Residential

Design Direct specialise in custom personalised homes as well as assisting clients with their own ideas by providing practical design options and cost saving solutions. We can show you how to achieve the most efficient home to suit your site while creating a comfortable and desirable place to live.

The staff at Design Direct understand that for most clients building their own home is often a once in a lifetime opportunity and we are committed to providing professional advice and assistance. Designing your home doesn’t have to be a stressful and time consuming process.

Design Direct provides a complete building design service where each client can choose the level of services they require.

Other types of residential projects we provide services for are:

Duplexes
Multi-Unit Developments
Disability Housing
Granny Flats
Renovations
Extensions
Sheds / carports

To get you started complete the Quick Enquiry form on our Contact Us Page. Alternately, you are welcome to call our office to arrange a meeting with one of our designers.

Top Tips

• Talk to us before you see a builder

WHY? Put simply, Builders Build, Designers Design. It has been an increasing trend for Building Companies to market their own range of house plans where customers can quite literally select their new home ‘off the shelf’. Little do they realise, they are compromising there living interactions for a pre designed house with little consideration to that particular occupant’s way of living. The other downside to engaging a builder directly is you don’t have the opportunity to shop around and get comparative quotes from other builders. It is not uncommon to see price variances of 10% between builders. Having your plan produced by a Building Designer, you own the plans and have free range of getting quotes from any builder you wish without being locked in.

• Know your budget

One of the first things we ask our clients wanting to design their new home is – What is your budget? It is critical that you know how much you want to spend on your new home as this will usually dictate how large the home can be (with considering other factors.) The last thing we want is to go to the effort of designing your dream home, only to realise later on when quoted by a builder that the price is over budget.

• Familiarise yourself with the site you plan to build on

No matter what site you plan to build on, there’s good characteristics and there are bad. It is beneficial for you to have a good understanding of what your site has to offer and what goes on around it. Having this knowledge will allow you to know where certain rooms in your home are best located. Even considering external elements such as access, driveways, sheds, pools, tanks, septic systems etc. Other site aspects you may want to take advantage of include – Desirable views, prevailing breezes, sun penetration etc. Aspects you may want to block out or be far away from include – neighbouring buildings, noisy roads, summer sun for example.

• Have a go at sketching out your own design

Don’t be afraid to have a go at your own design. At the earliest phase of design, we simply list the spaces we want to include in our home then by drawing circles to represent the space, we look at different arrangements of the circles with consideration to how it fits on the site. It is not critical for you to provide, but it does assist us through the Concept Design stage.

TESTIMONIALS

For over 12 months we had been searching for an architect who would understand our vision and lifestyle. This process was a new experience for us and just when we were about to give up our search, Mat from Design Direct became the designer for our dream home. Within a couple of meetings, Mat had taken his time to showcase a fresh perspective on our design. We thank Mat for his patience, initiative and creative design in designing our beautiful home that we love. – Aston and Ashleigh Marks

Expert building design consultants, gave great advice and ideas that would benefit our lifestyle requirements and for maximum resale potential. Excellent service with innovative software that allowed us to walk through our home before it was built! – Simon and Angela Arnold