'It's a false economy not to hire an architect': Why a designer home will save you money

Hiring an architect to design a house or renovate an existing home can save more money than it will cost, and leave you with a more valuable property, the president of the Real Estate Institute of NSW, Leanne Pilkington, believes.

“And the reality is, if you use a good architect, you’re going to typically get a better-designed, better-looking and better-functioning property than if you don’t,” Pilkington, also the managing director of agency Laing + Simmons, says.

“It’ll be facing the right way, let in a lot of sunlight, have a good flow and feel, and be a little bit unique. You’ll have a better home, save money on going backwards and forwards with changes to the design and contracts, and make more money at the back end with a higher market value.”

Most arguments and delays with a project usually come about through misunderstandings about the scope of work by all the tradespeople involved, Australian Institute of Architects’ national president, Richard Kirk, believes. Having an architect overseeing the delivery of a project, as well as coming up with, and managing, the design concept, can avoid any such issues.

“It’s a false economy not to hire an architect,” Kirk says. “It’s always a lot more cost-effective to test possibilities on a piece of paper rather than on site.

“Also, an architect will talk to clients about their ambitions and lifestyle for a good outcome tailored to suit them, and the potential of a house or site they’d like, and while of course their ambition is to add value, it’s often more about enriching people’s lives in that home.”

That’s exactly why barrister Gillian Eldershaw bought her Gale Street home in Woolwich. As soon as she walked in the first time, she fell in love with how the Philip Cox-designed house looked and felt.

“The rooms are lovely to be in with a beautiful energy [and] the living spaces have such gorgeous light, as he so cleverly oriented the house to the sun so it passes overhead across the home,” she says.

“It has a classic courtyard configuration so the kitchen, dining and lounge rooms form two sides, or a horseshoe. I absolutely love this house and bail people up in the street to tell them about the architecture!”

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Downsizing and moving closer to the city and work, Eldershaw, herself the daughter of an architect, is selling the house after nine years.

There’s already been a lot of interest in the property, says Ward Partners agent Matthew Ward, who has set the price guide at $3.4 million. “People are often attracted to good architect-designed houses and Philip Cox is a brand now,” he says. “It’s so important for a house to feel right.”

With, as a general rule, the cost of hiring an architect coming in at about six to 15 per cent of the total construction bill, according to Archicentre Australia’s director, Peter Georgiev, there’s also value in a well-designed home’s longevity and individuality. A good architect will design according to the site, and embed structural integrity and thermal performance within the project, to make a home that will stand the test of time.

“I would like to think an architect-designed house would reveal itself to be far better value over time to one that didn’t have an architect involved,” Georgiev says.