioning — the services questions most founders ask too late.
Use restrictions, zoning, trading hours, signage limitations and precinct conditions that can fundamentally change the concept.
DA, signage, building and code approvals — and the timing risks that blow budgets and delay openings before trading begins.
Amendments, obligations, make good, assignment, default and exit rights. What your lawyer needs to check before you sign.
Fitout complexity, approval costs, service upgrades, signage and the cash flow pressure that arrives before you've taken a single dollar.
Get the free checklist
Not sure about a site? About to enter lease negotiations? This checklist covers the eight critical areas you need to assess before you commit — built from the same 35 years of experience as the full guides.
Free instant download. No credit card required.
Once you've confirmed a site, the Open My Business planning guides take you through everything that comes next — from $67.
A pre-lease checklist for anyone opening a cafe, shop, bar or restaurant
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Years of experience
Who built this
This checklist was built from 35 years of designing and opening physical venues — hundreds of real projects, with real budgets, real approvals and real consequences when the lease decision went wrong.
Most of the problems that cost founders money in the first year of a physical business are visible at the lease stage — if you know what to look for. This checklist is the starting point. The full Open My Business planning guides take you through everything that comes next.
View the planning guides →What comes next
Once the site is confirmed, the real work begins. Each Open My Business planning guide takes you from site confirmed through to open doors — step by step, in the right order, for your specific venue type.
Cafe
Espresso bar, equipment, health approvals, fitout, suppliers and launch — everything a first-time cafe operator needs.
Retail
Layout, visual merchandising, fitout, supplier setup and launch — a complete system for opening a retail shop that trades well.
Bar
Licensing, services, bar design and fitout — where the compliance and design requirements are more complex than most.
Restaurant
Kitchen design, health approvals, front-of-house flow and full launch readiness — everything a first-time restaurant operator needs.