Common Questions

For most people, building or renovating a house is the single biggest investment they’ll make in their lifetime. It can be a very overwhelming process, and so you need an expert who can guide you through this process. You wouldn’t operate on yourself (we hope) or defend yourself in court alone. So why build or renovate without an expert?

An architect will work with you to understand what you need for your project, and how to achieve it on time and on budget. Your architect will be your advocate and help you obtain planning and building approvals from Council, engage a builder, and manage the build of your home to ensure it’s built as per your drawings, to a high level of finish and in a timely manner.

Most of all, by engaging an architect you engage someone who will love your project as if it were their own.

This is perhaps our greatest weakness: we probably love your project more than even you do. We are dedicated to your project.

The real question is: Can you afford not to engage an architect?

We can help turn your building project into an enjoyable experience. Clients often comment on us as being friendly and approachable while having the experience and expertise to steer the project. We add quality to the building and your way of life as the design is completely unique and tailored to you.

Using an architect adds return on investment. Various results suggest the long-term financial value of an architecturally designed home is higher than a non-architecturally designed home. Here’s some research on the matter conducted by The University of Melbourne and Architeam.

Further Reading

Further Reading

You should start looking for an architect as soon as you decide you want to begin planning your project . Architects provide important pre-design services such as site evaluation, and can help you explore options you may not have considered. Involving an architect early in the process can help avoid costly missteps, and increase the likelihood of you being satisfied with the project.

It’s critical to find an architect who makes you feel comfortable, and who you can communicate with openly. It's also important to find an architect with experience in your project type. You should also seek recommendations from those you know who've worked with an architect previously.

Of course. While most of our projects are based in the Blue Mountains, we’re also working on homes across greater NSW. It’s important for us to visit your site so we can get a proper understanding of the constraints and potential. But our digital workflow is well suited to working remotely, which means we can collaborate on drawings and documentation easily via email and video calls.

Your architect will depend on you to tell them your design preferences, functional requirements and budget. Your timely response to questions and design submissions will help keep the project on track. It’s also important for you to raise any concerns you have as the project proceeds so they can be addressed in the earliest stages. Working in partnership with your architect, you will help achieve a successful outcome for your project.

Renovating the right building can give you a great result from a design, sustainability and cost perspective.

However, you need to ask yourself the following questions.

● Is the house or building in good condition?

● Are the existing spaces appropriate to retain or repurpose without too many alterations?

● Does the house or building have some architectural character, and do you actually like it?

Are you emotionally attached to the existing house or location?

If you answered “Yes” to most of these questions your house could be ideal for renovating.

Your site has a specific climate, context, history and landscape. It has a specific shape and relationship to the street. It’s regulated by local planning and building controls, and may be bushfire prone or have environmental overlays that need to be considered.

We ask questions such as:

● How close are the neighbours?

● Which way is north?

● From where do the prevailing winds originate?

We aim to understand your site. In designing for you, we consider and address them all. We spend time on your site photographing and measuring it. We commission a land survey to confirm the location of your site’s boundaries, trees, services and levels. We investigate the planning regulations zoning and overlays that cover it, and determine any likely areas of non-compliance.

Our goal is for your home to sit comfortably in its landscape.

As part of the construction industry, architects should strive for the highest level of environmental sustainability in every house they build.

What does this mean? Does putting a 10kw solar system on the roof mean you can build anything and any size building you like? What materials should you use? Where do these materials come from? How should you heat and cool your house?

An architect can help you to answer these questions, and we are well versed in the requirements for energy ratings for housing.

We appreciate the fundamental principles that drive environmental sustainability. Ideas such as ecological footprints, embodied energy, and whole-of-life cycles. We try to use passive systems that will save you money and create a comfortable environment to live in. These systems will save energy. We understand the value of passive solar design techniques. Each site is unique. We design for the specifics of your site such as the sun’s path, wind patterns and rainfall. We design with materials that are durable and easy to maintain.

This depends on:

● the scale and complexity of the project

● the availability of any consultants required such as surveyors or engineers

● council approvals

● the builder.

If you have real time constraints, we’re happy to discuss how we can tighten timelines. But generally our advice is that it’s worth taking the time to get things right.

Some average time frames are as follows:

• Design stages: 6 months

• Construction 9–12 months

• Council planning approval: add around 6 months to timeline

We’ve worked with several quality architectural builders on our projects.

Like us, they want nothing more than a happy client who has enjoyed the overall process.

However, if you have a builder you would like to work with then we’re happy to meet new people and carry out some due diligence on their firm. Finding a good builder you can trust is crucial to the success of your project.

If necessary, early on in the process we sometimes take advice from a builder we are working with or whom we know has produced similar work for us. Having access to their practical construction expertise can save time and money later on in the process.

Due to the high demand for quality builders, we try to introduce your project to a few builders we know who might be a good fit for your project. We do this during the design phase so that when it comes time to choose your builder you have quality options available.

At the start of your project we outline your brief and budget in a proposal specific to your build.

At the completion of the first design phase we’ll engage a local builder for a cost estimate to ensure your project is on budget before submitting your development application.

Throughout the process, we’ll discuss the budget with you and always let you know when a decision will affect it. We’ve accumulated years of experience and insight that we’ll share with you so you can make informed decisions about specific inclusions. You can then weigh up what value you put on the addition and tellus to include or exclude it.

We typically charge an hourly rate for our work, with a fixed upper limit.

Our years of experience in practice enable us to estimate the time typically needed for your project type.

Some clients come to us with a clear idea of what they want, and so the process can be undertaken in less time than usual. Other clients like to explore many options, which means the time needed will be far greater.

We’re a small-scale firm with highly skilled members and low operational costs. This gives us the opportunity to reduce our prices due to lower overheads.

While architect fees are an additional project cost, hiring an architect can save you money in many ways. An architect's design can reduce energy and maintenance costs, and provide an efficient layout so you don’t overbuild what you really need. They can turn a difficult lot into a successful building site. And they spend time planning and fully developing your ideas to avoid changes once construction is underway.

We work closely with a quantity surveyor and/or builder to ensure our work gets built and not thrown in the ‘too expensive’ pile.

While architects take a small portion of your project budget, we know we’ll more than offset these over the course of the project by:

● increasing the value of your home

● solving problems creatively to stretch every dollar further

● improving efficiencies

● protecting your interests through the build

● providing quality documentation to reduce mistakes or delays during construction.

Architectural homes cost more than kit or ‘off the shelf’ homes from a volume builder. Two key factors that make up the cost are project size and quality.

We believe in quality over quantity, and we are skilled in designing spaces you’ll use and enjoy for years to come. We’ll help you refine your brief so your home is just the right size for you. Our new homes range from 120m2 to more than 300m2.

Most of our recent projects have cost approximately $4,000–$5,000/sqm + GST.