Home / Questions before you build
Questions worth asking before you design.
Most projects begin with uncertainty. Is the site suitable? What can be built? What should be resolved first? These are the questions worth answering before the design becomes expensive. See Duplex design and feasibility, Homes and renovations and Residential design.
Can you tell me what my site can support before I buy it?
Yes. Before anything is drawn, we look at what the site can support: planning controls, orientation, access, privacy, likely yield and the practical cost of making the idea real. See Site feasibility.
Can I build a duplex on my block?
Often it is possible. It depends on the zoning, the frontage and area, any overlays and the controls of your council. We check what applies to your site before any design begins.
Can a difficult or sloping site still work?
Often, yes. Forest Lodge sits on a narrow, sloping inner-city block; Castle Cove steps down to the harbour; Conjola Park was built to the highest bushfire rating. The site shapes the design, not the other way round.
Should I renovate, or knock down and rebuild?
It depends on the structure, the layout, what planning allows and what each option costs to build. We compare them on your site before you commit to either.
When should cost enter the design conversation?
From the beginning. Cost, structure and buildability are tested while the design is still developing, not after the drawings are finished.
Do I need a finished brief?
No. A site, a rough idea or one honest question is enough to start.
Where do you work?
Mainly along the coast and near water: Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, Lower North Shore, Inner Sydney, Northern Beaches and Cronulla, and beyond Sydney on the Central Coast, in the Southern Highlands and around South Coast lakes such as Conjola. We also take on selected projects in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. See Places we work for more.
What happens after I send an enquiry?
Every enquiry is read and answered personally, not by an enquiry department.
Are you architects or designers?
Arkhaus was a registered architectural practice for most of its history, and most of the work in our archive was designed and delivered as architectural work.
Fernando is a graduate of architecture. More recently, he chose not to appoint a nominated architect, and Arkhaus now operates as a design practice — by intention rather than by default.
He has never followed a prescribed path. His commitment is to the work: thinking carefully, questioning assumptions and remaining accountable for what is designed, how it is built and what it delivers for the client.
Quality is not guaranteed by a title or a piece of paper. It is earned through judgement, persistence and responsibility.
That is why Arkhaus works as one integrated practice, keeping the decisions connected from the first sketch to the finished home.
You work directly with Fernando, whose experience spans 24 years across architecture and construction.
