Regional guide · Redlands
Business broker, Redlands
Tony Pope works from Gumdale, on the bayside inside the Brisbane City Council area, which adjoins the Redland City boundary. This page sets out what the ABS, Redland City Council and the Queensland Government publish about selling a business here, from Capalaba and Cleveland out to Mount Cotton, the bay islands and Minjerribah.
Every figure on this page is sourced and dated. Where a figure is not published for this region, the page says so. Last updated 15 September 2026.
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What is different about selling a business in the Redlands?
Redland City is a construction city on the water. Construction was 3,156 businesses at 30 June 2024, 24.6 per cent of the local base against 17.1 per cent for Queensland, an index of 1.44. So your likely buyer is a trade buyer. Two Redland approvals decide your settlement date: the food business licence transfers for $407.00, and the trade waste approval does not transfer at all.
What Redlands actually runs on
| Industry division | Businesses | Share of the base | Against Queensland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public administration and safety | 46 | 0.4% | 1.79 |
| Electricity, gas, water and waste services | 58 | 0.5% | 1.51 |
| Construction | 3,156 | 24.6% | 1.44 |
| Manufacturing | 561 | 4.4% | 1.22 |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 1,779 | 13.9% | 1.12 |
| Other services | 781 | 6.1% | 1.09 |
| Retail trade | 797 | 6.2% | 1.07 |
| Rental, hiring and real estate services | 1,400 | 10.9% | 0.93 |
| Health care and social assistance | 889 | 6.9% | 0.87 |
| Accommodation and food services | 398 | 3.1% | 0.80 |
| Transport, postal and warehousing | 777 | 6.1% | 0.79 |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 188 | 1.5% | 0.18 |
Counts are for the Redland City local government area at 30 June 2024, from ABS Data by Region drawing on Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, July 2021 to June 2025, released 26 August 2025; the index compares the Redland share of businesses with the Queensland share across 509,275 businesses, ABS perturbs small cells so the divisions sum to 12,825 against a published total of 12,818, and this is a count of businesses on the register, not a count of businesses that were sold.
Where the businesses actually are
The centres that hold the business base, and the industries that carry them.
Where the businesses actually are in the Redlands, 1,145 words, on its own page.
Local knowledge
What I know about this market that a data table does not carry
The Redlands business landscape
Capalaba and Thornlands carry most of the light industrial and trade services activity. Cleveland and Victoria Point are services and retail focused. Across the whole area there is a strong trades base covering plumbing, electrical, building, landscaping and home services, along with transport and distribution operators and a solid home improvement sector. Many of these businesses have been owner operated for fifteen or twenty years and have never been formally appraised.
Owner dependence is the common issue
The single most common thing holding back value in Redlands businesses is owner dependence. The business works because the owner is in it every day, holds the customer relationships, quotes the jobs and solves the problems. That is a perfectly good way to run a business and a very difficult way to sell one. Buyers discount heavily for it. The good news is it is fixable, and twelve to twenty four months of deliberate work on systems, delegation and documentation can change the number materially.
Trades and the QBCC licence
Any Redlands business holding a QBCC licence needs that question answered first. Class, nominee arrangements, net tangible asset requirements and transferability all shape who can buy and how the deal is structured. It is the first thing I ask about.
Brisbane buyers, local business
Redlands businesses benefit from proximity to the Brisbane buyer pool while often being priced more sensibly than equivalent inner city operations. Presented properly to the right buyers, that is an advantage rather than a discount.
Capalaba is the commercial centre
Most of the region's trading businesses sit around Capalaba, in the industrial pocket and the retail centres either side of it. Trades, building supply, automotive, equipment hire and services. These are conventional businesses that sell well when the books are clean, and what holds them back is an owner who is also the estimator, the salesperson and the person quoting every job.
Marine, bayside and island logistics
The bay creates businesses that do not exist elsewhere: marine services, boat maintenance, charter, and the freight and trades servicing North Stradbroke and the southern Moreton Bay islands. Buyers look closely at vessel condition, berthing arrangements, licences and permits, and at how much of the work is weather dependent. All of that is worth documenting properly before it is marketed, not during due diligence.
An older population is a business base
The Redlands skews older than the Brisbane average and that has built a solid base of allied health, home care, mobility, home maintenance and retirement adjacent services. These attract buyers well beyond the local area, including groups acquiring multiple sites. Compliance, staff credentials and any funding or accreditation arrangements get examined hardest, so have them in order before you start.
Island freight and barge dependency
Any business servicing North Stradbroke or the southern Moreton Bay islands is partly a logistics business whether it feels like one or not. Barge schedules, freight costs, vehicle access and weather all sit inside your margins. A buyer from outside the area will not understand any of it until you explain it. Set it out clearly, show what it costs and how you price for it, and it becomes a barrier to entry working in your favour rather than a risk.
Questions people ask
3 of the 19 answered in full on the questions page for this topic.
Does my Redland trade waste approval pass to the buyer?
No. Redland City Council’s published position is that the approval cannot be transferred, and that on a change of property ownership or a business lease transfer you will have to reapply for a new approval. The application fee is $201.50 for 2026-27, under the Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008 (Qld).
Can I transfer my food business licence when I sell?
Yes. Redland City Council issues food business licences under the Food Act 2006 (Qld) and the Food Regulation 2016 (Qld), and the licence can be transferred. The 2026-27 fee is $407.00 plus a pro rata fee, from council’s Register of Fees adopted at the General Meeting of 17 June 2026.
What is the council pre-sale inspection, and is it worth $713?
It is an Environmental Health inspection of your food premises, listed in council’s Register of Fees 2026-27 as item HE1.3 at $648.18 plus GST, or $713.00.
Questions owners in Redlands ask, all 19 of them.
Go deeper
The long form, where it belongs
The full detail is on the pages below, each on its own page.
Check it yourself12 primary sources
Primary sources, none of them affiliated with me and none of them endorsing this site. Where anything here differs from an official source, the official source is right.
Ask what it is worth
Free, in writing, and nobody finds out you asked. Tell me the trade and the suburb and I will do the rest.
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