Guides
Concept design checklist.
The questions we work through from day one. Use it as a brief, or as a check on a design you already have.
We publish this for one reason: so you can see the thinking that happens before you're ever shown a drawing. Every new home, extension and renovation we take on gets run against this list — not because every item applies to every block, but because the ones that do are much cheaper to find now than later.
A concept that ignores slope, overlays or the cost of steel looks finished on paper and then unravels at council or at tender. Most of what's below you will never need to think about. That's rather the point — it's our job to know which of it matters to your site, and to have asked before the design goes any further.
You're welcome to use it yourself. Bring it to a consultation, or hand it to whoever is designing for you.
74checks we run
against every project
9areas, from site and
services to the small things
Project strategy
The decisions that decide whether the design is worth drawing.
- Budget alignment — Cost awareness from the first sketch, so the design doesn't run ahead of what you can build.
- Staging options — Room for a future extension or granny flat, if that's on the cards.
- How you live — Pets, hobbies, work-from-home, and the other things a template plan ignores.
- Construction method — What the slope, access and soil will actually allow.
- Risk items — Trees, easements, bushfire attack level, flood, sewer depth.
Documentation and compliance
The rules that apply to this block, found before they force a redesign.
- Overlays — Heritage, character, flood, bushfire, stormwater.
- Council design guidelines — Façade, setbacks, materials.
- NCC Volume 2 — Energy, ventilation, fire separation.
- Livable Housing Standards — Whether they apply, then door and hall widths, WC dimensions, ramps, garage access, carpark dimensions, one step-free shower.
- Driveway crossover — Width, location, street trees.
- Site coverage — Building footprint against the allowable percentage.
- Private open space — Area, dimensions, solar access.
- Neighbour impacts — Fences, retaining, windows, overshadowing.
Site and context
What the block is doing, and what it will cost to work with it.
- Levels and contours — Fall across the site, and the cut and fill that follow.
- Retaining walls — Location, height triggers, neighbour impact, cost.
- Driveway slopes — Maximum gradients, transitions, council and NCC limits.
- Turning circles — Cars, fire appliances if required, garage access.
- Overshadowing — Impact on neighbours, including winter solstice checks.
- Overlooking — Privacy, screening, window placement.
- Views — Capture the ones that matter. Avoid blocking a neighbour's where we can.
- Solar orientation — Living areas, shading, glazing ratios.
- Prevailing winds — Cross-ventilation and whether the outdoor space will actually get used.
- Noise — Roads, neighbours, air-conditioning, nearby commercial uses.
- Bushfire — BAL rating, defendable space, access, vegetation.
- Flooding and overland flow — Council flood maps and anything noted on the survey.
- Street character — Roof forms, setbacks, materials, height.
- Easements — Building exclusion zones and service access.
- Trees — Regulated or significant trees, root zones, whether they can stay.
- Construction access — Cranes, deliveries, tight sites.
Planning and layout
How the house sits on the land, and how it works day to day.
- Setbacks — Council rules and any neighbourhood plan overlays.
- Building envelope — Height limits and wall-on-boundary allowances.
- Private open space — Minimum areas and solar access.
- Car parking — Number of spaces, turning, garage width.
- Room adjacencies — What needs to sit next to what, and what needs to be quiet.
- Circulation — As little wasted corridor as the plan will allow.
- Future flexibility — Ageing in place, later extensions.
- Outdoor living — Shade, wind, privacy.
- Storage — Robes, linen, pantry, something outside.
- Acoustic separation — Bedrooms away from living, garage away from the house.
- Light and ventilation — Window placement, highlight windows, breezeways.
- Stairs — Rise and run, head height, location.
- Ceiling heights — Bulkheads, services, any feature ceilings.
Structure and buildability
Whether it can be built cleanly, without paying for complexity you don't need.
- Cost-effective construction — The simple structure that still does the job.
- Roof forms — Drainage, overshadowing, street character.
- Fire separation — Walls, roofs and openings near boundaries.
- Span limits — Avoid steel you don't need.
- Wet area stacking — Plumbing that doesn't wander across the plan.
- Service cavities — Room for ducts, pipes and electrical.
- Retaining integration — How walls meet slabs, fences and the garden.
- Construction access — Crane lifts, scaffolding, tight boundaries.
Services and infrastructure
The connections the house depends on, located before they fight the plan.
- Existing services — Confirm locations on the survey.
- SA Water — Meter location and whether an upgrade is needed.
- Sewer or septic — Connection point, depth, whether a pump is required.
- Power — Overhead or underground, pillar location, upgrade.
- NBN — Pit location and conduit paths.
- Stormwater — Legal point of discharge, overland flow, detention.
- Gas — If you want it: availability and meter location.
- Rainwater tanks — Capacity, pump, how they plumb into the house.
- Firefighting access — In a bushfire area: turning radius and tank requirements.
Aesthetic and materials
What it looks like, and what that costs to keep looking that way.
- Material palette — Durability, maintenance, cost.
- Roof colour and reflectivity — Thermal performance and any council restriction.
- Façade articulation — Depth, shadow lines, design guidelines.
- Window proportions — Consistency, performance, privacy.
- Landscape integration — Retaining, levels, usable outdoor space, screening.
Sustainability and performance
The cheap decisions, made early, that the house will keep paying back.
- Passive solar — Glazing, shading, thermal mass.
- Insulation — Walls, roof, slab edge.
- Solar and battery — Roof space, inverter location, room to add more later.
- Rainwater reuse — Toilets, laundry, irrigation.
The little things that matter
The items that get forgotten on the drawing and regretted on site.
- Air-conditioning condensers — Noise, visual impact, airflow clearance.
- Pool equipment — Noise, access, somewhere to put it.
- Hot water unit — Noise, access, solar exposure.
- Solar and battery — Orientation, shading, future expansion.
- Clothesline — Sun and privacy.
- Bin storage — A path to the street, and something to hide them behind.
Read next
More guides.
Building Designers Adelaide
What a building designer does, what we design, and how a project runs from first sketch to council approval.
Drafting Adelaide
What a full documentation set includes, and how we draft drawings your builder can price accurately.
New Home Designs Adelaide
How a custom home comes together, from consultation and concept design through to documentation and lodgement.
Sustainable House Designs Adelaide
Orientation, passive design and energy efficiency — planned early, where they cost least and do the most good.
Drafting Linden Park
Drafting and design services for homes and renovations in Linden Park and the eastern suburbs.
Drafting Strathalbyn
Drafting and building design for Strathalbyn, Mount Barker and the Adelaide Hills — sloping blocks, reactive clay and two councils.
Have a site and an idea?
Bring this list to a consultation, or we'll work through it with you.