How a project runs, from the first site visit to the plans in your builder's hands.
Design made simple
Building and renovating can feel complicated, and at times stressful. Our job is to make the design side clear, enjoyable and predictable.
As your building designer we are usually the first consultant on the project, so we stay with you through the whole journey: from the first site visit, through council and certification, until the plans are in your builder's hands. Every project follows the same five stages. Each stage ends with a PDF package emailed to you before we meet, so you can review it in your own time, and each stage is quoted and invoiced separately as it is delivered.
What is building design?
A building designer designs homes and prepares the drawings they are approved and built from.
That covers the whole arc of a residential project: understanding the site and the rules that apply to it, developing the design with you, documenting it in enough detail for a certifier to approve and a builder to price and build, and coordinating the engineers, planners and certifier along the way.
In Queensland, building design is licensed work. A building designer must hold a building design licence from the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) to prepare plans for licensed building work, with licence classes that set the size and type of building they can design. Clover holds a QBCC building design licence and specialises in residential projects across Brisbane and South East Queensland, while also undertaking selected small commercial projects within that licence scope, including office fit-outs, medical centres and tilt-panel buildings.
What a building designer does not do is also worth knowing. We are not engineers, certifiers or builders. Structural and civil engineering, soil testing, energy assessment and building certification are carried out by separate licensed consultants, and the construction itself by a licensed builder. Our role is to design, document and coordinate so that each of them has what they need.
At a glance
From first meeting to construction.
Construction begins once the building approval is issued and the plans are released to your builder.
Our design process
Five stages, each with a package you can hold in your hands before we meet.
Property searches, planning checks and a site measure of the existing home.
We start by learning your property. Using the planning and certification resources we have access to, we research the site, check the zoning and overlays that apply and put together a site review covering constraints, opportunities and the approvals the project will need. Then we visit, measure the existing home and model it in our software, ready for concept design.
Your package includes
The first design, with plans and 3D perspectives, based on your brief.
This is where your ideas start taking shape. Working from your brief, we develop an initial concept and package it with 3D perspectives into a PDF that is emailed to you before we meet, so you can review it in your own time and come to the meeting with questions.
Your package includes
Your feedback worked in, and any town planning (DA) needs identified.
Your opportunity to refine the design: request changes, explore alternatives and add anything not in the original brief. Updated packages are emailed before each meeting. This is also when we confirm whether the project needs a development approval (DA) from council and, if it does, introduce you to a town planner we trust. It is a good point to have a builder price the design before anything is locked in.
Your package includes
The building approval set for engineers, certifier and builder.
Here the design becomes technical documentation: a full set of detailed drawings that engineers, the building certifier and your builder can all work from. In Queensland this is the building approval (BA) documentation, and it is the set that gets priced, certified and built.
Your package includes
We engage and manage the certifier, engineer and other consultants on your behalf.
Every project needs the right team around it. We engage the consultants your project needs, brief them, coordinate their work with the drawings and manage the building approval through to issue. We only work with professionals we have built strong working relationships with, so the project runs smoothly from start to finish.
Your package includes
After approval
Once the building approval is issued, the plans are released to your builder and construction can begin. We remain available throughout the build to answer questions from the builder or consultants and to issue any minor amendments needed on site, so the design is seen through as drawn.
How long does it take?
Long enough to get it right, and no longer than it needs to be.
No two projects take the same time, and we would rather give you a realistic timeline at the first meeting than a number on a website that does not fit your home. Four things have the biggest effect.
What does it cost?
A written fee proposal, quoted for your project and structured by stage.
Design fees depend on the scope and complexity of the work, the size of the existing home and the approvals involved, so we do not publish a price list. After a first conversation about your project we prepare a written proposal that sets out the fee for each of the five stages, what you receive in each package and when each stage is invoiced. Each stage is invoiced as it is delivered, so you only ever pay for the work in front of you.
Consultant fees, such as the surveyor, engineer, soil test, energy assessor and building certifier, and council and certification fees, are separate. They are charged by each consultant directly and are not part of our fee. We tell you which consultants your project is likely to need before you commit, so there are no surprises.
Request a proposalCommon questions
Ready when you are