Dr Retro House Calls

After our initial Dr Retro house call we engaged Alistair to undertake the 2D and 3D models for our house renovations. It took over 9 months (and many follow up calls, emails and messages) to finally receive a PDF copy of our 3D design. On good faith and the promise to send through the finalised 2D/3D plans in a format our draftsman could use, we paid our bill. At this point, we have not received the plans we paid for and he has also stopped answering my calls and emails. This means, we will be out of pocket for the draftsman to re-measure and produce plans we can use for the build. Needless to say we are so disappointed and frustrated by this experience.

We called in Dr Retro (Alistair) to confirm that our beloved 1982 one-off architecturally designed bespoke house could be adapted relatively easily if needs be to more modern expectations and lifestyles. We wish we had called him in a year earlier, well before embarking on our sales campaign. We had insufficient time to follow up on Alistair's very practical major proposals before going to market in a few weeks. However, the simpler ideas gained from his consultation should give the house appeal to a broad range of buyers, from the devoted "retro" market to those who can see the potential for modern adaption. Improving the light within gloomier areas, removing some blinds, a smaller desk to create more study space, bringing viewers more directly to the front door are just some of his many ideas easily implemented. His grander proposals will be passed to prospective buyers to help them see that the design can be adapted without loss of era or quality, if that is their desire, rather than have a Real Estate agent make amateur suggestions. The cost of the "Dr Retro House Call' is more than compensated for by our increased confidence that our special house will now present more appealingly to potential buyers. Time will tell! Pam and Allan

With an upcoming extension and renovation planned for our 1970's split level home in Charlestown NSW, I contacted Alistair for some advice. He has a very professional and pleasant disposition with passion and knowledge regarding mid-century homes. What I think Alistair really excels at are concepts, being able to take an outsiders look at the property from both that of an investment angle and also on an emotional one. My experience is that before the consultation it pays to tell the entire story about your home and what the requirements placed on it will be. This will allow Alistair to do his background research prior to the consultation and understand how best to make things work. Personally, after speaking over Zoom which was excellent, I probably felt the need to comeback a week later for a second shorter follow up consult as the first raised so many ideas I hadn't even thought of beforehand. Excellent service!

Alistair assisted us with our plan to install 'interesting lighting' at a budget cost, using a mixture of track lighting, wall lights and pendant lights. We are still building but are plans are now firmly in place. We had a number of goals in mind, regarding 'mood lighting' and lighting of our modest but much loved collection of 'art'... Using Zoom for consultations was a breeze and Alistair came up with numerous ideas that inspired us, followed up diligently with the detail we need to implement - including precise distances, light wattages etc. We are most appreciative of Alistair's ability to address our changing needs, as we became more aware of cost and other implications. In addition, Alistair pointed out a number of changes we could make to our house at planning stage that will give great improvements in the future. A value-add we hadn't expected. We wouldn't hesitate to recommend Alistair.

I have recently purchased a mid century house on Phillip Island and was pleasantly surprised to find this unique service when I was looking for renovation ideas. Alistair was able to make a house call to me when he was visiting another one of his projects on Phillip island. He brought along his "doctor's bag" of excellent resources which he had prepared specifically for my house visit. I was very impressed with his professionalism and knowledge and look forward to making use of the design service in the future.

Overwhelmed with our ‘renovators delight’ we had just purchased we found Dr Retro’s website and prayed he could give us some guidance. After just 2 hours with Alistair, his thoughts, knowledge, suggestions and contacts were just what we needed to give us the confidence to move forward without breaking the bank. We now have a spring in our step as we walk around our home to be. Thanks Alistair.

We engaged Alistair's services as we needed guidance in how to move forward in restoring the warmth and character of our mid century home. Dr. Retro arrived loaded with reference, and samples of materials appropriate for our home. He also opened up his extensive book of contacts which was invaluable. Having him over was the perfect action we needed to clear up any confusion, and point us in the right direction of where we knew we wanted to go, but needed an experts eye. We would highly recommend Dr. Retro to any body who is unsure of what direction to go with, or who is unsure of professional trades to engage for work on their home. Thank you Dr. Retro.

We recently had Alistair visit for a Dr Retro house call. It was such a valuable experience - reinforcing some of the ideas we already had for a future renovation and suggesting some new ideas we wouldn’t have even thought of. It was fantastic to be able to spend a couple of hours picking Alistair’s brain and drawing on all his experience with mid century homes. We would highly recommend his service.

We appreciated Alistair's time and generosity with his knowledge. Having a consultation with Alistair gave us lots of ideas to work towards, which was very beneficial to us both - particularly because we had no idea where to start with our house!

We moved into our 1970 built house just over two weeks ago and were thrilled to discover Alistair was making house calls in Adelaide. We jumped at the chance of showing him around and discussing lots of quirky issues and how to solve them, which he certainly did. We had a laugh at our ugly pool and he had some great ideas on how to make it a fantastic feature in the future. The house was swarming with tradies and many paint and other decisions had already been made so we really appreciated the way he took this on board and brainstormed ideas we hadn't thought of. Having his input and design experience on hand was invaluable and worth every cent as we now have some clarity and can keep moving forward with confidence.

I was confused as to where to start in fixing and improving my 1960's triple fronted brick veneer home. It's held up very well with minimal maintenance but deserves some TLC. I chose to call Dr Retro because he had knowledge about andrespect for mid century houses Alistair came well prepared with information about the house and of resources and suppliers , He was a great listener and came up with ideas that fitted with what was important to me and pointed out a problem I hadn't considered. The consultion helped me prioritize the jobs that need to be done and Alistair has given me the confidence, direction and support I needed.

We own modest post-war (ie: cream brick) house and have been struggling to work out how to best to renovate/extend it to suit our family's needs. Our recent Dr Retro House Call was incredibly helpful. Alistair gave us great advice to help clarify what may and may not be possible within our budget. He identified a few key maintenance issues and has given us a much stronger sense of direction for how we might proceed.