In stages, cheapest first — a fast screen against the documents that already exist, a deeper evidence pack if the screen passes, a funding review only if the evidence holds. Capital commits last. The point of the order is that a weak deal fails at the first, cheapest stage — exactly where failing should happen.
Each step — deposit, exchange, unconditional, build contract — is harder to reverse than the last; the craft is keeping information ahead of commitment. At Axis that discipline is the Score System: deal named against the nine deal archetypes, scored on five weighted dimensions, evidence graded A/B/C. Here it is in plain language.
What should you check before buying a commercial asset?
Four areas decide most outcomes.
Title, zoning and planning overlays
Start with what the property is allowed to be: order your own title search and read everything registered on it — easements, covenants, agreements that bind future owners. No rent figure survives an unlawful use. In Victoria the vendor's section 32 statement (s32, Sale of Land Act 1962 (Vic); LPLC guidance) discloses but does not analyse — our due diligence and planning permit guides walk the zone and overlay checks.
Income and lease evidence
If there is income, get the executed lease, not the tenancy schedule. Check whether "net" is actually net — who pays land tax, rates, insurance — and which entity signed: the brand on the signage can be a two-dollar company on the lease. Rent you cannot trace to both is not income.
Capital and funding position
Price is one line of the cash stack. Add stamp duty, GST where it applies, borrowing costs and non-recoverable outgoings, then test what happens if the bank's valuation lands below the contract price. Structuring and capital raising belong with licensed advisers.
Exit
Name the buyer who eventually takes this asset off you, and the condition it must be in when they do. A model that needs one specific buyer on one specific date has not found an exit — it has scheduled a coincidence.
Commercial property feasibility red flags
Five flags keep turning up in review work; any one is a reason to stop.
Planning assumed, income asserted, one exit, costs from averages, a study tuned to say yes — the fifth is the parent flag. Its test: could the feasibility ever have said no? If no input could kill the deal, it is decoration, not analysis.
How do you value a commercial property?
Three methods carry most Australian practice: income capitalisation (net income divided by a market yield), direct comparison (settled sales, never asking prices, adjusted for the differences) and residual land value for development sites (end value minus delivery costs and the profit the risk demands). Each breaks in its own way; a wide spread between them is itself information. None replaces a formal valuation by a certified practising valuer — the number a lender will rely on. Where there is a tenant, income capitalisation usually leads, and both of its inputs are contestable — our guide to valuing a commercial property on rental income works through the arithmetic and the traps in it.
The staged way to test a deal
Spend at each stage only what the previous stage has justified, and let every stage carry a real chance of killing the deal.
Screen, then evidence, then capital readiness — weak deals exit cheaply at every rung, and capital commits last.
Stage one — screen it
A structured desktop read of the deal against its own claims. An Axis Quick Scan does this at a fixed A$49.95 (Standard) or A$495 (Full), on a 24-hour target, senior-reviewed before release. Its job is to kill weak deals before they cost real money.
Stage two — evidence it
Replace the screen's assumptions with documents: title searches, executed leases, planning verification, signed comparable evidence. An input graded C is a task, not a fact — here it becomes A-grade or breaks the deal. The Axis Intelligence Pack (A$4,900) is this stage run as a product.
Stage three — ready it for capital
A capital readiness review (A$5,500) tests how the deal reads to the people who will fund it: what a credit committee will question, whether the structure survives the downside case. If everything hangs on a permit, Pivot Planning runs the planning engagement from about A$3,000 a month. The full sequence is mapped on our journey page.
What a staged test cannot tell you
A desktop test cannot inspect a roof, test soil, certify a valuation or review a contract's legal effect — that work belongs to building consultants, environmental engineers, certified valuers and lawyers before you go unconditional. This is decision support, not formal financial, legal, tax or planning advice.
What does professional decision support cost?
The figures below are market benchmarks, not quotes, and the services do different jobs (fee sources: Which Real Estate Agent, Buyers Agency Australia, Property Update). On a A$3 million purchase, a full-service buyer's agent fee at 2 per cent is A$60,000 — the entire Axis ladder totals under A$11,000, and a weak deal should be stopped by the first A$49.95. For a fuller comparison of the two services, see commercial buyer's agent vs independent deal advisor.
| Service | Typical cost in Australia | What the fee buys |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer's agent — engagement / retainer | ~A$990 + GST to A$5,000 | Commits the agent to the search |
| Buyer's agent — full service | 1.5–3% of purchase price, or ~A$10,000–33,000 fixed | Sourcing and negotiation through to purchase |
| Standalone due-diligence check | From ~A$500–600 + GST (residential) to a few thousand dollars (commercial) | A document-level review of one property |
| Development / project management | ~5–7.5% of cost under A$1M, easing to ~2.5–3% above A$10M | Delivery after the decision is made |
| Institutional feasibility study | Typically five figures | A fully modelled feasibility, weeks of work |
| Axis staged reports | Quick Scan A$49.95 / A$495 · Intelligence Pack A$4,900 · Capital Readiness A$5,500 | The go / no-go decision itself, tested in stages |
Frequently asked questions
Longer answers live on our FAQ page.
How long does a staged deal test take?
The first screen is fast by design — a Quick Scan targets 24-hour turnaround, senior-reviewed before release. Deeper stages move at the speed of evidence: title searches return in days; lease review depends on how quickly documents arrive. A deal that fails the early screen never needs the weeks-long study at all.
What documents do you need to start?
An address and an asking price are enough for the first screen. The deeper stages need what the vendor already holds: the contract of sale, the executed lease where there is income, plans and permits if development is on the table. In Victoria much of this arrives in the section 32 vendor statement.
Is this financial advice?
No. This is decision support, not formal financial, legal, tax or planning advice. Whether you should proceed with your own capital, and how any funding is structured, is a question for licensed advisers.
Test in stages, pay for evidence in the order it can kill the deal, and never let commitment outrun information. If you would rather have the first stage run for you, a Quick Scan takes a few minutes to order through the intake page.