Building Designer or Architect? The Difference in Queensland

The short version: an architect and a building designer can both design your house in Queensland. The title and the regulator are different. The quality of the documentation, and whether the design is managed against your budget, matters far more than which one you choose.

The difference in plain terms

• Title: "architect" is a protected title in Queensland. Only a person registered with the Board of Architects of Queensland can use it. "Building designer" is a general description, but the work is still regulated
• Regulator: architects are registered with the Board of Architects of Queensland. Building designers who design for an owner are licensed by the QBCC. Work done by an architect or engineer in their professional practice is exempt from QBCC licensing
• Training: architects complete an accredited architecture degree, supervised experience and a registration exam. Building designers hold design qualifications and experience that meet the QBCC licence requirements
• Insurance: both are expected to carry professional indemnity insurance. Ask to see it
• What you can ask for: both can design, prepare drawings and lodge for approval. What each includes beyond that depends on the practice and the fee, not the title

Neither title tells you how good the documentation will be, how well the design will be managed against your budget, or how the practice handles the builder once construction starts. Those are questions about the individual practice. Ask for their registration or licence number and check it with the Board or the QBCC.

Complex sites are not limited to one title

It used to be assumed that architects took the complex sites and building designers took the straightforward ones. That no longer holds. Many building designers now take on sloping and constrained sites, large custom homes and difficult renovations, and some produce outstanding work. Choose on the practice's portfolio of similar projects and the quality of its documentation, not on the title.

Contract administration: be cautious about who does it

Some practices offer to administer the building contract for you, assessing progress claims, certifying completion and ruling on variations. We would normally discourage having the designer do this. The designer is not an impartial party. They prepared the documents, so they are being asked to rule on disputes that can arise from gaps or errors in their own drawings, and they are paid by you. A variation caused by an unclear drawing is a conflict of interest waiting to happen.

It is often better to have independent cost and contract oversight, so that claims and variations are assessed by someone with no stake in how the documents were prepared. See ABIC, HIA and Master Builders contracts explained for how contract administration works under each form.

Documentation decides the outcome

The level of detail in the drawings varies by practitioner, not by title. And it is the single most important factor in whether your build comes in on budget. A builder prices what is drawn and specified. Where the documents are silent, the builder has three options, and each one costs you: allow a provisional sum, which is a guess you carry the risk on, add an exclusion or qualification, or price the risk and add a contingency.

Thin documentation does not remove cost. It moves it from the quote to the variations, after the contract is signed, when you have the least leverage. A thorough set removes that gap. It lets builders price like for like, shows up conflicts while they are cheap to fix, and means the number you sign is close to the number you pay.

At the point of tender, a well-documented house should include:

• Fully dimensioned plans, elevations and sections, with details for the junctions that carry cost and risk
• Structural engineering, coordinated with the architectural drawings, not added afterwards
• A specification and schedules for finishes, fixtures, windows and doors, with named products and quantities where cost depends on them
• Services drawings or clear allowances for hydraulic, electrical and any specialist work
• Site information: survey, soil report, and any bushfire, flood or overlay constraints
• Clear external works scope: retaining, drainage, driveway and landscaping

Ask any designer or architect to show you a sample drawing set from a recently built project. If it would leave a builder guessing, it will leave you paying for the guess. For more on what each level of drawings means for pricing, see what your drawings actually mean, and for how builders handle gaps, see how to read a builder quote and why variations happen.

Managing the design against budget

The most important question to put to a designer or architect is not about the title. It is how they will keep the design in line with your budget while it is being designed. Many designers have no process for this. They design to the brief, a builder prices it at the end, and the gap is found when it is expensive to close. See the true cost of redesign for what that costs.

Builder Intelligence works alongside your designer or architect through the design phase, testing the design against a builder-informed cost position at each stage, so budget pressure is found and resolved while changes are still cheap. It does not replace your designer. It gives them the cost signal they usually do not have.

Questions to ask before you engage either

• What is your registration or licence number, and can I see your professional indemnity insurance?
• What is your process for keeping the design in line with my budget throughout the design, and how often will the design be tested against cost?
• What level of documentation will I have at tender, and can I see a sample set from a built project?
• Do you coordinate structural and services drawings with the architectural set before tender?
• What exactly is included in the fee, and what is extra?
• Will an independent party, rather than you, assess builder claims and variations?