One of the first decisions in any building project is who you’ll work with to design it — and one of the first questions on your mind is almost certainly what it’s going to cost. Building designers and architects both create the plans that shape a finished home or building, but they operate under different licensing frameworks, different fee structures, and tend to suit different kinds of projects. Here’s how the two compare, role by role and dollar by dollar, so you can make the right call for your project.

What a Building Designer Does

A building designer prepares the design and documentation for a project — concept plans, elevations, material selections, and the detailed construction drawings needed for council approval and building. In Queensland, building designers are licensed by the QBCC, with training focused heavily on residential and light commercial design, construction documentation, and the practicalities of the approvals process.

What an Architect Does

Architects are registered under architecture-specific legislation in each state, following a longer accredited education pathway (typically a five-year degree) plus a formal registration process and ongoing professional development requirements. Architectural training often emphasises a broader design and theoretical foundation, and architects are commonly engaged for larger, more complex, or more architecturally ambitious projects — significant commercial buildings, cultural and civic projects, or high-end residential work with unusual complexity.

Where the Two Roles Overlap — and Where They Don’t

For a great deal of residential work — new homes, renovations, extensions, granny flats, and small-to-medium multi-residential projects — a building designer’s licensing, training, and experience are squarely suited to the job, often at a more accessible fee structure than an architect. Where a project moves into greater scale, complexity, or architectural ambition, engaging a registered architect (or an architect working alongside a building designer) may be the better fit.

How Architect Fees Work

Architect fees for residential projects are commonly based on a percentage of your construction cost, typically in the range of 10–15% for a full design service. It’s a fair model in principle — bigger, more complex projects take more work — but it also means the dollar figure can climb fast as your build price grows, and design changes along the way are often billed separately on top.

Our All-Inclusive Design Fee

We price the same way — as a percentage of your project’s estimated value — because the amount of design work involved genuinely does scale with the size and complexity of a build, not a flat rate regardless of project. The difference is the number. Across our full process — Concept, Working Drawings and Interior Design — our design fees typically total 3.5–4.5% of your build price. Getting started with Stage 1: Building Design is just 1.0–1.5% of that, so you know exactly what the first step costs, and roughly what the rest of the process will cost, before you commit to anything further.

That total figure is also genuinely all-inclusive. Interior design isn’t a separate consultant or a separate fee bolted on later — it’s part of the one process, with the one team, from concept through to the finishes that go on site.

Beyond Standard Plans: True-to-Build 3D Modelling

Most building designers, and even many architects, hand you black-and-white plans and leave interior design out of the picture entirely. Our plans, elevations and True-to-Build 3D Models are built to actually represent the finished outcome — real finishes, real furniture, real layout — so you can see and understand how a space will actually look and function before a single wall is built, not just read a floor plan and guess. That level of detail also means builders and trades on site are pricing and building from documentation that leaves far less to interpretation, which means fewer surprises and variations once construction starts.

Design Backed by Real, Award-Winning Construction Experience

Most people who design your home have never built one. Ray Hattin, founder and director of Story+Lab, brings genuine, award-winning on-site construction experience into every design — not just design software. That hands-on background directly shapes the decisions made at the drawing board, balancing buildability alongside functionality and aesthetics, so the finished design isn’t just something that looks right on screen, it’s something that works in reality, on your site, for your builder.

On our Milton project, that construction background meant more than just accurate documentation. As part of the design and planning process, we worked with the builder to develop a construction method that slid the original Queenslander to the back of the block, allowing large machinery to complete the excavation, retaining and concrete works before the house was slid back into position and carpentry began. It’s the kind of solution that only comes from understanding a build from both sides — design and construction — and it’s exactly the combination that sets Story+Lab apart. You can see the full project here.

Questions to Help You Decide

• What’s the scope and scale of your project? A single dwelling, renovation, or small development sits comfortably within a building designer’s scope. A large or architecturally complex commercial or civic project often calls for a registered architect.
• What’s your budget? Building designer fees are often more accessible, which matters for many residential and small commercial budgets.
• How important is a highly bespoke architectural statement? If the brief calls for a genuinely unconventional design pushing structural or aesthetic boundaries, an architect’s training may be the better fit.
• What does your local council require? Some jurisdictions or project types have specific requirements about who can certify certain classes of building work — worth checking early.

Where Story+Lab Fits

Story+Lab operates under a QBCC medium-rise building design licence (15425541). We are not a registered architecture practice, and we don’t describe our services as architectural — our focus is building design: new homes, renovations and extensions, granny flats, dual occupancy, interior design, and townhouse and low-rise multi-residential projects, along with select commercial work, backed by genuine construction experience and True-to-Build 3D Modelling built into the one process. If a project’s scale or complexity genuinely calls for a registered architect, we’ll say so plainly and help point you in the right direction rather than take on work outside our scope.

FAQs

Can a building designer manage council approvals?
Yes — managing the approvals process, including liaising with council or a private certifier, is a core part of a building designer’s role.

Is a building designer cheaper than an architect?
Yes — architect fees are commonly 10–15% of construction cost, while our design fees typically total 3.5–4.5% across the whole process, from concept through to working drawings and interiors.

Can I use both a building designer and an architect on one project?
Yes — on some larger or more complex projects, a building designer and architect work alongside each other, each contributing where their expertise best fits.

Does Story+Lab do architectural work?
No — Story+Lab is licensed as a building designer (QBCC 15425541), not a registered architecture practice, and we’re upfront about the distinction with every client.

Ready to Talk?

Both building designers and architects play a valuable role in bringing a building to life — the right choice comes down to your project’s scale, budget, and ambition. Book a discovery call and we’ll put together a tailored fee proposal for your project, so you have a straightforward view of what it needs and exactly what Stage 1 costs before you commit to anything.