Free home designs

Our free Design For Place home designs will help you create an energy-efficient, sustainable home that suits your climate and lifestyle.

Design For Place designs:

• are designed by an architect in collaboration with an energy assessor
• provide tailored options to suit different climates across Australia
• can be customised to suit your needs, lifestyle, block orientation and local requirements
• meet new Australian building standards, including achieving a minimum thermal performance rating of 7 stars under the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) and Whole of Home (WoH) performance rating of 60 out of 100
• include options to improve your home’s NatHERS star and WoH ratings and therefore reduce energy bills
• use common construction materials and techniques to keep costs down

Latest updates

Design For Place has been updated and expanded to meet new Australian building standards. The latest updates include:

• The Grevillea and the Mallee designs have joined the suite. These two new three-bedroom home plans are adapted for different block orientations 
• All designs reflect the new National Construction Code 2022 requirements for energy efficiency and liveable house provisions to improve accessibility
• Introduction of the NatHERS Whole of Home energy efficiency rating system, including appliance and solar PV selections.

Creating a comfortable home

Design For Place home designs are a set of five energy-efficient homes that can be used as-is or customised to suit your needs. They have been designed by an architect in collaboration with an energy assessor to create homes with well-designed, comfortable and practical spaces.

Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme

Each design comes with predicted Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) ratings to meet minimum energy performance standards.

The NatHERS thermal performance star rating system estimates the energy efficiency of a home, using key features including design, materials and climate. A NatHERS rating is the most common method used to show that a new home complies with the minimum energy efficiency standards in the National Construction Code.

In 2022, a new NatHERS Whole of Home (WoH) rating was introduced. It predicts the annual energy use of major fixed appliances — heating, cooling, hot water systems, lighting and cooking appliances, offset by energy provided by solar panels and batteries — and provides a rating out of 100. The National Construction Code includes a “whole of home annual energy use budget”, which a compliant home must not exceed. The design options modelled across Design For Place plans demonstrate WoH ratings of 60 to 100+.

Design For Place provides simple solutions to increase your energy ratings above minimum requirements. Homes with higher energy ratings are predicted to rely less on heating and cooling systems, achieving a comfortable home that is cheaper to run. Find out what the ratings mean and how to get an assessment on the NatHERS website.

Costs

Designing and building an energy-efficient home may not be as expensive as you think.

Design For Place helps with affordability by:

• providing free home designs ready to use or adapt, saving on design costs
• specifying common construction techniques and materials that are readily available
• achieving a higher energy rating which reduces the need for heating and cooling – a major contributor to your energy bills
• considering good design and construction principles and incorporating the right approach to passive design, materials, insulation, orientation, windows and shading for each climate
• supplying key questions to ask your architect, designer or builder
• providing floor plans with versatile spaces and a small footprint.

Being well-informed and making the right decisions early on in the process is key to achieving a cost-effective home that suits your lifestyle. Costs can vary significantly depending on your location and the site’s conditions as well as between building companies and their availability. Considering your key needs and keeping your home size economical can assist as construction costs are generally calculated based on a rate per meter squared. Fixtures and finishes can also have a surprising impact on the overall construction cost – carefully consider details and selections such as custom joinery, lighting, benchtops and tiles. For more information, see Affordability.

Homes to suit your lifestyle

Design For Place homes are designed using best practice in sustainable and energy-efficient design. Choose from five homes to suit your lifestyle.