The plan comes first.
Before style or materials: where the sun tracks across the block, how the house meets the garden, how much privacy a family needs now and in ten years.
Chindarsi Architects · Architects in Highgate, Perth · Since 2003
We start with the sun, the plan, and how you actually live.
Enduring architecture begins with understanding: of people, of place, and of the relationships between them.
Native Dog Cabin · New home · Bremer BaySelected work
Approach
How we think
Each project starts by listening, before anything is drawn.
- Understanding
- Relationships
- Principles
- Discernment
- Composition
- Enduring architecture
Value is spatial, not material.
A higher ceiling changes a room more than a more expensive floor. That is how we get more house out of the same budget.
Nothing stuck on.
Where new work meets old, we join it carefully and let you see the difference. No feature panels doing no work.
Your house, not our showpiece.
The house belongs to the people who live in it. Our job is to find what is particular about them and build around it.
Work
Selected work
Every project starts somewhere different: a site, a budget, a family at a particular stage, a house with a hundred years already behind it. What comes out the other end should look like it could only have happened here.
Services
What we do
- 01
Renovations and extensions
Adding space to a house that has none, without it looking like two houses stuck together.
- 02
Character and heritage homes
Federation, Deco and Edwardian homes brought into the present, with old and new both left legible.
- 03
New homes
Houses planned around the sun and how a family moves through a day.
- 04
Design and build
Estimates at every stage, contract administration, or building through Dovetail.
- 05
Multi-residential
Townhouses and apartments where privacy and light survive the yield calculation.
- 06
Commercial and community
Schools, libraries, pavilions and hospitality, largely by invitation.
Cost
What it costs, and when we tell you
Most people who contact an architect are worried about two things: whether they can afford it, and whether the number at the start will be the number at the end.
Joe has designed and built houses, so the budget conversation happens in the first meeting. We estimate at concept stage and again as the design develops. You can tender the build, bring your own builder, or build through our sister company, Dovetail Building Co. Either way, the numbers come from experience rather than a rate per square metre.
I had a budget that could not move. Joe was straight with me from day one about what was possible within it. The house is small, but every square metre has been thought about.
Process
How it works
- 01
A first conversation
Free, about an hour, here or on site. What you have, what is not working, what you want to spend.
- 02
Concept and estimate
The plan, walked through in person, with a cost estimate before anything goes further.
- 03
Design and approvals
The design resolved, documented in-house by architects, and taken through council.
- 04
Build
Tendered, negotiated, or built through Dovetail, with Joe on site throughout.
Clients
In their words
Story
About Joe
“A house asks harder questions than a building fifty times its size.”
Joe Chindarsi has been designing houses in Perth since 2003. Before that he worked on universities, hospitals and airports at a large commercial practice. He has run his own studio in Highgate ever since, and is on every project from the first conversation to the last day on site.
- Registered architect
- Since 2001
- Practising in Perth
- Since 2003
- Completed projects
- Around 100
- Design and build
- Director, Dovetail
Location
Where we work
Most of our work is within twenty kilometres of the studio on Smith Street, Highgate, plus the South West from Margaret River to Bremer Bay.
- Mount Lawley
- North Perth
- Highgate
- Mount Hawthorn
- Subiaco
- Swanbourne
- Cottesloe
- Karrinyup
- The coastal suburbs, and the South West from Margaret River to Bremer Bay
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to know what I want before I call?
No. Most projects start with a site, a rough idea, or a house that has stopped working. The first conversation is for working out what you are actually trying to solve, which is often not what you thought when you picked up the phone.
Will you work within my budget?
Budget is part of the first conversation, not something we get to later. Joe has both designed and built houses, so he can tell you early whether the brief and the number line up. If they do not, we will say so and help you work out which of the two needs to move.
That conversation is uncomfortable on day one and considerably more uncomfortable at tender.
What do you charge?
Fees are set against the scope of the project rather than a fixed percentage, and we will give you a figure in writing before you commit to anything. Across the Australian industry, full architectural service on a house generally falls somewhere between eight and fifteen per cent of construction cost, with the percentage running higher on smaller or more complex projects. You can also engage us in stages, starting with concept design, and decide whether to continue from there.
Can you work with an existing house?
Yes, and it is a large part of what we do. Renovations, additions, heritage and character homes. Understanding what is already there, what is worth keeping and where the new work should begin, is usually the whole problem.
Do I need a builder before I speak to you?
No, and you do not need to decide yet. You can bring your own builder, put the project out to tender, or ask about the design and build option through Dovetail Building Company, which shares our office and of which Joe is a director. Whichever you choose changes nothing about how we work with you on the design.
What happens in the first conversation?
Mostly listening. Where you are starting from, what is not working, what you are hoping for and what you have to spend. By the end of it you should have a clearer idea of what is possible, whether or not you take it further with us.
Enquire
Tell us how you want to live.
You do not need drawings, a budget spreadsheet or a fully formed brief. A site, a photograph of the house you have now, or a description of what is not working is enough to start.
Or call Joe on 08 9328 7238