The first thing to do is to get in touch so we can have a quick chat about your project. We can then set up a time to meet and give you an overall understanding of what a project requires, who is involved, how much things cost and how long the process can take.

After that meeting we may well have further discussions about your brief and your budget and try and understand whether those two critical pieces of the puzzle align. When we understand the scope and the complexity of the project we present a fee proposal for your review.

Once we have been engaged we embark on what we call a pre-design stage. During this initial feasibility stage, we resolve the following and often competing interests: what our clients want, what they can afford, and what can be done on the site. This stage is a way of arriving at design options that steer the project in the right direction when the design work starts in earnest.

We then undertake a Sketch Design stage where we use the tactics identified in the preceding stage to guide the design. This is when the design really starts to take shape and we start to resolve layouts, form and materials.

The interior of any project is just as important as the exterior, and in some ways informs what the outside looks like. For both the inside and the outside, simple shapes are prioritised over grand gestures to ensure that the project is imbued with a timeless quality.

In some cases, before construction can begin, a permit issued by a local council may be required. This need can be triggered by a host of issues such as a Heritage Overlay, a Significant Vegetation Overlay or a Special Building Overlay.

As part of the pre-design stage, we identify if your project requires a local council permit and what constraints may be imposed on your property as a result of these local council rules and regulations.

During the initial design stages, we produce diagrams, sketches, perspectives as well as architectural plans to help you understand how the design looks and feels. During subsequent stages, we produce technical drawings that describe to the builder, in every detail, how to build the design.

These drawings form part of the building contract between the client and the builder and therefore include every detail right down to the location of power points.

During the construction stage, we are engaged to administer the contract agreed between the client and the builder. We ensure that the terms of the lump price contract is adhered to. We don’t project-manage, that’s the builder’s job. What we do is make sure that the design documents we produced are being followed, that any changes to the contract are fair and reasonable, and finally, we check and then certify all the payments to the builder.