How many design revisions are included before a design freeze?

What is a design freeze?

A design freeze is the moment you sign off the design as final, so the team can document it in detail, take it through approval and price it for construction. The Australian Government's YourHome guide describes this as the final design stage, where you finalise and sign off every aspect of the design. It also warns that changes made after that sign-off are likely to add to design or building costs.

The freeze matters because so much work rests on it. Engineers size the structure from the frozen plans, the specification lists the materials and fittings they show and the builder prices exactly that house. A change after the freeze can ripple through every one of those documents, which is why it is likely to cost more than the same change made at concept stage.

How many design revisions should you expect?

The number of revisions is a matter for your agreement. In NSW the Code of Professional Conduct does not set a number. It does require an architect's agreement to explain how a change to the services will affect the fees and how the architect will obtain your authority to make it.

The board's standard terms show how this works in practice. A request to depart from a concept or scope agreed at an earlier stage is a redesign variation. The architect must then explain it in writing with its cost or, where that cannot reasonably be set in advance, how it will be valued. The examples include adding a swimming pool or a window after the concept stage or raising a ceiling height. A significant change to the character of the design or the quality of its materials counts too.

YourHome makes a similar point about options. Designers often prepare several concepts for you to weigh against the brief, while each additional concept they develop may increase the design fees. Before you sign, ask how many concept options and rounds of changes each stage includes, what counts as a redesign and how extra work is priced.

What happens if you change the design after the freeze?

You can still change the design after a freeze, although the cost and the paperwork tend to grow with each stage the project has passed. Before approval, a change means redrawing and perhaps updating consultant reports. After approval, ask your architect whether the change needs the approval itself to be modified before it can be built.

Once the building contract is signed, changes to its agreed work or plans become variations. For work over $20,000 the NSW Government requires any agreement to vary the contract or its plans and specifications to be in writing and signed by you and your builder. That protects you both, because the builder should set out the extra cost and any extra time before the varied work begins.

How to make each revision count

The surest way to need fewer revisions is a brief that is clear before design starts. The NSW Architects Registration Board's guide to working with your architect advises making changes early, asking the architect to explain early sketch designs and giving instructions in writing.

YourHome suggests spending time picturing your household living in the developing design. It also notes that some people build a simple cardboard model to understand the form, views and sunlight. Gather all your comments on each round into one response, so the next drawing answers everything at once instead of a series of single requests.

How we handle design changes at SHORE

At SHORE Design + Build our builders sit in the same studio as our architect and price the concept as it takes shape. We refine the budget as each decision lands during design development, so you see what a change means for cost while it is still on paper.

The same thinking carries into the build. We hold walkthroughs at the lockup stage, while a change is still a conversation rather than a variation. To see how each design stage leads to the next, explore design and build in Sydney with us.