Renovation Architects Melbourne

Every Melbourne era renovated, priced at feasibility, fixed fee from day one.

Renovation is this practice's daily bread: taking a house that half-works and finishing the sentence. Not decorating, and not demolition under a gentler name, but replanning, with light, structure and services rethought so the home you already own becomes the home you actually need.

FIXED FEES | 35+ YEARS | 400+ VICTORIAN PROJECTS | REGISTERED ARCHITECT (FRAIA)

EVERY ERA MELBOURNE BUILT

BY Projects Architecture has renovated across every era Melbourne built, from Victorian terraces to postwar brick veneers to 1990s apartments, through 400+ Victorian projects over 35+ years. The practice is led by Barbara Yerondais FRAIA, a registered architect, with fees agreed and fixed before any drawing starts.

35+

YEARS

400+

PROJECTS

59+

HERITAGE APPROVALS

ERA

Every era,
its own playbook

A renovation succeeds by understanding what it renovates.

Victorian

Victorians want light let into cellular plans without losing the rooms that make them worth owning.

Edwardian

Edwardians want their generous bones decluttered rather than added to.

Interwar

Interwar homes often need decades of ad-hoc additions consolidated into one coherent plan, which is what our Nevis House project in Camberwell did.

Postwar

Postwar brick veneers hide good family homes inside ordinary shells, as our Altona transformation showed.

Mid-century

Mid-century units reward respectful reinvention, which is the job at our 2025 Harvey Street project in Malvern.

One practice, five playbooks, all delivered.

WHY AN ARCHITECT

What design authority
actually buys

A builder can build what is drawn. The question is who decides what gets drawn, and how many times.

An architect-led renovation resolves the hard decisions on paper, where changing your mind costs an afternoon, rather than on site, where it costs a variation. It also puts one person in charge of the whole picture: the plan, the structure, the light, the services, the permit strategy and the trades, answering to you rather than to each other. On a renovation of any real scope, that single point of authority is the difference between a project and a series of arguments.

COST

What renovation
honestly costs

Across BY Projects' delivered work, renovation budgets have ranged from approximately $250,000 to $570,000. Those are portfolio examples rather than a Melbourne price guide: scope and site drive the real number, and the feasibility session gives you one for your project.

A renovation designed once costs less than one redesigned on site. Replanning on paper is where the budget is protected.

Renovating this year, or just circling it?

Book a feasibility session and the real scope for your house takes an hour to draw.

BOOK A FEASIBILITY SESSION

PERMITS

When a renovation
needs permission

Internal work in an unprotected house is often exempt from planning approval, though a building permit is a separate question and usually still applies. The moment you touch the external form, the footprint or a property carrying an overlay, the planning scheme has an opinion.

We establish your property's exact position before drawing anything substantial, so the design is built for its assessment rather than adjusted after it. Where your home carries a Heritage Overlay, the renovation runs through the practice's deepest lane: 59+ heritage approvals, with dedicated pages for heritage extensions and protected properties.

OUTCOME

What you get
at the end

A house that works as one house, rather than as a good idea attached to an old plan. Light where your family actually spends its time. Rooms sized for how you live now instead of how somebody lived in 1915. Running costs brought down by orientation, glazing and insulation decided at sketch stage. And a program you were given straight at the start.

COMMON QUESTIONS

Renovation questions,
answered honestly

What does an architect-designed renovation cost in Melbourne?

Across BY Projects' delivered work, renovation budgets have ranged from approximately $250,000 to $570,000. Portfolio examples rather than a price guide: scope and site drive the real number, and the feasibility session gives you one for your project.

Do I need an architect, or just a builder?

For cosmetic work, a good builder may be all you need. For replanning, structure, light, or anything touching permits and overlays, design authority pays for itself once on paper instead of repeatedly on site.

How disruptive is a major renovation?

Plainly, substantial. Staging, and sometimes moving out, gets planned at design stage rather than discovered mid-build, and the program we give you is the real one.

Which Melbourne eras do you renovate?

All of them, with delivered examples this decade across interwar, postwar, mid-century and heritage Victorian stock, from Camberwell to Altona to Malvern to Richmond.

Do I need a planning permit to renovate?

Often not for internal work on an unprotected house, though a building permit is usually still required. External changes, footprint changes and any property under an overlay generally do need one. We confirm your property's position before design starts.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE

Useful renovation
resources

Planning Victoria

Permits, setbacks and overlays.

Victorian Heritage Database

Check your property before you plan.

Renovation articles

Living with and maintaining a protected home.

Start with the house
you already own

A full one-hour feasibility session with Barbara, in person: your house, its real scope, and a straight recommendation. She sketches while you work through budget, logistics and planning timelines together, and the drawn concept is yours to keep. No obligation, fixed fees from there.

Renovations planned now build next year, and renovations planned next year build the one after. The queue is real and it moves in order.

BOOK A FEASIBILITY SESSION

Start the Conversation

Every project begins with a deep inquiry into site, heritage, and vision. Let’s discuss the strategic potential of your next work.

SCHEDULE A FEASIBILITY SESSION →

A PRELIMINARY CONSULTATION TO EVALUATE HERITAGE CONSTRAINTS, SITE POTENTIAL, AND PROJECT FEASIBILITY.