Every fee is for a defined scope.
We quote a fixed fee once we understand the site, the proposal and the approval pathway. A straightforward site and a constrained one of the same type can differ by a factor of five, which is why we would rather look properly than guess on the phone — though you will get a realistic range on the first call.
Granny flat & secondary dwelling
Design and documentation for a complying development certificate or a development application, depending on which pathway the site allows.
Alterations & additions
Extensions, second storeys and reconfigurations to an existing house. The existing structure and the controls do most of the work in setting this number.
Unauthorised works & building information certificates
Assessment of the pathway, as-built documentation, the planning case and coordination of the survey and engineering council will want. More on this work.
Commercial change of use
Shops, cafés, medical, childcare, places of worship, warehouse conversions. Fire, accessibility and parking usually decide the cost. More on this work.
New homes
Concept through to a lodgeable set. Slope, bushfire, flood, heritage and tree constraints move this considerably.
Duplex & dual occupancy
Including the feasibility work that establishes whether the site will genuinely support two dwellings before anything is drawn.
Townhouses & medium density
Multi-dwelling and manor house developments. Scales with the number of dwellings and with the design review process that applies.
Commercial & industrial
Warehouses, industrial premises and commercial buildings, including consultant coordination.
Apartment buildings, Class 2
Residential flat buildings under the Design and Building Practitioners Act, where the design has to be prepared and declared by a registered design practitioner.
Group homes & SDA
A conversion of an existing house under the September 2025 complying development pathway and a purpose-built high physical support dwelling are very different projects. Tell us the design category you're targeting and we'll scope it properly. More on this work.
What sits outside our fee. Survey, structural engineering, BASIX, arborist, acoustic, traffic, heritage, access and fire reports are quoted and paid separately, as are council lodgement fees and the certifier's fees. We coordinate those consultants so their advice agrees with itself before it reaches council, but we don't mark up their invoices.
How we quote. Once we understand the site, what you want to do and which approval pathway applies, we give you a fixed fee for a defined scope rather than charging by the hour. If the scope changes, you hear about it before the work is done, not after.
Already have a quote? Bring it. If it is from a comparably registered practice we will go through it with you line by line and tell you honestly where ours differs and why — including the cases where theirs is the better choice for your project. What we will not do is quietly drop our scope to hit a number.
Six things that decide where in the range you land.
The approval pathway
Complying development and a development application are different amounts of work. Which one applies is often the single biggest variable, and it is settled before design begins.
Site constraints
Slope, bushfire attack level, flood planning level, heritage listing or a neighbouring heritage item, significant trees, easements and drainage. Each adds documentation and often a consultant.
Building classification
Class 2 and Class 3 buildings sit under the Design and Building Practitioners Act, with declarations lodged on the NSW Planning Portal. That is a legal obligation, not an optional service.
Existing unapproved work
Work already on site with no approval has to be dealt with, usually alongside the new proposal rather than after it. Finding it early is cheaper than finding it at lodgement.
How many consultants
A simple addition might need a surveyor and an engineer. A childcare change of use can need acoustic, traffic, waste, access and fire. Coordination is real work.
The council
Controls, expectations and turnaround differ between councils, and some require design review panel input. We tell you what to expect from yours before you commit.
We don't guarantee approval, and neither can anyone else.
You will find firms in Sydney offering approval guarantees and money-back promises. Councils and certifiers make that decision, not consultants. What we will tell you is which pathway gives you the best chance, what is likely to be argued against you, and where the real risk sits — before you spend money on it.
The same applies to timeframes. Determination times depend on the council, the complexity and the consultants involved. We will set out the steps honestly rather than quote a number we do not control.
The design fee is the smallest number in your project. It decides the largest ones.
A refusal does not cost you the design fee twice. It costs you the months. In August 2026, Northern Beaches Council determined 118 applications: the ones assessed by council staff took a median of 65 days, and the ones that went to the local planning panel took 162. Every application refused that month was over a million dollars in declared work. That gap is holding costs, rent, interest and a build that has not started — and it is decided long before anyone draws anything, by which pathway you lodge under and how well the case is prepared.
That is what the fee is for. Not the drawings — the drawings are the visible part. What you are buying is the judgement about which pathway your site will actually clear, and someone carrying the whole thing through it.
He managed my project and it’s been done perfectly. I didn’t have to worry about almost anything.
Having someone who manages the complete package takes so much stress off the client, and Fred does it seamlessly and professionally.
Fred is very professional and advised clients how to overcome all the obstacles during the CDC process and approval.
If you are holding another quote, compare the scope, not the number
Two fees for the same project are almost never for the same work. The gap is usually in the parts nobody itemises — how many revisions, who answers the council, who coordinates the engineer and the certifier, whose name goes on the declaration. Send us any written quote and we will set ours beside it, line by line, against the same list:
We are not the cheapest quote in Sydney and we are not trying to be. If you hold a written quote for genuinely equivalent scope, from a practitioner registered for the class of work involved, tell us before you appoint and we will talk about it. But if price is the thing that decides this, we are probably not the right practice for the project.
Questions about fees.
Why is your fee higher than a drafting service?
Can you give me a fee before you see the property?
Will you match another practice's quote?
Do you charge for the first conversation?
Do you charge a percentage of construction cost?
What if my project stops partway through?
Do you work outside Sydney?
Tell us the address and what you want to do.
You will get a realistic range on the first call, and a fixed fee once we have seen enough to give you one properly. If you have another quote, send that too.