What we do
Architectural Design Services
We design new homes and we design changes to existing ones. Some clients want a set of consent drawings and nothing else. Others want us there from the first site visit to the final inspection.
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New builds
Most of our work is new homes. Family houses, rural and lifestyle blocks, holiday homes on hard sites. We take a project from the first conversation about how you want to live, through concept plans, into the detailed drawings a builder can price and build from, and out the other side with a building consent granted.
We are not trying to design the most expensive house on the street. The brief we work to is usually a real budget and a real site, and the job is getting the most out of both. That often means a simpler form, a smaller footprint used properly, and money spent where you will feel it every day rather than where it shows from the road.
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Renovations and alterations
Extending, reworking a layout that has stopped working, opening up living spaces, adding a bedroom or a bathroom, or bringing an older house up to a standard that is warm and dry. Renovation work asks different questions than a new build, because you are starting with a building that already exists and already has its own logic.
We measure up what is there, work out what is worth keeping, and design the change around it.
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Concept design and feasibility
If you are earlier than that, we can look at a site, a budget and a rough brief and tell you what is realistic before you commit to a full design.
This is the cheapest point at which to find out that a site has a problem, that the house you have in mind will not fit the budget, or that a different approach would get you further. People often come to us at this stage holding a piece of land and a number, wanting to know whether the two go together.
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Building consent documentation
The bulk of a plan set is the construction drawings and specifications. This is the part that gets your project through council and gives your builder the information they need on site. Depending on how complex the design is, that can run from a few dozen pages to well over a hundred.
We co-ordinate the other consultants a consent needs, usually a structural engineer and sometimes a surveyor or geotechnical engineer, apply for the Project Information Memorandum, and lodge the application with your council. If a resource consent turns out to be required we bring in a planning consultant for it.
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Project management and site visits
Once a build is under way we can stay involved. We visit at key milestones to check the house is going up the way it was drawn and specified, and work through the variations and problems that come up on every job.
We can also certify the builder’s payment claims, so what is being invoiced matches what has actually been built.
Not sure which you need
Most people start with a conversation, not a service.
You do not have to arrive knowing whether you want a feasibility study or a full consent package. Tell us about the site and what you are trying to do, and we will tell you what the sensible first step is, including when that step is to wait or to spend your money on something else first.
The initial consultation is free and it commits you to nothing.
Tell us what you are working with.
A site, a budget, a rough idea. That is enough to start a useful conversation.
Get in touch