Custom Home Services in Collingwood, Victoria

“We wanted a garden studio that could also provide extra accommodation when necessary; we have a seaside location which draws family and friends at holiday time. Our house is a traditional 50's stone place so we wanted something to blend in but to also add some contemporary pizzazz. Jane listened carefully to our needs and not so definite brief but came up with a very interesting, practical design which we really liked. She also linked this space design wise to an enclosed courtyard and pergola; unifying the north facing and sheltered back yard. This was probably the only real specification that we provided, that all would function as a whole with scope to add through planting of coastal and indigenous plant species. Jane's creative flair certainly has achieved this, she was always responsive and efficiently came up with practical solutions when we had questions. It has been easy to work with her because of her willingness to focus on the task at each step of the way; keeping us on track in our meanderings! The builders have been impressed with her attention to design detail.”

“We engaged Darrin Albert from Sketch Building Design to design our family home renovation. Darrin came highly recommended and we were certainly not disappointed. Our vision was to develop a contemporary two storey addition to our Edwardian home. The design delivered and service provided exceeded our expectations. Darrin and the team were professional, enthusiastic, responsive and focused on our needs and budget. They were a pleasure to deal with and we would happily recommend.”

“We have used Ed for both of our renovations and have found him to be a great architect. For our first project we used Ed for both the design and the project management of a small renovation. We loved the design which dragged a 1970s monstrosity of a house (think lots of mission brown and wood panelling) right into the 21st Century. Tweaks that Ed made to layout just made the house 'work'. We were exceedingly happy with the result. Ed and his team worked tirelessly behind the scenes so that while we had the usual decisions to make, any of those problems that inevitably turn up on the site were solved before they hit our radar. Our second project was based in Sydney (see Ed's project titled 'Springfield' ) and although we spoke with some local architects we didn't get the same comfortable feeling as we had with Ed. Our second renovation was a major undertaking on a heritage listed house where there had been multiple renovations done in the past and little coherence. The floorplan had small spaces left over that had no practical use and the house was very tired. We extended but only by a small amount but again by rationalising the floorplan we have ended up with a much more usable space. The end result is a gorgeous home. This time I was the project manager but Ed and his team remained on call through-out for whenever my builder or I had any queries. What I love about Ed is that we have achieved a great balance between gorgeous design and practicality. The space looks fab but it is also easy to live in and we love that!”