Preliminary Project Consultation

Clients often have their owns dreams, aspirations and ideas about how they want to develop their home or property, and they are seeking professional direction on how to achieve these ideas, about the process of progressing them correctly to built reality. At this stage, they are ready to meet with an Architect, at their home or project site, who is ready to listen to them without imposing his own preconceptions. A major part of this firm's reputation is a facility for listening to, understanding, and effectively interpreting our clients' wishes.

By booking a Preliminary Project Consultation, we have set up the right forum to fully and critically assess the feasibility of your ideas. These discussions usually open up further possibilities that you may not even have thought of yet. This is the value of the creative design direction that an Architect contributes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preparing for the Consultation

 

 

In preparation for the consultation, you can forward to our office: Any photos of the subject property, including any existing site structures; any preliminary advices you may have already received from your council or other authority; an outline of your project/ accommodation requirements; Any initial sketches of what you have in mind, including personal architectural stylistic preferences; Projected floor area, Number of storeys; Estimated construction cost.

In addition, I will conduct a preliminary investigation of the subject site, identifying any planning development codes and building regulations governing the site.

 

The On Site Consultation

On the day of the consultation, we meet on site for up to 2 1/2 hours of verbal consultation; no drawings are produced at this stage. This consultation generally proceeds along the following line of agenda items:

  1. Preliminary discussion of the structural possibilities of the existing property. Note, this is not a property or pest inspection. It is an architectural design evaluation of what structural elements we have to work with.
  2. Preliminary design briefing by the client, to determine the scale of the project. This is where we can review your ideas in pictures or sketches you have assembled.
  3. Preliminary analysis of local authority (Town Planning) regulations relating to the site and project type (following those council searches prior to the meeting)
  4. Establish a preliminary construction budget.
  5. Establish required secondary consultants, eg. Building estimator, surveyor, town planning specialist consultant (if required), structural & services engineers, workplace health & safety consultant, Building Certification consultants, including energy efficiency consultant.
  6. Work through options for the possible or preferred design directions.
  7. Other items specific to the project.

For those clients who are new to the building procurement process, this consultation provides an opportunity to explore design options and become familiarized with planning and building regulations, council & authority fees, the process of taking a project from initial briefing through design, documentation, contracting with a builder and construction of the project. Also to become familiar with the timeframes associated with project procurement. For experienced clients, this is the opportunity to establish a working relationship with their Architect, which they already know is going to last over a sustained timeframe.

The Report, following the Consultation

Following our on site meeting, I will prepare a written report of our discussion and issue it to you, within several working days, for your future reference.

This consultation can be a one off event to enable you to understand and expand your design opportunities within a realistic framework. Or this can be an intermediate stage before deciding to enter a contract for full architectural services.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Out of this one off, fixed investment of time, you will have established a clearer perspective on your design direction.

 

The next step: The Client/Architect Agreement.

After review of the report, if you advise that you wish to proceed to the next stage, I will be able to assess those architectural services which are required to achieve your project outcomes, and the architectural fee structure… plus a schedule of consultants, along with a corresponding consultant fee budget, after contacting the relevant secondary consultants. These will be issued to you for you to factor into your considerations of the project’s viability. With these design, regulatory and budgetary considerations in mind, you have the necessary time to factor them into your overall project feasibility.

Upon instruction, we can proceed to a Client/ Architect Agreement.

The journey begins with this single step: to make an appointment for a Preliminary Project Consultation, please telephone 0415 060 056, or email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .  Otherwise refer to the Contact Us tab on our Home Page.

I look forward to collaborating with you on your new project. It is my proposal to meet, and then to exceed your expectations!