We design new coastal houses and careful additions to old ones. Eight to ten projects a year, and a director leads every one of them, from the first site visit to the day you get the keys.
01 Practice
Most practices grow by taking on more projects and handing them down the line. We've stayed at six people in a studio in Cooks Hill, because the alternative is a house designed by someone you met once. Merrin or Lachlan leads your project at every meeting, on every drawing set and at every site inspection.
We only work across Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and the Central Coast. We know the councils, the coastal hazard maps and the builders who can pour a good off-form wall, and we can be on your site within the hour.
15
years in practice, since 2011
112
houses and additions completed
9
projects a year, never more than ten
96%
of development applications approved without redesign
02 What we design
01
Steep blocks, exposed headlands and lake edges, where wind, salt, bushfire ratings and the view all pull in different directions. We spend a day on the block before we draw anything, then design around sun, breeze and how you'll actually live in the rooms.
02
Terraces on The Hill, Federation cottages in Hamilton, interwar bungalows in Merewether. We keep what's good, take out what isn't and add rooms that are clearly new without shouting about it.
03
One or two a year: a beach kiosk, a cellar bar, a twelve-seat wine room. They're small, hard on budgets and a lot of fun, and they keep our residential detailing honest.
03 Selected work
Site, sun, area and budget come first in every project we take on, so that's how we show them. Photographs and drawings, no renderings.
01 / 04
One off-form concrete wall runs the length of the house. It splits day from night and holds the winter sun well into the evening.
02 / 04
A spotted gum screen filters the western sun and gives the new rooms privacy from the lane without a single blind.
03 / 04
We build card models of every concept. Clients understand a roof in thirty seconds with a model in their hands. A rendering takes longer.
04 / 04
Drawings shown while it's on site. The original four rooms are restored and a two-storey addition opens the back to the garden and the winter sun.
04 Index
05 Process
Five stages. Usually 12 to 18 months from the first visit to a building approval, then construction. You'll always know which stage you're in and what it costs.
We walk the block with you at different times of day, order the survey and geotechnical report, and write the brief in plain English. Sun angles and breezes go on the drawing before any walls do.
Two or three distinct options in sketches and card models, each priced by a quantity surveyor. You choose one, or we combine the best of them.
Rooms, windows, eaves and materials get resolved. We work out exactly where the winter sun lands and how the summer sun is kept off the glass.
Development application or complying development, then a full construction set: drawings, specification and schedules, detailed enough that every builder prices the same house.
We tender to three or four builders we trust, inspect the site every fortnight, check every progress claim and walk the defects list with you.
06 Fees
Most clients take our full service, charged as a percentage of the construction cost and agreed in writing before we start. If you only need a feasibility study or a concept, we'll quote a fixed fee.
$4,800
fixed fee, plus GST
A site visit, the planning controls, a one-page brief and a realistic construction budget. Worth doing before you buy a block or commit to renovating.
from $18,500
fixed fee, plus GST
Stages one and two: site analysis, two or three priced options and a card model. The drawings are yours to take to any builder.
10 to 14%
of construction cost, plus GST
Every stage, from the first site visit to the final inspection. Simpler new houses sit at the lower end, heritage alterations at the higher.
How the full-service fee is spread
On a $2m house, a 12 per cent fee is $240,000 plus GST, paid monthly over about two and a half years. Consultants such as the surveyor, engineer and bushfire consultant are billed at cost, and we'll estimate them in your fee proposal.
07 Studio
You'll meet both directors before you sign anything, and you'll have their mobile numbers once you do.
Founding director / Registered Architect, NSW
Started the practice in 2011 after eight years designing coastal houses in Sydney. Leads most new houses and still does the first sketch for every project.
Director / Registered Architect, NSW
Joined in 2014 and became a director in 2019. Runs our heritage work and the construction phase, so he's the one on site every second Tuesday.
Associate / Registered Architect, NSW
Leads documentation. When a builder rings with a question about a junction, Anouk has usually drawn it already.
They spent a whole Saturday on our block before they drew a line. You can feel it in the house.
Fiona, Caves Beach
Lachlan was on site every fortnight for eleven months. Our builder said it was the clearest set of drawings he'd priced all year.
Tom, Merewether
We expected the heritage process to be a fight. It took one meeting with council.
Jo, The Hill
08 FAQs
Something else on your mind? Call 0491 570 159 and you'll get Merrin or Lachlan, not a receptionist.
Most of our new houses come in between $1.4m and $3.5m in construction cost, roughly $5,500 to $9,000 a square metre on coastal sites. Additions vary more. We'll give you an honest range at the first meeting and test it with a quantity surveyor at concept stage.
Allow 12 to 18 months for design and approvals, then 10 to 16 months to build. Heritage conservation areas and bushfire-prone blocks sit at the longer end.
No. We usually tender to three or four builders we know well, and you're welcome to add your own. If you already have a builder in mind, we'll work with them on a negotiated contract.
No. Drawings done only to get an approval leave the hard decisions to the builder, and that's where budgets go wrong. If you'd like a lighter start, our concept design fee is the closest option.
Occasionally, if the site is within about three hours of Newcastle. We won't take on a project we can't inspect in person every fortnight.
A rough budget, a survey if you have one and a list of what isn't working in your current home. Pictures you like help, but they're not essential. The meeting is an hour, and there's no charge.
09 Start a project
Send a few details and Merrin or Lachlan will call you within two business days. The first meeting is an hour, on your site or at the studio, and there's no charge.