About
A building design studio built around approvals
PlanLand is a Sydney building design studio working across residential, commercial and industrial projects. We trade as Newton Teale Consulting Pty Ltd.
What we do sits between two things people understand better. An architect designs; a draftsperson documents. We do both, and the part in the middle that neither of them owns — reading the planning controls that apply to your particular lot and designing something that satisfies them without giving up what you actually wanted.
What that's worth, in numbers
Published Sydney fees for design work run roughly like this: a draftsperson charges 1–2% of the construction cost, a building designer 3–5%, an architect 8–15%. Those are the public bands, and they're a reasonable guide to what you get for each.
| Discipline | Typical fee | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Draftsperson | 1–2% | Documentation of a design someone else resolved |
| Building designer | 3–5% | Design and documentation, planning judgement included |
| Architect | 8–15% | Full service — design, interiors, contract administration |
| PlanLand | ~1–3% | Building-designer scope, documented like a draftsperson |
We're priced as a building designer and we document like a draftsperson, which is the point — you get design judgement on the planning problem and a set of drawings a certifier will accept, without paying for contract administration and interiors you weren't asking for.
Where our depth actually is
Every council reads its own DCP differently, and the difference is not academic. A control that Sutherland Shire treats as a guideline, Woollahra treats as a refusal reason. Most of our work is in Sydney's south and east, and the reason clients come back is that we already know how their council behaves before we open the file.
The technical ground we're deepest in:
- SEPP (Housing) 2021 and secondary dwellings
- The Low Rise Housing Diversity Code
- The low- and mid-rise housing reforms
- Complying development under the Codes SEPP
Related businesses
PlanLand works alongside Flat Grannys for secondary dwelling design, and National Drafting, National BIM and National Steel Detailing for documentation and detailing.
Have a site you're weighing up?
Send us the address and we'll tell you what it can carry.