How to select the right architect in Melbourne
Choose the architect whose work, team and process suit your project, not simply the practice with the most striking portfolio.
The architect will shape the home, coordinate the consultant team and produce the information the builder relies on. The right fit affects design quality, budget, program and the working relationship for several years.
I write this from a builder's perspective after working with a wide range of Melbourne architectural practices. The projects that run best are usually the ones where the practice suited the brief before the first line was drawn.
Start with your brief
Before building a short-list, write down:
- How you want the home to feel and function
- What you want to retain or change
- The likely project scope
- The working construction budget
- Planning, heritage or site constraints already known
- Your preferred timeframe
- How involved you want to be in decisions
- Whether interiors, landscape and pool design are included
This does not need to be a polished design document. It is a filter.
An architect may produce excellent work and still be wrong for the property, budget or way you want to work.
Review relevant work, not only beautiful work
Look for projects with a similar:
- Scale and construction budget
- Heritage or planning context
- Level of structural complexity
- Interior quality
- Landscape integration
- Relationship between retained and new work
Ask what the photographs do not show:
- How long did design and approvals take?
- What changed during construction?
- Did the finished cost remain aligned with the working budget?
- How involved was the principal?
- Did the practice administer the building contract?
If possible, visit a completed home. Door operation, junctions, light, acoustics and the feeling of materials are difficult to assess from photographs.
Find out who will actually run the project
The person leading the first meeting may not be the person producing the drawings or responding during construction.
Ask:
- Who will be the day-to-day project architect?
- Which principal or director remains involved?
- Who produces the detailed documentation?
- How many projects is the team carrying?
- Who attends consultant meetings and site meetings?
- What happens if key staff change?
The practice name matters. The actual team matters more.
Understand the scope and fee
Architectural fee proposals can look similar while covering different work.
Confirm whether the proposal includes:
- Existing-condition investigation
- Concept and schematic design
- Town planning and heritage coordination
- Design development
- Construction documentation
- Interior architecture and fixed joinery
- Consultant coordination
- Tendering or negotiated-tender support
- Contract administration
- Regular site inspections
- Defect and handover support
Ask how the fee is calculated, what is excluded, how variations to the architect's scope are charged and whether travel, printing, renders or specialist coordination are additional.
The lowest fee may simply cover less of the work.
Test documentation quality
A good design still needs to be communicated.
Ask to see an anonymised construction-documentation set from a recent project of similar complexity. Look for:
- A clear drawing register
- Coordinated plans, elevations and sections
- Detailed wet-area and façade junctions
- Schedules that align with drawings
- Consultant information carried into the architecture
- Consistent revisions
- Details that explain design intent to the trades
More pages do not automatically mean better documentation. The issue is whether the information is coordinated, current and buildable.
Ask how consultants are coordinated
An architectural home may involve structural, civil, hydraulic, mechanical, electrical, lighting, landscape, pool, acoustic, heritage, planning and automation consultants.
Clarify:
- Who prepares the consultant brief?
- Who checks consultant drawings against the architecture?
- How are clashes recorded and closed?
- Who controls revisions?
- How are design decisions communicated to the cost plan?
The builder should not be the first person to discover on site that two consultant packages cannot both be built as drawn.
Confirm the architect's role during construction
Some practices remain deeply involved through construction. Others provide limited services after the permit and tender stages.
Ask:
- Will the architect administer the building contract?
- How often will they attend site?
- Who responds to requests for information?
- Who assesses variations and progress claims?
- Who reviews shop drawings and samples?
- Who protects the design intent when site conditions require a response?
There is no single correct model, but the role should be clear before appointment.
Speak to clients and builders
References are useful when the questions are specific.
Ask past clients:
- What surprised you?
- Did the practice communicate cost implications clearly?
- How were delays or difficult decisions handled?
- Would you appoint the same team again?
Ask builders:
- Were the documents coordinated?
- Did the practice respond in time to protect the program?
- Were design changes controlled?
- Did the architect remain constructive when problems arose?
- Was the finished quality consistent with the design intent?
Several relevant references give a better picture than one carefully selected success story.
Use the first meetings properly
Notice whether the architect:
- Listens before proposing a solution
- Asks about the way you live
- Discusses budget without avoiding it
- Explains approvals and documentation clearly
- Identifies what is not yet known
- Is comfortable involving a builder at the appropriate stage
A strong meeting should make the project clearer, even if it also reveals more work.
TCON's perspective
TCON works with the architect appointed by the client. Where a client asks for an informed view before appointment, we look for a practice that suits the brief, documents carefully, coordinates consultants, remains engaged and deals honestly with budget and construction constraints.
The strongest architect-builder relationships are not based on one party controlling the other. They are based on clear responsibility, timely information and mutual respect for design and construction.
Talk to TCON
If you are short-listing architects for a substantial new home or renovation, TCON can review the brief from a construction perspective and help identify the questions worth asking before appointment.
Building with TCON
Considered architecture demands considered building. Building with TCON is a complete account of how TCON works. Available on request and reviewed personally by Tim before release.
Request a copy of Building with TCON.