Home Designs Perth

Over 3000 Home Designs in Our Database!

A new home starts with a series of great ideas. Seeing and feeling a style that works with your lifestyle and needs, creates inspiration. Unlike regular building methods, we offer a selection process to match up the most appropriate Designer to draw and complete your new home. Its like going to your number one trusted restaurant that makes your favourite dish. With construction techniques vastly different to the Eastern States, it is critical to have the right plan and builder on board. How many Builders or Designers do you know, offer and recommend other groups with in the same line of business to ensure you get the best home design in Perth.

BBC looks at your requirements, tastes and target budget, we then recommend the most suitable and appropriate Designer to achieve the best outcome. Best of all, it costs no more to use our services.

Single Storey Home Designs

Our Single Storey home designs are put together based on a comprehensive design specification. We strongly believe that every design should be a custom-home-design no matter what the budget. Even the most basic of homes can have exceptional space if the time and effort is put in at the front end of the design process. Most new home buyers are not aware, a custom home design actually costs no more to an off the plan purchase.

Single Storey Designs

Terrance Street

The Sorrento

Bayswater

Shoalwater

Joondana

Williamstown

Madely

The Wannennup

Wellard

Double Storey Home Designs

A Double Storey Home Design is a great way to take advantage of constrained or tight building sites. Due to water constraints within Perth, block sizes are not getting larger. All our designs are created as custom home plans specific to each clients request. We offer light weight construction (starting from $200K) or traditional slab and brick construction (starting from $440K). If your serious about finding the right plan, (and the right price) we cannot stress how important it is to start with the right people to discuss and draw your ideas into something you will be proud of...

Double Storey Designs

Building a double storey home offers the perfect balance of style, space, and functionality. Whether you're maximizing a smaller block or creating a stunning architectural statement, a well-designed double storey home can provide the flexibility modern homeowners need.

At Building Broker Centre, we go beyond the limitations of traditional builders. Instead of being locked into a single builder’s floor plans or design constraints, we provide you with customized solutions from multiple leading builders. This means you get greater choice, competitive pricing, and the ability to tailor your home to your exact lifestyle and budget.

Why Choose a Double Storey Home?

○ More Living Space – Ideal for growing families, with separate zones for privacy and entertainment.

○ Better Use of Your Block – Maximize outdoor space for a pool, garden, or alfresco area.

○ Enhanced Views – Take advantage of your location with elevated outlooks and natural light.

○ Increased Property Value – A double storey home is a strong investment with lasting appeal.

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Your Dream Home, Your Way

With a Building Broker, you’re not limited to cookie-cutter designs. We guide you through a streamlined process where you can compare options from multiple builders, ensuring your home is tailored to your needs and budget. Whether you’re after a modern, Hamptons, coastal, or luxury-inspired double storey home, we help you achieve it without the hassle.

Start your journey with Perth’s leading building brokers today and discover the advantages of choice, flexibility, and cost savings in designing your perfect double storey home.

You can deal with numerous builders your-self or leave it to us to do the negotiating!

Unit Development

To understand a unit development you need to understand the definition of a Unit. A unit is smaller home typically 3 bed 2 bathrooms that is designed and built for a smaller block of land. The major differences of a unit to a residential home is -

1) The requirement for a 4m2 store room. This is stipulated in the residential R-Codes.

2) Have a minimum sized courtyard. The courtyard sizes will vary from, 20m2 to 30m2 respectively that is set out in the R-Codes. The other defining factor is the setbacks and site coverage. A unit typically sits on 55% to sometimes 70% of the total land available. A residential home sits on a max of 50%.

A true unit development hence is a series of units (let's use an example of a Triplex) we have a street facing unit design at the front, a middle design, and a design at the rear. A unit development hence is series of houses built within the same original lot usually sharing a common driveway. This common driveway is known as "common property" (C/P) or "access leg". The common property is divided up by the number of units and each unit owns a percentage or portion plus has responsibility of that driveway.

This diagram shows the major differences between a Unit development Design versus a Residential Design. A professional designer actually charges more for a unit development as to a residential home due to the countless rules and regulations, tight building sites, plus the ongoing project management to obtain planning approval. Selecting the right designer is critical as it can help or time frames plus more importantly a great plan can yield up to an extra $40,000 in profit. Not all builders can build unit developments, so knowing the capabilities up front is critical. As a general rule of lot of major Builders only want up to 20% of their sales as unit developments as they are more complicated, take more time, and are more susceptible to margin drift (loss of profit) during construction due to unforseen circumstances. The building Broker centre looks at each development and selects the most appropriate designer and builder to ensure the cards are stacked in your

Our clients save on average a min of 6%

The difference between a Unit Development and a Property Development!

A unit development should not be confused with a property development. A unit development is the subdivision of land whilst building physical houses (referred to as "Units"). This offers the ability to sell a finished established product.

An infographic illustrating how a Building Broker simplifies the selection process for home construction. At the top, groups of designers (represented by colorful human figures) and builders (represented by hard hats in various colors) are labeled "Too Many Choices!" These are funneled through a Building Broker, leading to the selection of the Best Designer (resulting in a Great House Plan) and the Best Builder (resulting in the Right Construction Fit). The image highlights the broker’s role in narrowing down options to ensure the best match for a home project.

Property development is the subdivision of land only. There is only a vacant block to sell... Subdivision of land is referred to as a survey strata development while a unit development is referred to as a Built Strata development (at the technical level by a licensed surveyor). A Built Strata development is dependant on houses physically being built to obtain titles where-as a survey-strata development, is dependant on a survey delineating the lot sizes and shape. 90% of Unit developments are processed as "Built Strata" due to its better time frames.

Built strata versus a Survey Strata

A Built Strata development is dependant on houses physically being built to obtain titles where-as a survey-strata development, is dependant on a survey delineating the lot sizes and shape. 90% of Unit developments are processed as "Built Strata" due to its better time frames. The major advantage of a built strata development is you can have plans drawn up and submit them to the council for planning approval with out the creation of titles! It allows the major civil works costs to be included in builders contract as to having to find the funds upfront.

A built strata application starts with council planning submission. Once planning is approved, you have the right to build all 3 homes on the existing one title (a triplex example). The remainder of the title process is done during the building process. The average time from submitting to the council to hand over of houses + keys and titles is approximately 12 to 13 months (based on a single storey development). A survey strata development will take 6 to 10 months to create titles, but you only have vacant lots only. Your construction start will be delayed awaiting titles.

The biggest secret in the industry is if you want to make a proper profit you need to sell established property. Vacant land, particularly survey strata lots are very hard to sell on their own. We receive dozens of enquiries from people each year saying their real estate agent has told them they need to build a home on their lot if they want their block moved on. If sold as a house and land package the purchasers are weary of costs as they now have to build and develop the home themselves and will expect the lot to be sold for a price that is comparative to the neighboring established homes (typically a lower price which is unfavourable to the seller).

Working on the facts that 90% of people buy established and only 10% build in the marketplace, it makes perfect sense that if you want to appeal to the greatest amount of purchasers you need to "Build and Sell". More buyers means greater chance of better profits.

Triplex Designs

Triplex plans are considered the most unique style of of housing design that can be put together by a building company or designer. No other development has multiple requirements that affect each unit. Our understanding of council regulations helps us oversee our design team to ensure we achieve the best triplex designs created for our customers.

Triplex Designs (Riverton)

Riverton is well known for its unit developments, ranging from house-behind-house projects to quadruplexes. In this particular development, the client opted for a triplex configuration with three larger homes instead of four smaller ones. The design brief focused on maximizing space, targeting four bedrooms plus a theatre in each unit. Unit #1 was designed to present an elegant street frontage with a strong first impression at the entry. After obtaining three competitive quotes from builders, the price difference was less than $3,000, leading us to recommend site visits to similar projects and discussions with existing clients before finalizing a builder. The homes were successfully sold upon completion. Unit #2, being the middle unit, was expected to be the most challenging to sell, as is often the case in multi-unit developments. To counter this, we strongly advised the developer to elevate its internal design and features beyond those of Units 1 and 3, ensuring it felt more like a standalone home rather than just another unit—an approach that proved highly effective. Unit #3 ultimately became the customer’s favorite, positioned furthest from the street and offering the most privacy. Despite the irregular shape of the rear block, we designed the courtyard and alfresco areas to maximize space, cleverly avoiding construction in acute-angled sections to maintain an efficient and functional floor plan.

Triplex Design (Dianella)

This Dianella triplex development is a prime example of achieving a balance between budget and design while maximizing the block’s natural size. Unit #1, positioned at the front, was designed to be larger than many standard Perth homes, offering an impressive street presence while maintaining cost efficiency. Unit #2 underwent the most design changes due to the developer’s strict requirements regarding size and budget, but through strategic planning and adjustments, we successfully delivered an outstanding result for a middle unit on a triplex block—typically the hardest to sell. Unit #3, located at the rear, followed the common trend of being the most sought-after, often the first to sell in such developments. This unit was designed with the buyer’s expectations in mind, featuring a spacious kitchen, a dedicated theatre room, double vanity units in the master ensuite, and a generously sized garage, ensuring both functionality and appeal.

Your Backyard Could Be Worth More Than You Think

House Behind House Designs

This collection of house behind house designs across Perth showcases the versatility and appeal of rear strata developments. Each project was uniquely tailored to suit the block’s orientation, budget, and buyer expectations while maximizing space and privacy. Whether it was overcoming design challenges due to solar orientation, enhancing marketability for a subdivided lot, or creating a quiet, family-friendly retreat away from the main road, these designs highlight the benefits of well-planned rear strata homes. With thoughtful layouts and strategic planning, these projects successfully met both developer and buyer needs in a competitive market.

Apartments

How to Build an Apartment in Perth (the right way!)

Apartments are a completely different level of construction to generic residential construction or multi-unit developments. Technically referred to as "Class 2" construction they will have specialist engineering requirements, specialist fire requirements, acoustic requirements, numerous council meetings, the list goes on and on. We have experience from low rise through to 7 storey high multi-apartments. We offer a "development potential analysis" plus a design feasibility before we start the design process*.

There are three types of developers that build apartments -

Those that have their own building company and don't build for anyone else (often a high Rise developer)

Those that go direct to a builder(s) paying a price that cannot be checked or tendered.

And those that have plans drawn independently and then tender to the right Builders.

The reality is builders would rather tender as it minimises the drafting and design process and throws any council issues back to the client (or the Designer and B/Broker in our case). A Builders ideal world would be to just start the construction without any administration. When a builder educates himself to be a registered builder, their is no education on "excellence in design" or "excellence in drafting or shire/council troubleshooting". It is all about training for the ability to build correctly.

If your serious about doing an apartment development, going direct to a builder is not the right way. They will own the copy write and unfortunately you cannot tender another builders plans. Some of our clients have realised this mid-stream and actually paid the builder for a licence to use the plans costing more than an independent designer.

Unless you intend on setting up your own building company, "Design and Tendering" is the only way you should be thinking to yield the best return in quality of design, in quality of construction and in maximising profits. Apartment construction is not a cheap exercise and you cannot afford to have the cards held in the builders favour (unless you own the company).

Apartment Process!

We will firstly look at your budget and see if you are realistic as to what the total costs are. We could spend 2 hours just running through the breakdown of associated costs. Secondly we will select an apartment designer who has valuable experience within the suburb with a proven track record. Some designers are experts at efficiency while others have no problem spending your total budget on the first day.

Choosing a Designer for your Apartment Development!

Just because a designer says they have done an apartment development for a client before, does not give them a license to do your apartment development. There are hundreds of responsibilities and if not done and checked properly, can costs $10,000 to $100,000 in unforseen costs.

Questions need to be asked such as -

How did the apartment project come up on price (was it cheap, good or expensive). Some designers create projects are inherently cheap or economical while others are always expensive.

How did things go with the council ! (what were the time frames like). An educated designer knows what he can and cant do and doesn't leave it up to the council to tell him what he can do..!

Did the designated builder encounter issues on the design that where not in standard construction practices requiring the builder to redraw some sections before you could receive your final plans. If a builder has to redraw existing plans it will lead to delays and costs.

How was the resale in comparison to neighbouring developments ! As we have discussed in the past, some designers have natural flair while others just get the job done. It still amazes us how someone can put their faith in a designer without proper due diligence for their multi-million dollar project.

Professional Apartment Designers that can draw and complete the task successfully can be likened to a specialist in the medical industry. You wouldn't talk about having the flu to a brain surgeon...! Nor would you discuss building an apartment with a designer who specialises in residential construction or very little hands on experience. This is the most critical decisions in the entire building and developing process. Thirdly, we will monitor what is drawn so we maintain budget and shire time-line control.

Shire time line control is a subject on its own, but it is basically a risk versus time-in-council approach. As an example, if you want your rooms to be larger than allowed, we will show you how much longer it may take to request a concession to a shire rule or regulation.

Finally, we will tender your designs to our best network of proven Apartment Builders. A lot of our apartment builders offer varying construction techniques which we would discuss in detail. Traditional concrete and double clay brick, Tilt up concrete and the more modern SIPs and AFS construction techniques are quote popular. Some will cost as much as 20% more up front, but the build times are super-fast. Others will take longer but offer a cheaper upfront cost. We can also arrange Joint Venture investors to party up with your development.

Apartment Construction Costs!

As a rule we will work on around $280,000 per apartment. *This number is only an average though. A smaller development site tends to have the need for undercroft parking, while a larger more expansive site doesn't. All apartments must have parking provisions, their own store rooms plus a dedicated rubbish bin location. With all these shire required items there is often a need for undercroft parking. Undercroft parking is actually quite an expensive exercise as their is a need to have large open spaces that are not blocked by walls (hence the need for concrete and steel horizontal columns). Typically within the Perth area, apartments can range from $950,000 for a small 4 apartment building (fully finished and ready for sale or rent) through to over $4.5+ million for a 20 apartment complex. Yes there are always going to be cheaper prices but we are working on the averages, not the best case scenario. Apartment designs can vary from 1 Bedroom 1 Bathroom through to 3 Bedroom 3 Bathroom. If you feel you want to chat further, contact our highly experienced team for an obligation free feasibility.