Before the design begins

So you’re ready to renovate? Most people assume the design process starts with ideas. Sketches on a napkin, inspiration images saved to a folder, a vision for what the kitchen could be. And yes, all of that has its place. But the work that makes a renovation successful starts earlier than most people realise. For some, that starts before they've even bought the property. For everyone else, it starts before a single line is drawn.

Here's what the pre-design phase actually involves, and why it matters.

The Discovery Call
Before anything else, we offer a free discovery call. Not a quote conversation. A fit conversation. We want to understand your project, how you live, what you're trying to achieve, and whether we're the right people to help you get there.

How we gel matters. A renovation is a long process and we'll be working closely together for the duration of it, through decisions, tradeoffs, and the moments where things don't go to plan. The relationship has to work before the project can.

The Indicative fee proposal
Following the discovery call, we use what we've learned about your project and a virtual review of the property to put together an indicative fee proposal. Our fees are fixed price per stage, so you know exactly what you're committing to before you move forward.

A note on project pricing: we can't give you a construction cost estimate at this point, and anyone who does is guessing. A realistic budget for the build only becomes possible once the design is complete, structural engineering has been engaged, and the full scope of work is documented. We'll guide you through that process, but we won't put a number on something we haven't designed yet.

Planning analysis
Before design work begins, we look at what the planning controls on your property actually allow. This means checking for overlays, heritage controls, zoning restrictions, and whether your project is likely to require a planning permit from council.

One of the first things we look at is whether your project will require a planning permit, a building permit, or both. They do different things.

A planning permit is about whether you have permission to build what you're proposing. It's assessed by your local council and considers things like the impact on neighbours, streetscape, and the planning scheme. Not every project requires one, but if yours does, it needs to be lodged and approved before a building permit can be issued.

A building permit is about how you're building it. It's issued by a building surveyor (not the council) and confirms that what is being built complies with the relevant building regulations. This is required for almost all structural renovation work.

Something worth knowing: building regulations change. What was permissible when a home was last renovated may not meet today's standards. Accessibility requirements, minimum clearances around wet areas, energy efficiency thresholds—these things shift, and any new building work has to comply with the current rules. It's part of why working with a registered architect matters.

The Site Visit
If you're happy to move forward, we come out to site. We walk through the space, take measurements, and document the existing conditions properly. We also send through a pre-design questionnaire ahead of this visit—it covers how you live, what you need, and what you're hoping to achieve, so that by the time we arrive we're already thinking about your project specifically.

This is where the project starts to feel real for both of us.

Getting to know your site
Alongside the site visit, we commission a feature and levels survey from a licensed land surveyor. This is one of those things clients sometimes question until they understand what it does. It maps the exact boundaries, levels, and existing conditions of your property with a precision that a tape measure simply can't achieve. Council will require it as part of any planning permit application anyway, so having it from the beginning means we're designing with accurate information from day one rather than retrofitting it later. It saves time and it protects you.

In practice, pre-design moves quickly on our end. Planning analysis, the site visit, and the indicative proposal can usually be turned around within a few days of the discovery call. The feature and levels survey takes around 15 business days from the surveyor accepting the quote, so in most cases pre-design runs three to four weeks in total. It also means you have a good chunk of time to work through the questionnaire and think really deeply about what you want.

Most clients are surprised by how much information needs to be gathered before design work can actually begin. This is the foundation everything else is built on. It's not the most exciting part of the process, but it's the part that makes the rest of it real.

What comes next
Once pre-design is complete, concept design begins. That's where the ideas start to take shape and where the work of reflecting your brief back to you in built form gets underway. We'll cover that in the next post.

If you're at the beginning of this process and want to talk through what it might look like for your project, we're always happy to start with a conversation.