Why Choose Us — Sonoma Design

Sonoma
Design

A new approach to
building your custom home.

Architecture to your budget.

Sonoma Design offer a fresh approach to designing and building a custom home.

Our multi-award-winning team create unique, architecturally inspired designs to our clients requirements and budget.

Our concept-to-contract model offers architecturally inspired design without the architect price tag.

Our builder led pricing model ensures your design stays on track with your budget.

Unique + Affordable.

Our designs are informed by builder pricing.

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Competitively tendered by leading builders.

Fair value plus experienced builders

Our fees are paid by the builder.

Accessible custom design. We operate a success fee model where the builder pays our fee once we have delivered a design you love that fits your budget.

Add a table for Sonoma vs competitors

Why choose Sonoma over a volume builder?

Sonoma can create a design that is perfect for you. You do not need to accept the compromises that come with a builder's mass-produced design.
Sonoma's multi-award-winning design team create unique architecturally inspired homes. Our homes do not look like they came from a volume builder. They are designed to suit your lifestyle, floorplan needs, and personal taste.
Sonoma’s builder network is established, proud, experienced custom builders.
They are artisans in their craft, with years of life experience, and are proud to put their name to every home they build.
You are treated as a client and not a number, and you will work closely with the owners and their experienced team during your home build.
Your home is designed to be perfect for your needs. You do not have to compromise with our best fit from a volume builder's catalogue. None of your neighbours will be building the same home down the street from you.
Sonoma will create a unique stunning facade for your home. So many of our past clients have loved the feelings of having the most beautiful facade in their neighbourhood.
Sonoma, ensure that your home is designed to your budget. We oversee the tender process to ensure there are no hidden costs. Our pricing is transparent, competitive, and authentic. We do not start with a cheap base price and then walk the price up by hundreds of thousands of dollars like the volume builders.
When your design is complete, a panel of our builders tender on your home build. This ensures you have not only a stunning bespoke home design but also an honest and market competitive build price.

Why choose Sonoma over a custom builder?

Most custom home builders have an internal drafting team that create basic designs similar to volume builders. Some outsource design work to an architecture firm at considerable expense to their clients.
Sonoma Design have created many award-winning custom designs and many record sale prices for the homes we have created.
If you are considering engaging a custom builder, ask to see a folio of their very best design work. We are very proud of ours.
Sonoma drives value for our clients by having our panel of custom builders, (many of whom are established custom building brands), competitively tender for your home build.

Why choose Sonoma over a building designer or architect?

Building designers and architects can create amazing design. Sadly, approximately 40% of the designs they create never get built.
This is because their model disconnects building cost from the design process.
Sonoma's business model is based on pricing feedback from builders during the design process, keeping our design projects financially viable for our clients.
Because Sonoma operates a Success-fee model (where the builder pays us a design and sales commission when your building contract is signed), our clients can access a full service design process for around one third the price of a building designer's fees.

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Who is Sonoma Design for?

…for clients that want to stand out from the crowd

Most Sonoma clients identify as not wanting a home that looks like it came from a volume builder.

A home that makes them feel proud to own.

A home with impressive street appeal.

A home that their friends and neighbours will envy them for.

Getting started is simple. Reach out through our contact form or schedule a call—we’ll walk you through the next steps and answer any questions along the way.

Unique design requirements.

Clients with a sloping site.

We combine a thoughtful, human-centered approach with clear communication and reliable results. It’s not just what we do—it’s how we do it that sets us apart.

Sonoma
FAQ

A good question. The answer is it all depends.
It can be as expensive or as affordable as you choose to make it — our process is built around giving you control over what you specify, so the final cost reflects the design and features that matter most to you.
Compared to traditional design led processes, Our custom homes are great value, because we design to your budget and remove much of the financial risk that comes with custom design: our process keeps your design on track with your budget.

Our competitive tender process also drives value for your home design.

We work with clients across a wide range of budgets, and depending on your priorities, we can help you achieve pricing comparable to a volume builder while still delivering a home that's genuinely your own.
Our costs, which are spread over two steps, depend on the scope of work for your project, but are typically between $8,000 and $12,000.
This compares favourably with custom builders and volume builders performing the same tasks, and is around a third the cost of similar processes with building designers and architects.
We can determine the cost for you after discussing the scope of your build project at our initial Design Discovery Meeting.
We offer an entry-level, affordable design service, and much of what we earn is success-based rather than charged upfront.
We back ourselves to deliver a unique, bespoke design that fits your budget, and once your project proceeds to a building contract, we're paid a design and sales commission by your builder.
This structure means you gain access to genuine custom design at an affordable entry price, while also removing much of the financial risk of budget overrun — because a meaningful part of what we earn depends on us getting the design and the numbers right for you.
Because we work with clients across a wide range of budgets and needs, there isn't a single per-square-metre rate — rather, a range.
Typically, our homes contract from $2,700 to $4,000 per square metre, depending on how refined the design is and what you specify.
Importantly, our pricing is transparent and thorough from the outset. We don't draw clients in with a low headline rate per metre, only to add hundreds of thousands of dollars in site costs and extras later to walk the price up.
Yes, we are curating a pre-designed range of homes developed from some of the many custom homes we have created for our past clients.
These will be added to our website in the coming months.
In the meantime, feel free to get in touch with us directly — we're happy to share examples of the homes that will form part of our pre-designed range.
Getting started is easy — simply reach out to us with any questions you have, or book a complimentary design discovery session to explore what's possible for your site, your vision and your budget. We'd love to hear from you and help bring your custom home to life.