Will I be involved in the design of my house or development?

Absolutely! We work for you and will identify your needs and specific requirements before starting the design process. We will advise you about how your site condition may affect your development and what design would be best suited to take advantages of your site and minimise its limitations while addressing your needs and requirements. 

Many considerations inform the final design product but we will ensure that any compromises that might have to be made are minimised and the final design meets your expectations and budget.

We can use your own design and we can put your dream on paper! 

If you plan to use design produced by other architect or a designer, due to strict copyright laws, you will need to obtain licence agreement from them to reproduce their design.

Generally, a single dwelling on a lot requires a building permit, which can be issued by a municipal building surveyor or a private surveyor. In some circumstances, where a block of land is small and/or affected by a specific overlay (e.g., Heritage Overlay), a planning permit  from a local council may be required first.

Any development that consists of two or more dwellings on a single lot requires a  town planning permit from a local council first. Upon receiving town planning permit, a building permit will be required prior to construction.

Once the internal design and external look of your development is agreed on, our office will produce a set of drawings, that together with an application form, photos and other relevant information will be submitted to a relevant authority on your behalf. 

A set of drawings for a town planning application is called architectural (or design) drawings. A set of drawing for a building permit application is called working drawings.

Based on the information and drawings submitted by our office, the relevant authority then makes a decision to issue a permit.

Please note that our office DOES NOT ISSUE ANY PERMITS but we provide all necessary information and liaise with the relevant authorities on your behalf to facilitate the permit for you.

Building permits usually take about 6 weeks, town planning times vary significantly between city councils, but usually take longer than 3 months.

We have extremely high success rate with achieving town planning approvals for multi-unit developments in many Metropolitan and some Rural Councils in Victoria. 

As our office does not issue any permits, we cannot guarantee that every application will be successful but we will do everything possible for our clients to achieve best outcomes for their developments.