The stack, not the headline number

Every “how much does a gym cost” article gives you one big number with no source. We publish the stack instead, line by line, each with its provenance and date, because the lines behave differently and the honest answer is a range. Rates below as at 25 July 2026; the cost to open calculator carries the maintained versions.

• Fit-out: roughly $1,500 to $3,000 per m². Vendor-published Compound Fitness fit-out guide 2026, an equipment seller's figure, directional; JLL's ANZ all-sector average sits inside the range.
• Rent, year 1: $144 to $228 per m² per year as a prime industrial benchmark. Published rate Knight Frank, Q1 2026, Melbourne to Western Sydney net face. Incentives ran around 20 to 22%, so negotiate, and your street rent is site specific.
• Security: 3 to 6 months of rent plus GST as a bank guarantee. Published rate Sprintlaw, AU commercial lease practice; the ACT caps at 3 months by statute. Held, not spent, but it is capital you must have.
• Insurance, year 1: roughly $1,000 to $10,000. Vendor-published gyminsurance.com.au; staffed versus 24/7 is the big driver, and landlords increasingly demand $20M public liability.
• Soft costs: 8 to 15% of the build, design, approvals, project management. Published rate Bhumi TI cost guide.
• Contingency: 5 to 10% of the build. Published rate same source. Slabs, services and councils produce surprises.
• Equipment: a placeholder until a real RFQ comes back. No range we could print would be honest. Stage 6 covers getting real numbers, and the landed cost calculator turns an FOB quote into a landed one.
• Pre-opening marketing: we model $5,000 to $20,000 and label it modelled, because it is operator specific. Modelled
• Working capital: 3 to 6 months of operating costs, and see below, because this is the line that kills. Modelled

Fund the ramp

The most common fatal budgeting error is not a line that was too low. It is a line that was missing:

Monthly loss × months to break-even = the cash you need on top of the build. Modelled

Members arrive over months, not on opening day, and the cost base lands in full from day one. Budget for six to twelve months before profitability, longer for a large site. Operator experience our experience across real openings, as at August 2026. First-time operators fund the fit-out beautifully and open with nothing behind it, and then a perfectly good gym, filling at a perfectly normal rate, runs out of money in month eight. Add a margin on top, because your ramp will be slower than your forecast. It always is.

Financing it

The equipment line does not have to be cash. Equipment finance, asset finance and rent-to-own structures all exist in the Australian market, and the right one depends on your tax position, your other borrowings and your appetite for personal guarantees, which is exactly why we publish a directory of gym equipment finance options rather than a recommendation. What we cannot tell you is what rate you will get: ask each financier for a written quote on your actual equipment schedule, and ask your accountant which structure suits your position before you sign any of them. Nothing on this page is financial advice.

Who verifies this stage

Your accountant or advisor on the model and the finance structure, and a commercial lease lawyer before the rent and security lines become signatures. Bring them the stack with sources attached; it makes their time cheaper and their answers sharper.