Most people start choosing an architect with a folder of saved images. It works better to start with your block, your budget and your approvals — then find the practice whose work and process fit those three things. Here’s a practical way to do it in Perth.
Start with the site, not the style
Perth blocks vary enormously: a 10-metre-wide inner-suburb lot, a sloping hills block, a coastal site with salt and wind, a big flat block in a new estate. Each one pushes a design in a different direction.
Before you shortlist anyone, walk your block and note the orientation, where the western sun lands in summer, which way the breeze comes through, the slope, easements, and any trees or neighbouring buildings worth keeping. A modern home that ignores these usually ends up relying on air-conditioning to stay comfortable.
What “modern” means in a Perth context
Clean lines and open-plan living are the easy part. The parts that matter here are living areas facing north with proper eaves, a plan that opens to a courtyard or garden, materials that handle UV and coastal air, and rooms that still work in a run of 40°C days.
Ask a practice what they do differently for Perth’s climate. The answer tells you more than a gallery does.
Narrow lots, small blocks and infill
Many Perth projects are infill: a new house behind an existing one, a subdivided block, or a narrow lot in an older suburb. On a tight block the design work moves into section as much as plan — ceiling heights, light wells, borrowed light, storage, and where the car goes.
Ask to see a completed project on a block similar to yours. If the practice has none, that’s useful information.
Energy performance, modelled not promised
Anyone can say “sustainable”. Ask instead whether the practice runs energy modelling during design, not just at approval stage, and how they use the results — glazing, insulation, ventilation, shading, roof and wall colours.
Approvals and overlays
Depending on where you’re building, you may be dealing with the residential design codes, a local planning scheme, a heritage overlay, or bushfire requirements. Ask who prepares and lodges the application, and whether that’s included in the fee or billed separately.
Five questions worth asking any architect
- Who designs my project, and who runs it through construction?
- Can you show me a finished project on a block like mine?
- What did that project cost to build, and what drove the cost?
- How do you handle planning approval?
- What happens if the builder’s price comes in over budget?
How to compare fees
Fees are usually a percentage of construction cost, a fixed lump sum, or hourly. Comparing the numbers alone is misleading — compare what’s included: concept design, planning application, construction documentation, tendering, and contract administration during the build. A cheaper fee that stops before documentation isn’t cheaper.
Be upfront about your budget in the first meeting. A practice that works with your range will tell you quickly whether your brief fits it.
Where we fit
We’re an accredited architecture practice based in Perth, designing homes across the metro area and continuing to work with clients throughout regional Western Australia. We work with realistic budgets and practical briefs, and we’re happy to tell you early if your site or budget points somewhere different.
If you’d like to talk through your block, send us the address and a rough budget and we’ll tell you what we think is possible.