Pre-purchase Design Advice
Decide with confidence. Which house is the right house? Which block offers the most potential to build your home and lifestyle?
A customisable service which may be focussed on a single property you have your eye on or a selection of options under consideration.
Designed to arm you with information on a property’s design potential before you bid. After all, how can you decide on your maximum offer if you don’t know what it will take, or even it’s viable without overcapitalising, to renovate or build fresh on the site that you’re considering?
A smart investment - our high value, low cost, independent and timely advice can mitigate most of the risk of making a very expensive and disappointing mistake in buying an unsuitable property.
What’s Involved?
1 Brief, Budget & Design Potential
Tell us a little about your aspirations and budget for the property. Beyond the basics of location and number of bedrooms, we can best advise you if we understand how you envisage your lifestyle in the property. With a little information on your appetite for cost, we can best advise on renovation versus new build options.
We will advise on required floor area, natural light, passive solar design, orientation, access, and potential for views - all critical to how the home may feel to live in. We can also test feasibility of a renovation or new house in sketch form, to explore how your brief might be achieved.
You will need at least a rough idea of what your build budget may need to be, to help you to determine the offer you might be prepared to make on the property. With our estimate of required floor area, based on your brief, we can apply typical construction rates to help you understand the ballpark cost to achieve the home and lifestyle you’re looking for, with the property you’re considering.
2 Regulatory & Title Restrictions
Best to understand sooner rather than later what your options will be. Does the property have title restrictions or Council regulations that will constrain what is possible? What are the implications if a Planning Permit is required?
We will research the regulatory constraints that will be relevant to any purchaser of the property or properties you’re looking at. It is invaluable to know whether or not you will need a planning permit and what the planning overlays or any title encumbrances mean for the site. We’ll advise on general height and setback limitations, whether there are any applicable flood, bushfire or termite overlays, whether significant trees may require approval to remove, and how a heritage overlay or listing may limit your options.
3 Presentation of Findings
Our process is staged for best value.
I. Initial Desktop Review, report and discussion on findings.
II. Detailed Exploration including site visit, sketch plans if necessary.
Upon engagement, we begin by booking an initial discussion with you at a suitable time, for discussion of Desktop Review findings. We can provide you with excellent information and advice with this report. Sometimes we find deal breaking information during the initial assessment, so we start with a preliminary review and then we can discuss whether more in-depth advice is desirable.
How to start?
Contact us with details of the property or properties under consideration and to book in a time to discuss.
We can act quickly with a Desktop Review online meeting or report via email if you need advice urgently.
Pricing
I. Desktop Review $350 + GST
Includes our review summary and half an hour meeting discussion, online or in-person by arrangement. We can provide you with excellent information and advice with this report. Sometimes we find deal breaking information during the initial assessment, so we start with a preliminary review and then we can discuss whether more in-depth advice is desirable. Priced per property, contact us to discuss rates for multiple properties. II. Detailed Exploration including site visit, sketch plans if necessary.
Price to be confirmed on case by case basis following Desktop Review. Please note that our service is different to a building inspection service. However we will help you seek advice from building inspectors, engineers and/or other specialist consultants if we believe additional advice from them would benefit you.