If you're planning a new home, extension, renovation, ancillary dwelling or other residential project in Perth, one of the first questions is usually: how much will the plans cost?
Online price guides commonly place residential house-plan fees anywhere from a few thousand dollars to $15,000 or more. That range is so wide because the phrase 'house plans' can describe very different services.
One proposal might cover drawing production only. Another may include concept design, planning review, council submission, working drawings, consultant coordination and support through the approval process. Comparing only the bottom-line figure can therefore be misleading.
What are you actually paying for?
Good residential documentation is not simply a matter of drawing a floor plan. The fee can reflect a sequence of professional work that begins well before the final construction drawings are produced.
- reviewing the property, brief and available existing documentation;
- site measure and re-draw where reliable existing plans are not available;
- concept design and spatial planning;
- design development and client revisions;
- R-Code and local planning review;
- development approval or deemed-to-comply documentation where required;
- working drawings for engineering, certification and construction;
- coordination with structural engineers, energy assessors, surveyors and building surveyors;
- council or permit-authority submission and liaison; and
- updates arising from normal authority requests during assessment.
The more of that process a designer is responsible for, the more valuable it is to compare the scope rather than comparing a single fee number.
Typical house-plan costs
Current Australian consumer price guides commonly quote around $3,000 to $15,000 or more for residential house plans. That is useful as an indication of how broad the market is, but it is a national guide rather than a Perth price list. Simple additions can sit well below a complete custom-home or major-renovation documentation package, while complex projects can be substantially higher.
For Perth owners, the final fee is usually influenced by project size, design complexity, whether the existing building needs to be measured and re-drawn, whether planning approval is required, how developed the construction documentation needs to be and how much consultant or authority coordination is included.
Not all design and drafting quotes are the same
This is one of the most important things to understand before appointing a designer.
Two proposals can appear to be quoting for the same project while allocating responsibility very differently. A low initial fee may be perfectly legitimate, but it may exclude tasks that another proposal has already allowed for.
| Check this before comparing quotes | Questions to ask |
|---|---|
| Design revisions | How many rounds of client changes are included? What happens once that allowance is used? |
| Council / planning submission | Is preparation only included, or will the designer actually lodge and manage the application? |
| Council-requested drawing changes | Are normal amendments requested during assessment included, or charged by the hour? |
| Working drawings | Does the fee finish at planning approval, or include the drawings needed for engineering, certification and building permit? |
| Consultant coordination | Will the designer obtain information from engineers, energy assessors, surveyors and certifiers and coordinate it into the drawing set? |
| Site measure / existing plans | Is the existing residence being measured and documented, or is the quote based on the client supplying accurate drawings? |
| Consultant and statutory fees | Are third-party fees included, excluded or merely estimated? |
| Additional services | What is the hourly rate or variation process if the project changes beyond the agreed scope? |
How Shoreline Design approaches quoting
At Shoreline Design, the aim is to make the scope clear at the beginning so the client understands what they are engaging us to do and can budget for the project with fewer surprises later.
For our typical residential design packages, the Shoreline scope is structured to include consultant coordination, council submission, normal council-requested drawing amendments during assessment and a clearly defined allowance for client design changes, where those items form part of the quoted service.
Third-party consultant and statutory fees - such as engineering, energy assessment, certification, surveys and council charges - are generally identified separately rather than hidden inside a vague total. If the client changes the brief beyond the agreed scope or requests additional redesign after the included revision allowance, that is discussed before additional work is undertaken.
Your written proposal confirms whether site measurement, development-application lodgement and building-permit lodgement are included, together with the design revision allowance and any additional-service charges.
Why revision allowances matter
Residential design is collaborative, and almost every project changes during the concept stage. A proposal that includes no meaningful revision allowance can become expensive very quickly if every adjustment is charged separately.
At the same time, unlimited redesign is not realistic for either the client or designer. A better structure is to define a reasonable number or extent of design revisions, explain what is included, and have a transparent additional-services rate if the brief materially changes later.
Council submission and coordination are real work
A drawing set does not submit itself. Planning and building applications can involve forms, supporting documents, correspondence, responses to requests for information and coordination with several consultants.
If your designer's fee stops when the drawings are issued to you, make sure you understand who will take responsibility for the next steps. Some owners are comfortable managing the process themselves. Others prefer one consultant to coordinate the documentation and keep the project moving.
Consultant fees versus consultant coordination
These two items are often confused.
A structural engineer, energy assessor, surveyor and building surveyor are independent consultants who charge their own professional fees. Consultant coordination is the work involved in briefing them, issuing drawings, responding to queries, integrating their information and making sure the final documentation works as a coordinated set.
A proposal can exclude the consultant's invoice while still including the designer's time to coordinate that consultant. That distinction should be made clear before you sign.
What usually makes house-plan fees higher?
- a large or highly customised home;
- major alterations to an existing building;
- second-storey additions;
- sloping or constrained sites;
- heritage or special local-planning requirements;
- multiple planning variations that require design-principle justification;
- complex structural systems or large openings;
- poor or incomplete existing documentation;
- extensive interior detailing, joinery or schedules; and
- a higher level of construction-phase involvement.
The best question to ask when comparing designers
Rather than asking only 'How much are your plans?', ask: 'What will I have at the end of this fee, and what parts of the process will I still need to organise or pay for separately?'
That question makes it much easier to compare proposals fairly and helps prevent a low initial fee from becoming a much higher total once the project is underway.
Quick questions
Are council and consultant fees normally included in a designer's quote?
Often they are separate because they are charged by independent consultants and authorities. What matters is that the proposal identifies them clearly and explains whether the designer's coordination and submission time is included.
Should I choose the cheapest design quote?
Not automatically. If two proposals genuinely include the same stages, deliverables and support, price is a fair comparison. If one stops at concept design while another continues through approvals and working drawings, they are not equivalent quotes.
Will I be charged every time I change the design?
That depends on the proposal. Shoreline generally defines an included allowance for normal design changes, then discusses any material redesign outside that allowance before additional work is undertaken.
How Shoreline Design can help
Shoreline Design provides residential design, approvals, construction documentation and consultant coordination for projects across Perth and Western Australia. Depending on the project, we can assist from the initial concept through council and building approvals and into construction-ready documentation.
This article is general information for Perth property owners. Planning rules, fees and costs change, and every property is different, so check the requirements for your own property before you act on it.