Services
An hour on your site with an architect, sketching the first ideas together
A $220 site visit that maps your project, tests whether it is feasible and gives you a clear next step. Credited toward your fee if you go ahead.
Every project starts with a hundred questions
Is this block any good? Is my budget realistic? Do I need a DA or can it be complying development? Should I renovate or knock down? Is the builder's quote sensible? Do I even need an architect for this?
You can spend weeks trying to answer those questions with forum posts and guesswork, or you can walk the site with someone who answers them for a living. That is what the Initial Site Visit is: one focused hour at your property with a practising architect, for $220.
Start with a free 15 minute chat
We recommend booking a free 15 minute chat before you book the site visit. It costs nothing, and it lets us help you work out whether the project is feasible before you pay for anything. If a site visit is the right next step we will say so on that call, and we will already know your address and your brief when we turn up.
What you get from the hour
Ideas sketched out together, on site. We stand in the rooms or on the block with you and draw. Where the addition wants to go, which walls can move, where the light comes from, what the view costs you in setbacks.
Straight answers, in plain English. Shea is a NSW Registered Architect (registration 9748) and Dave brings a project management background. Between us we have taken projects from a first phone call through design, approval and construction, from kitchen renovations to an 89 apartment seniors living development. Whatever stage you are at, we have sat where you are sitting many times before.
An honest read on feasibility. We will tell you if your budget is unrealistic, or if the zoning of your site means extra cost, before you are committed. It takes a lot of grit to build, and we want you well informed before you start, not halfway through. If the kindest thing we can say is "do not do this project", we will say it. Our article on why you need approval before you build gives you a taste of the traps we help people avoid.
A clear next step. Every visit ends with an agreed direction. That might be a feasibility study, a survey, a conversation with council, or the decision to walk away from a bad block while it is still cheap to do so.
Your $220 back if you proceed. The fee is credited toward your project fee if you go ahead with us. If the project has legs, the hour effectively costs you nothing.
This is for you if
- You are planning a renovation, addition, new home, granny flat or development on the Central Coast and want professional eyes on it before committing money.
- You have a block, a contract or someone else's plans and want a straight second opinion.
- You keep circling the same questions and need someone to break the loop.
It is probably not for you if you have already engaged another architect and are happy with them, or if you want a free quote for construction work. We design and document buildings; we do not build them.
Why we run it this way
Free consultations sound generous, but they pay for themselves in sales pressure. When the hour is free, the person across the table needs the project to go ahead. When you pay $220 for the hour, we can afford to tell you the truth, including the version of the truth where the best move is not to build.
That is why the site visit is the front door for everything we do, from bespoke homes to duplexes and Class 2 renovations. It protects both of us: you get advice with no agenda, and we get clients whose projects genuinely stack up.
How it works
- Have a free 15 minute chat with us first, so we can check the project is worth a visit.
- Book below. The form takes a couple of minutes and payment is handled securely by Stripe.
- We contact you to arrange a time to meet you at the property.
- We spend the hour on site, sketching and talking it through, and you leave with a clear direction.
No lock in, no follow up sales calls, just the hour.
Shea did a great job with our house, very happy with her approach and knowledge.
Plans exceeded my expectations, adding re-imagining and uniqueness to the space, yet keeping it very functional.
Your investment
Initial Site Visit
$220
We meet you at the property, walk it together and sketch out the first ideas on the spot, then agree on the next step. The $220 is credited toward your project fee if you proceed and is not refundable if you do not.
All prices are in Australian dollars and include GST. Standard Conditions of Engagement · NSW Code of Conduct (PDF)
Questions people ask us
Should I book the free 15 minute chat first?
Yes, we recommend it. Fifteen minutes on the phone costs you nothing and lets us help you check the project is feasible before you pay for anything. If a site visit is the right next step we will say so, and if something cheaper or simpler will answer your question, we will tell you that instead.
What actually happens in the hour?
We meet you at the property and walk it together. We talk through your brief and your budget, test the idea against what we know about the area and the planning rules that apply, and sketch out the first ideas on the spot so you can see them. Have photos, contracts or other people's plans ready if you have them. You leave knowing whether the project is worth pursuing and what to do next.
Is the $220 refundable if I decide not to go ahead?
No. The $220 is credited toward your project fee if you proceed with us, and it is not refunded if you do not. We think that is fair: you are buying an hour of professional advice on your own site, and you get that hour whether or not a project follows.
Should I book this or a feasibility study?
Book the site visit when the project is still forming and you want a professional sounding board standing in the space with you. Order a feasibility study when you have a specific block and want documented research on it. Very often the site visit comes first and tells you which study, if any, you actually need.
Do I need to have bought land or have plans already?
No. Some of the most useful site visits happen before anything is signed, while every option is still open. If you already have plans or a contract, have them with you and we will give you a straight second opinion.
One hour on the block, and you could know exactly where your project stands.
Book my site visit