Comparing what's actually being offered rather than what's at the bottom of the page, and then committing with confidence.
How to choose an architect in Australia usually comes down to two or three fee proposals in a folder and an attempt to make them comparable. They aren't comparable. They're different scopes, priced differently, and the cheapest one is very often cheapest because it left something out.
The number at the bottom is the only part of a proposal built to be compared, which is why it gets all the attention. The parts that decide how the rest of this goes sit further up the page — which stages are included, what's excluded, and who in the office actually does the drawing.
Then there's the part no proposal contains. You're choosing someone to talk to about your money, again and again, for a good stretch of your life. One question gets at that faster than any other, and almost nobody asks it: can I speak to someone whose project you finished.
Before I say anything about design, I want you to show me the house through your eyes.
Meeting a few practices, enough to see the range and not so many that a hard decision gets harder, turns this into a comparison rather than a guess. The most revealing question is the least often asked: can I speak to someone you've finished a project for.
Confidence in the person, which matters more than confidence in the scheme. The scheme can be changed — the relationship can't, without starting again. You're choosing a companion for the whole of this.
Proposals with different scopes get compared as though they were the same thing, so the cheapest wins by leaving the most out. The decision gets made on a number that turns out not to have included the stage that mattered.
Before I say anything about design, I want you to show me the house through your eyes — what you use, what you avoid, what you apologise for at the front door. Then you get an illustrated brief back, early: one page, hand-drawn, what I heard. I'll give you my registration number and the name of someone whose project I finished before you have to ask for either.
Meet a few — enough to see the range, not so many that the decision gets harder. Ask to see work similar in type and scale to yours rather than the prettiest thing in the portfolio. Then do the two things most often skipped. Ask each practice for its scope of services with the inclusions marked, so you're comparing the same job. And ask to speak to a past client.
The list matters less than what you do with the answers. Ask every practice the same set: registration number, who does the drawing, what each stage costs, what's excluded, what they think the build should cost, what happens if the builder's price comes back over budget, and how involved they stay during construction. The useful signal isn't who sounded most confident. It's who told you something you didn't want to hear.
No. Nothing in Queensland law requires you to use an architect for a house. You need a Building Approval from a certifier, a licensed builder for most residential work, and drawings prepared by someone appropriately licensed. What registration adds is a particular kind of accountability: compulsory insurance, continuing education, a code of conduct, and somewhere to go if something goes wrong.
The Board of Architects Queensland keeps a free public register of registered architects, searchable by name or number, and it will tell you whether someone's registration is current. Easier still, just ask for the number. Mine is 4758 and I offer it before anyone asks, because how someone responds to that question is itself part of what you're trying to find out.
Line by line, not total against total. Put the two scopes side by side and mark which stages each one includes: measured drawings, the planning and overlay assessment, a Development Application if one is needed, construction documentation, tender, and involvement during construction. Then read the exclusions, which is usually where the difference actually lives. Most large gaps come down to documentation depth or site involvement.
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.
