Independent architect review · Australia
Your builder's plan, marked up by an architect.
Before you sign, send us your floor plan. A registered architect assesses its thermal and acoustic comfort and sends you a one-page report with five specific changes while they still cost nothing to make.
$200 flat. One plan, one report, five changes. Delivered in 3 business days.
RMP-01 / THERMAL
Glazing-to-floor ratio
Volume plans often carry more glass than the rooms need, and often in the wrong walls. We measure your glazing against floor area, wall by wall, and flag where it will leak heat in winter and pour it in over summer.
Glass is the weakest part of any wall. Where it faces matters more than how much you have.RMP-02 / ORIENTATION
Orientation of living spaces
Standard plans are drawn to suit any block. Yours faces one way. We check whether your living areas capture northern sun, and whether bedrooms and garages are doing the shielding work they could be.
The cheapest heater in Australia is a north-facing window with an eave over it.RMP-03 / THERMAL
Thermal comfort
Beyond the star rating: zoning between living and sleeping, cross-ventilation paths, shading and eaves, and whether the plan will stay comfortable through a heatwave and a cold snap.
A compliant plan and a comfortable house are not the same thing.RMP-04 / ACOUSTIC
Acoustic performance
Open-plan living, tiled floors, square rooms and hard plasterboard everywhere: a recipe for echo and noise transfer. We assess the extent of hard surfaces and how sound will travel between living and sleeping zones.
If you can hear the dishwasher from the master bed, the plan told you it would happen.Step 1 / You send
Upload your plan
The PDF floor plan from your builder, plus your block's orientation (a screenshot of your lot on Google Maps is perfect). Takes five minutes.
Step 2 / We review
An architect assesses it
Every plan is reviewed personally by a registered architect against the four criteria: glazing ratio, orientation, thermal comfort and acoustics. A person reads it, with your block's orientation on the desk.
Step 3 / You receive
One page, five changes
A plain-English report with your five highest-value changes, ranked, with the reasoning behind each, ready to take back to your builder before contract.
Changes on paper cost nothing. Changes on site cost thousands.
Most volume-builder plans are drawn once and sold everywhere. None of them were drawn for your block. The window to fix that closes the day you sign.
Your report gives you:
- Five specific changes, ranked by value
- The reasoning behind each, in plain English
- Wording you can take straight to your builder
- Your appliance mix checked against the NCC's Whole of Home 60-point budget
- A single page you can actually read and act on
Plan Review
Lot 47 · Example StMirror the plan on your block. Flipping the design puts living areas on the north side. Usually free, and the single biggest comfort gain on the list.
Delete the west-facing window in the living room. Replace with a highlight window. Cuts summer afternoon heat gain dramatically.
Add a 600mm eave over north glazing. Shades summer sun, admits winter sun. Ask for it as a variation before contract.
Carpet the bedrooms and hallway. Breaks the hard-surface run from living zone to sleeping zone and quiets the whole house.
Add a door between hall and living. One door creates an acoustic and thermal zone break, so you heat the space you're in rather than the whole plan.
The NCC gives your home an energy budget. Your appliances spend it.
Under NCC 2022, new homes need a Whole of Home score of 60 out of 100: a budget covering your heating, cooling, hot water and pool equipment. The typical volume-build spec sheet (gas hot water, gas cooktop, no fans, no solar) starts behind. Pick your appliances below and watch the score move.
Heat pump hot water, reverse-cycle and fans clear 60 before a single panel goes on the roof.
Indicative only. Your formal Whole of Home score is calculated in accredited NatHERS software as part of your energy assessment, and varies with climate zone, home size and appliance efficiency ratings (NSW uses BASIX). This tool shows the direction and rough size of each appliance decision. The paid review checks your actual spec sheet against it.
One plan. One page. Five changes.
Reviewed personally by a registered architect and delivered within three business days. If your plan is already excellent, your report will say so, and list the five things worth confirming with your builder anyway.
Probably the cheapest line item in your entire build.
Plan received
Thanks. Your plan is in the review queue. You'll receive your one-page report by email within three business days. Check your inbox for a receipt and confirmation.
An architect in your corner, without the architect's fee.
Rate My Plan is run by a registered architect with two decades of experience in Australian residential design and construction. Most people building with a volume builder will never talk to an architect, and mostly they don't need to. But a plan review before you sign is the one moment where an hour of an architect's eye changes how your house feels for the next thirty years.
Volume builders deliver homes at a price architects can't match; no argument there. The review exists for one gap: a standard plan placed on a specific block, with nobody checking the fit. Five practical changes, framed so your builder can say yes.
Will my builder actually accept these changes?
Most of them, yes. That's the point of the timing. Mirroring a plan, deleting a window, adding an eave or a door are routine variations before contract. We frame each recommendation as a change your builder can price, not a redesign they'll refuse. Structural changes to a volume plan are harder, so we prioritise high-value, low-friction moves.
What do I need to send you?
Two things: the floor plan PDF your builder gave you, and something showing which way your block faces. A screenshot of your lot on Google Maps with the street name visible is perfect. If you have the site plan, even better.
What's a Whole of Home score?
Since NCC 2022, new homes need two things: a thermal rating for the building fabric (the star rating) and a Whole of Home score of 60/100 covering the energy your appliances use: heating, cooling, hot water and pool equipment. Efficient electric appliances (heat pump hot water, reverse-cycle air conditioning, ceiling fans) score far better than gas, and solar PV adds on top. Try the calculator above to see how your spec sheet lands. The typical builder default starts under the line.
Is this a NatHERS or energy assessment?
No. Your builder will arrange the formal energy assessment your approval requires. This is different: an independent design review of comfort, which a star rating doesn't fully capture. A 7-star house can still have a south-facing living room and echo like a squash court. We look at how the plan will actually feel to live in.
What if my plan is already good?
Then your report will tell you that, which is worth knowing before you sign. You'll still get five recommendations: sometimes they're refinements, sometimes they're things to confirm with your builder (eave depths, glazing spec, floor finishes) so the good plan gets built as drawn.
Why only one page?
Because you'll read one page. A forty-page report gets filed; a one-page report gets taken to the builder's sales office. Five ranked changes with clear reasoning is what you can act on in the two weeks before contract.
How long does it take?
Three business days from payment. If you're up against a signing deadline, mention it in the notes when you order and we'll do our best to prioritise your review.