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 ArchitectsApproach
How we think
Enduring architecture begins with understanding: of people, of place, and of the relationships between them.
There is no Chindarsi house style. Rather than beginning with a predetermined architectural language, each project begins by understanding how you want to live: where you spend your evenings, how the family will change over the next decade, whether privacy matters more than openness.
Timeless principles then guide each decision, so the architecture emerges from the brief rather than being imposed on it. The house belongs to the people who live in it, not the architect.
The sequence
How a project comes together
- 01
Understanding
Everything begins by listening before drawing: to you, to the site, and to the house if there is one already.
- 02
Relationships
Every project is a series of relationships: between people and place, light and shadow, inside and outside, old and new.
- 03
Principles
Timeless architectural principles, orientation, proportion, daylight, how rooms connect, are the framework those relationships are resolved through.
- 04
Discernment
Experience lets competing considerations, budget and brief, privacy and light, be weighed confidently rather than traded away.
- 05
Composition
Only then is the architecture composed into a coherent whole, and the materials and details chosen to serve it.
- →
Enduring architecture
A house that could only have happened here, for these people, and that still works in twenty years.
Principles
What guides every decision
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.
In practice
How we work
How you live, before how it looks
The first conversation is about how you want to live rather than what you want it to look like. Where you spend your evenings, how the family will change over the next decade, whether privacy matters more than openness or the other way round, whether a parent might move in one day. Style follows from that. It does not lead it.
The number, on day one
We establish what you have to spend at the start, and whether it matches what you are asking for. Joe has designed and built, so he can put a realistic figure against a brief early and estimate again as the design develops. If there is a gap between the two, saying so on day one costs nothing. Finding out at tender costs a great deal.
The fundamentals cost least
Orientation, the path of the sun through the year, ceiling height, cross-ventilation, the way rooms open to each other and out to the garden. Most of what makes a house good to live in is decided here, and almost none of it is expensive. Materials and finishes come afterwards.
Designed with you, not unveiled
Design happens through iterations, back and forth, moving between the whole house and the smallest detail. We will walk you through the drawings and explain the thinking rather than unveil a finished object. Not everyone can read an elevation, and that is fine.
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.
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.
Questions
Budget, fees and builders
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.
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 our sister company, Dovetail Building Co., 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.
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