Who designs custom new homes in Melbourne and on the Peninsula?

By Barbara Yerondais
Sep 26, 2026

Answering: Who designs custom new homes in Melbourne and on the Mornington Peninsula when the site, budget and planning path all have to work together?

Estimated reading time: 11 min read

Custom new homes in Melbourne and on the Mornington Peninsula are best designed by a registered architect who reads the block, prices the brief and maps the permits in the same first drawing of the fixed-fee design, before anyone sells you a floor plan. The place to start is a one-hour Feasibility Session with Barbara Yerondais, FRAIA, in person or on Zoom. With our 400+ Victorian projects and Barbara’s 35+ years in practice behind it, the site, the money and the council arrive in one conversation instead of three expensive surprises.

The trouble is that the market sells a custom home in pieces. The volume builder’s brochure looked clean until you stood on the slope, the design quote in your inbox came without a fixed fee, and the agent’s advice on the old house was to knock it down. Whether it is a sloping lot in Mount Martha, a coastal block in Rye or a tired house on a good Melbourne street, everyone has an opinion and nobody has drawn anything.

That is where custom homes go wrong. A plan chosen before the land is read can fight the slope, the overlays and the neighbours for years, and a demolition decided on instinct cannot be undone. The cure is to decide in the right order, land first and rooms last, with the rules and the money on the table before design begins.

Key Insights

  • Architects in Victoria must be registered with the Architects Registration Board of Victoria; check the public register before you pay anyone for design.
  • A single new house on a residential lot over 300 square metres is usually assessed through the building permit; a lot under 300 square metres in the main residential zones needs a planning permit, and an overlay can require one.
  • In the Mornington Peninsula’s Green Wedge Zone, every new or replacement house needs a planning permit, and there is no entitlement to build on rural land.
  • New homes in designated bushfire prone areas must be built to a bushfire attack level, and new Victorian homes have had to meet the 7-star energy standard since 1 May 2024.
  • BY Projects Architecture fixes its design fee at engagement and draws your budget beside your dream, so the scope stays your call.

Every custom home has to answer three questions before it is drawn, and a fourth when a house already stands on the block.

What has to work A straight answer The warning sign
Site: what will this block accept? Report, title, overlays, slope, sun and soil, read before any plan A brochure plan chosen before anyone walks the land
Budget: what will it cost, all in? Budget and dream side by side, site costs included, design fee fixed in writing A per-square-metre price with no site works
Planning path: which approvals, in what order? Permits, their triggers, planning before building, an honest clock A promised approval date
Existing house: keep, extend or replace? Both futures drawn and compared first Knock-down advice from someone paid more for the bigger job

Table of Contents

1. Read the block first, draw the house second

A custom home starts with the land. Before a line is drawn, pull the free planning property report: Planning Victoria’s summary shows the zone, every overlay, Victorian Heritage Register status and whether the land sits in a designated bushfire prone area. Add the title, a level survey and soil information, then read the land itself: sun, view, water and what the neighbours see.

That reading sets the shape of the house. At Military Road, a two-storey new home we designed in Avondale Heights, the long views and the local overlooking rules shaped the plan before any room was placed: window pods project towards the horizon, and louvred eaves hold privacy on both sides. That is why the first paid stage of our architect-designed homes work, which begins once you engage us, reads sun, slope, neighbours, overlays and services before anything else.

2. Know when council gets a say, and in what order

Many owners assume council approves every new house, but that depends on the lot, the zone and the overlays. Under Planning Victoria’s single home code, a single dwelling on a residential lot under 300 square metres needs a planning permit, while on a lot over 300 square metres it is, in most cases, assessed through the building permit instead. Overlays can change that: the Bushfire Management Overlay triggers planning permit requirements of its own.

Green wedge land is stricter again. Mornington Peninsula Shire requires a planning permit for every new or replacement dwelling in the Green Wedge Zone, says there is no entitlement to build a house on rural land, and asks whether a design avoids putting the highest part of the house on the highest part of the site. Where both permits are needed, planning comes first. The Shire also publishes its own clock: its About planning page, updated monthly, currently lists standard applications at an average of 102 calendar days (a median of 84), against a 60-day statutory timeframe that excludes time spent answering council’s requests for information. Our Mornington Peninsula page shows how we read the overlay stack as one design problem.

3. Draw bushfire and salt air into the design

The property report carries two bushfire flags. In a designated bushfire prone area, a new home must be built to a bushfire attack level under AS 3959, from BAL-LOW up to BAL-FZ, the flame zone, and Planning Victoria notes that this construction standard can add materials and labour to the cost. Inside the Bushfire Management Overlay, the planning permit adds defendable space, water supply and access requirements.

None of that belongs at tender. The attack level shapes glazing, cladding and decks; the overlay shapes the driveway, the managed space around the house and the water supply. Coastal blocks add salt, wind and sun, so durability, corrosion and wind loading become design inputs, and fixings and finishes are chosen for the decades ahead. Once you engage us, we settle the bushfire position in the first design stage, while the house is still a sketch.

4. Put your budget and your dream side by side

Budget is a design input from the first design stage. Victoria’s building regulator tells home owners plainly that custom work will increase the cost of work, so the useful question is what the extra buys on your block. We answer it on paper. Once you engage us, Barbara draws two versions, what your budget builds and what your dream costs, with a shopping list between them so you decide which rooms, finishes and moves earn their place.

Site costs belong on the same page from the start: retaining, drainage, access, services, bushfire construction and consultants’ reports. A per-square-metre figure that leaves them out tells you little about your block. The gap between budget and dream is the real brief, and it is far cheaper to close on paper than on site.

5. Fix the design fee before the pencil moves

We agree the design fee at engagement and stage it, starting with schematics, so you know the number before the drawings grow. Because the fee is fixed rather than a percentage of the build, a bigger construction budget does not enlarge it, which keeps our advice straight when a bigger house is on the table.

Fixed does not mean cheapest: a small job can look expensive under a fixed fee, and we will say so at the start. Our guide to fixed-fee architecture compares fixed, percentage and hourly fees, and what each one does when the construction budget moves.

6. Answer the knock-down question on its merits

If a house already stands on the block, the first design decision is whether it stays. Keep, extend or replace comes down to three questions: what fixing the old house properly would cost, what a new house on the same block would give you, and which path serves the next twenty years. Draw both futures before you choose.

Sometimes the house cannot be saved, and the new home should start from the site, with orientation settled before the plan. Sometimes it deserves to stay, and our fixed fee gives us no reason to argue otherwise. Two local wrinkles matter. A Heritage Overlay changes the question entirely, as our guide to renovating or rebuilding under a Heritage Overlay explains, and on green wedge land a replacement house needs its own planning permit.

7. Design for comfort, and clear 7 stars on the way

Since 1 May 2024, new homes in Victoria have had to meet the National Construction Code’s 7-star energy standard, plus a whole-of-home energy budget covering fixed appliances such as heating and cooling, hot water and lighting. Treat that as the floor the law sets.

Comfort is the goal, and most of it is decided early. Orientation, insulation, draught control, well-placed glazing and thermal mass cost least when they are drawn into the first sketch of the staged design. We borrow that building science freely, and we still design windows that open, so a cool change can do the work before a machine has to. A rating guides the house; how it feels on a February afternoon is the reason it exists.

Closing

The right designer for a custom home in Melbourne or on the Mornington Peninsula reads the block first, tells you when council gets a say, draws bushfire and weather into the design from the start, prices the dream beside the budget, fixes the fee and answers the knock-down question straight. Repeat clients from an earlier Northcote project have come back to us for their new home in Carrum.

If your block is waiting, or you are weighing one before settlement, book a Feasibility Session. In one hour with Barbara Yerondais, FRAIA, in person or on Zoom, you’ll talk through your site, budget and planning timelines, and leave knowing what’s realistic and what your next step is. There’s no obligation to go further.

Frequently asked questions about custom homes in Melbourne and on the Peninsula

Q: Do I need an architect to design a custom home in Victoria?

A: Not by law. Architects, building designers and draftspeople can all design homes, but construction drawings must come from an architect registered with the Architects Registration Board of Victoria or a designer or draftsperson registered with the Building and Plumbing Commission (formerly the Victorian Building Authority), as Consumer Affairs Victoria explains. The architect’s title is protected: if someone is not on the ARBV register, they are not an architect. At BY Projects Architecture, even the first session is a conversation with a registered architect.

Q: Does a new house on the Mornington Peninsula always need a planning permit?

A: Not always. On a residential lot over 300 square metres, a single new house is, in most cases, assessed through the building permit, but an overlay such as the Bushfire Management Overlay can require a planning permit, and in the Green Wedge Zone every new or replacement dwelling needs one. Start with the planning property report, then confirm the controls for your lot with the Shire before design begins.

Q: Can we book a Feasibility Session before we buy a block on the Peninsula?

A: Yes. Pre-purchase feasibility is one of the project types on our booking form, and before settlement is when a straight answer is worth most. The session is a one-hour conversation with Barbara Yerondais, FRAIA, in person or on Zoom, and there is no obligation.

Q: Can you tell me what a custom home will cost before it is designed?

A: Not from a rate card. Construction cost follows the site, the scope and the specification, and bushfire construction or a steep slope can move it a long way. What we fix early is our design fee, agreed at engagement. Staged design work then shows what your budget builds beside what your dream costs, so the first real number you work with belongs to your block.

About BY Projects Architecture

BY Projects Architecture is a Melbourne practice led by Barbara Yerondais, FRAIA, who brings 35+ years in practice, and our team has delivered 400+ projects across Victoria. We design new homes, renovations and difficult sites on fixed fees, bringing site, soul, and structural intelligence to each one.

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About the Author

Barbara Yerondais, FRAIA, is the founder of BY Projects Architecture. With 35+ years of experience, she specializes in sustainable, community-focused design and heritage restoration. A dedicated mentor and rower, Barbara balances her high-impact Melbourne practice with a passion for social inclusion and passive, energy-saving design.

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