Philip Leeson Architects

Philip Leeson Architects (PLA) designed and oversaw the construction of our knockdown rebuild. We thought it would be helpful to share our experience. From our first meeting, PLA impressed us with their deep commitment both to good design and achieving value for money, on the back of a diverse and highly experienced team. After engaging them to build our house, we had lots of fun collaborating on several iterations of the design until we settled on something that met our needs, while also remaining within budget. Then, in a period of high inflation and routine cost blowouts across the industry, PLA and the builder completed our 5 bedroom house in 9 months, with no surprises. Throughout construction, minor changes were made to the design in response to developments and emerging issues, and with satisfying attention to detail. PLA also resolved some unexpected financial and contract management issues in a stress-free manner. Comparing our experience with friends, we doubt it would have been more cost effective or efficient to have gone with a custom builder, despite up-front promises of lower prices. Since moving in, we have come to fully appreciate what PLA was able to achieve for us. Beyond the form and function, we’re regularly inspired by unique details of the house. The view from a window, the interplay between indoor and outdoor, a piece of craftsmanship – it all points to a cohesive, artistic vision, in dialogue with the environment and our needs as a family. We would recommend PLA to anyone looking to build a quality home.

We thought carefully before choosing an architect to design a small extension which would provide us the extra space and function we sought, while respecting the cultural built environment of our neighbourhood. We wanted to connect the house to an old existing red brick garage ( different roof levels) plus there is a 60 year old magnolia tree in the centre of the property that needed root protection during construction. It was what was termed “ a messy build!” The team of Philip Leeson, Claire Reece, and Kate Montgomery did a superlative job and were a delight to work with. They understood how we wanted to use the house and the importance to us of how the extensions would sit in the landscape. Their professionalism, together with a great builder resulted in a wonderful outcome and a house that is now a joy to live in.

After shopping around for a suitable architect we settled on Philip Leeson Architects. Over several months we have been working with an architect (Sarah Truscott) from this company and couldn't be happier with how the process has gone so far (the house plans are currently being costed). Philip and Sarah have taken the time to really listen and understand our requirements (they even visited our current home to see how we live and what does and doesn't work for us in this house). Our brief was for a single level, solar passive (low-cost to run) family home for 5 that can also accommodate one of our three sons (who has special needs) as he grows into an adult - down the track we want the ability to section off part of the house for our son and a carer. Also, due to the care requirements for our son we are not a family that is able to go on vacations or travel, so in that respect our home is even more important than it would be for other families, as we can't take a break from it. Our home needs to cater to each family member's interests - for my husband that is a BIG garage (Philip and Sarah only really understood this when they saw all that our current garage contains!), for me it is a study/craft room and for my eldest child it is a separate space for LEGO. During the planning stage the value of engaging an architect has become very obvious - the puzzle of how to design a house to meet a variety of needs is not one that we could ever have come up with ourselves.