Designing Your Home

Steps to Having a House Designed:

Deciding what you want - what style, how many bedrooms/bathrooms/other rooms (studies, living rooms, etc)...
Putting in place the finance
Choosing a designer
Developing the project brief
Pre-design information gathering
Concept Design
Developed Design
Resource Consent (if required)
Detailed Design
Building Consent
Choosing a Builder
Putting in place Building Insurance
Construction – (Your designer should play a role here, helping to choose a builder, advising on the form of contract, undertaking contract administration, and observing the works for compliance with building consent and quality of finish.)
Code Compliance Certificate and handover

Look for someone whose work you like or an area of expertise relevant to your particular job, and who you believe you can work with. Use recommendations from friends or visit the New Zealand Institute of Architects and Architectural Designers New Zealand websites to find them in your locale. the NZ Registered Architects Board has a list of all Registered Architects, not just those belonging to the Institute and can be found here.

Visit these sites to gain inspiration House Design News or Best House Design

You may choose to buy a home from a reputable design and build ‘group home builder’ which can be great but may put constraints on your choices. Or you may prefer to have an Architect or Architectural Designer prepare custom-designed plans based on your specific needs, site conditions and environment.
Group Home Builders can offer a cheaper and faster option, especially now that there are now consents available for pre-approved designs that can be built anywhere in the country - meaning you can build that design without having to go through the normal consent process and thus saving you time and money.
However, using a designer to tailor something specifically for you will give you a home that is unique and often with elements that will give you values both in real terms and intrinsic.
On-line house plan companies can supply drawings and specifications that are guaranteed to get you a building consent anywhere in New Zealand if buying one pre-designed and then work with their Architect to customise the design if desired to suit your site and lifestyle.

A Registered Architect (Please note – only those registered can call themselves an ‘Architect’)
An Architectural Designer
An Architectural Draughtsperson
Some Group Home Builders have Registered Architects or Architectural Designers who can design your home from scratch

You will know what you can afford. Inevitably, in looking at beautiful homes in home magazines you will gather exciting ideas.
The reality is that many of these homes have costs many hundreds of thousands of dollars to build - budgets outside of the reach of many of us.
Compromise is a fundamental requirement.The good news, however, is that many of the design ‘looks’ can be achieved within more limited budgets by building smaller or using alternative materials.
We've put together a Budget Tracking page for you to keep on top of things.