Working out who's the right fit for your house and your project, including an honest account of when the cheaper option is the better one.
Architect vs building designer vs draftsman is one of the most searched questions in this whole process, and nearly every page answering it was written by one of the three. This one is written by an architect, so read it with that in mind.
One correction is worth making. Building designers in Queensland aren't unregulated — they hold a building design licence, issued in classes according to the scale of what they're permitted to design. Architects sit under a different scheme, with the Board of Architects Queensland. Two accountability arrangements rather than a graded one, and neither is a verdict on ability. There are excellent building designers in this city and I've worked alongside several of them.
So the useful question isn't who is better qualified. It's where the risk sits in your project, and whether the cheaper set of drawings is still cheaper once it's been priced.
The useful question isn't who is better qualified. It's where the risk sits in your project.
In Queensland 'architect' is a protected title: a long degree, logged practical experience, a registration exam, compulsory insurance, continuing education and a complaints process. Building designers and draftspeople work under a different licensing scheme. It's a distinction about accountability, not a ranking of talent.
You get to make this choice on something firmer than a hunch. Knowing what actually separates the three titles, and where each one is the right call, means you can choose with confidence rather than by elimination.
The choice gets made on price, proximity, or whoever answered the phone. On a simple job that often works out perfectly well. Where the block or the brief is complicated, you're carrying the difference between what each title covers.
I'll tell you plainly where I think the risk sits in your project, and if it's low I'll tell you that too. My registration number is 4758, and I give it out before anyone thinks to ask. What you're buying with an architect is the planning read on a character block, a drawing set complete enough that a builder can price it without guessing, and someone still standing beside you while it's built.
Regulation, mostly. In Queensland only someone registered with the Board of Architects Queensland may use the title architect: a long degree, logged experience under supervision, a registration exam, compulsory insurance, ongoing education, and somewhere to go if something goes wrong. A building designer works under a building design licence, issued in classes according to the scale and height of what they may design. A draftsperson prepares drawings, generally under someone else's licence.
Legally, neither. Queensland doesn't require you to use an architect for a house. What you do need is a Building Approval from a certifier, a licensed builder for most residential work, and drawings prepared by someone appropriately licensed. So this is a judgement about value rather than compliance. For a straightforward, code-compliant addition on an unencumbered block, a good building designer will get you there for less money.
It depends where the risk sits. On a pre-1947 house inside a character overlay or a demolition control precinct, most of the difficulty is in the planning read — knowing what council will accept before you draw it. On a plain post-war block with a simple rear extension, that risk barely exists. A good question to put to anyone you meet is what they think the planning constraints on your block are.
Not on the fee — the fee is higher. Where it comes back is at tender. A builder can only price what's in front of them, so my job is to make sure what's in front of them is complete. Where a drawing set leaves gaps, the uncertainty gets priced as risk, or carried into the contract as provisional sums and variations settled while the work is under way.
Yes. Architects charge more, and the gap is real. Two things are worth doing with that. Compare stage by stage rather than total against total, because the cheapest proposal is very often the one that left the most out. And check whether involvement during construction is included at all — it's the stage that gets cut first, and the one that most decides whether the finished house resembles the one you approved.
If you would rather start small, the First Sketch Session is two hours at your place. You keep the sketches, and there is no obligation afterwards.
