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Searching for a Local Adelaide Architect?
My business "Grant Lucas Architect" is based in the Adelaide Metro Area. I undertake any sort of Architectural work from Pergolas to Shopping centres, but my bread and butter is house Extensions and New homes in Adelaide and the Adelaide Hills and Southern regions. I studied Landscape design in my first degree & as I have a passion for gardening and particularly like Architectural spaces that blur the boundaries of inside and outside. Pools, Pool enclosures, Alfresco rooms are a speciality.
Some Recent Projects by local Adelaide Architect Grant Lucas
Pictures of some recent new homes and house extensions by Grant Lucas:
Architect in Adelaide and nearby country SA locations
Extension to Stone Cottage at Crafers West using reclaimed stone. Almost finished (2017)
Extension to Stone Cottage at Crafers West: Kitchen Viewed From Living Room
Living Room Viewed From Entry: Custom Jarrah Bifolds' take advantage of the view.
New Upper Floor Extension Seacombe Heights: Blurring Boundaries Between Inside and Outside
New Pool & Deck Seacombe Heights, Adelaide: Integrating Landscape with Built Form
House Extension at Marion: 3d Visualization at Sketch Design Phase 2013
House extension at Marion: Building phase (March 2014)
House extension at Marion: Building phase almost complete (Jan 2015)
House Extension at Marion: Garden Established and Verandah furnished as Outdoor room (2017)
New Rural House (Kuipto): 3d visualization at sketch design phase
New Rural House (Kuipto): Building phase almost complete.
Note that the final building was slightly modified for cost reasons
New modified project home for subdivision & resale: 3d Planning Approval Image:
The client found a project home they liked but wanted me to make significant changes to both the plan and elevations
The initial investment home (as shown) was built by the project builder and then a new dream home commenced as a second stage.
New modified project home for subdivision & resale: Construction started March 2014 & Finished 2016.
Note the "As Built" residence involved slight modifications made by both Client and Builder... mainly for for cost reasons.
New Dream-House on Subdivided block at Noarlunga: N.W. 3D image: Planning approval granted & awaiting D.A. 2014
A revised scheme was re-submitted for re-approval 2017 & Currently under Construction 2018
New Dream-House on Subdivided block at Noarlunga: N.E. 3D image: Planning approval granted & awaiting D.A. 2014
A revised scheme was re-submitted for re-approval 2017 & Currently under Construction 2018
New Dream-House on Subdivided block at Noarlunga: Planning approval granted & awaiting D.A. 2014
A Revised scheme was re-submitted for re-approval 2017 & Currently under Construction 2018
New Dream-House on a Subdivided sloping allotment at Noarlunga:
Image of Revised scheme submitted for re-approval 2017 & Currently under Construction 2018.
The main change involved "sculpting out" an additional balcony accessible from the Northern sun-room.
New Country House (Clarendon): Front 3d visualization- Planning Approval Granted & awaiting D.A. 2014
This is an owner builder project and is currently under Construction in 2018
New Country House (Clarendon): Rear 3d visualization at sketch design phase 2014:
This is an owner builder project and is currently under Construction in 2018
New "Owner Builder" Contemporary 2 storey house (with heritage context) at Glenelg: Sketch design 2015
Showing the rear view from the side street. The 2 street frontage allows the house to be a 3d object rather than just a facade.
Council
were concerned about streetscape issues of Context and Height. Although
contemporary internally, the exterior character belies this.
A pool was included in the design as a stage 2 rather than in the original submission to speed up approval.
New "Owner Builder" Contemporary 2 storey house (with heritage context) at Glenelg: Sketch design 2015
Showing the view from the street corner. The 2 street frontage allows the house to be a 3d object rather than just a facade. Council
were concerned about streetscape issues of Context and Height. Although
contemporary internally, the exterior character belies this.
New "Owner Builder" Contemporary 2 storey house (with heritage context) at Glenelg: Sketch design 2015
The main street frontage indicating how the upper storey is mainly hidden from view
Council were concerned about streetscape issues of Context and Height. Although contemporary internally, the exterior character belies this.
New "Owner Builder" Contemporary 2 storey house (with heritage context) at Glenelg: Main frontage photo of completed project.
The Client has changed the front door detail from the original design but otherwise the original sketch and final build are consistent.
Note how a simple change of the colour scheme has made the project look more like a turn of last century build. Construction was a 2 year process. The build was substantially finished in early 2018.
New Country House (Crafers): Front elevation at sketch design phase Dec 2014
Interested? Email me or call my land-line on 08 8296 0759
What makes a good Architect?
To be good at Architecture you need to know how things
work.....you need to be able to see the overview as well as the small
detail. Essentials are good construction knowledge mixed with a little
creative flair and the ability to communicate your ideas concisely.
Experience and a body of previous work is important. If you are thinking
of engaging an Architect, talk to their previous customers and clients
and look at their current work.
Old Architects have more experience. It is the one area in life
that I find age is an asset. We've seen trends come and go & we know
how things are put together... what works & what does not. To be a
good Architect you need to know a little about every trade as well as
understanding how the trades work with each other. A good Architect
also knows about Legal matters & understands building contracts and
Insurance. If you want good value for your money during the build it is
important to select an Architect that knows how Builders operate and how
the various Government legislation's affect the building Industry. Using
the right contract & using an Architect to administer that contract
will ensure that you get a fair deal with your builder. The ABIC
(Australian building and construction industry) simple works contract is
specifically written for an Architect to Administer the contract
between Client & Builder. It is costly at over $200, but it is fair
on all parties
Low business overheads are passed on to my clients
Sole Practitioners typically have low overheads (no employee
costs). A small home office
helps reduces costs even more. Advertising however can be more expensive
as there is no-one else to share it with. As my business model is about
providing good value for money services at
good rates I need to do my own marketing to keep costs down. The money I save in marketing costs allows me to offer competitive hourly rates. This in turn allows for more Design time & more thorough documentation for the same fee.
Adelaide Architects
These days to run a business successfully it isn't enough to be good at what you do. High placement in search engine searches and more specifically in Google Searches is imperative. 80% of people don't bother to look past the first page of Google when
searching. Marketing as Adelaide Architects
helps me achieve this. I registered
the business name " Adelaide Architects" here in South Australia
years ago to even the playing field between my business and those businesses that
pay money
for search engine Ranking. "Adelaide Architects" is an exact match Domain name business I run to increase the public visibility and Googleability (is that a word?) of my business "Grant Lucas Architect". The business "Adelaide Architects" is myself and a few sole practitioner friends (Architects hang out with Architects) marketing here in Adelaide through the internet domain name adelaidearchitects.net.au.
Adelaide Architects Visibility on Google
To find new clients one has to be visible on Google. This was Business reality in 2014 (when I put this page together) and is especially so now in 2018. Paying heaps of money to an SEO firm to get high placement in Google and paying for expensive advertising is not conducive to keeping business costs down. The tricky thing about Google is that it is a business. It makes money from advertising, which means there is a compromise when it comes to highly searched terms. My business "Grant Lucas Architect" ranks top locally on Google for around 100 search terms.... I get this by good web content and a transparent business model. The problem is that the most obvious phrase used searching for an Architect in Adelaide is "Adelaide Architect" (or Architect Adelaide). Obviously this means there is a lot of competition for this phrase. It is hard to undercut the competition if you are paying up to $500 a month (I was actually quoted this price by a SEO firm) for the privilege of being on Google's front page for just one search term. Even then one keystroke difference on a search query may be the
difference of being found or not. Google actually distinguishes between "Adelaide Architect" &
"Architect Adelaide" as well as plural versions "Adelaide Architects"
and "Architects Adelaide".
Adelaide Architects, Google and Advertising
If you search any of the popular terms containing the words "Architect" and "Adelaide" you will get results that are mainly the result of Architectural firms
advertising budget size. To keep on the top page for top Google search phrases like these you can either provide good content or pay for results. If you pay for Adwords (Googles own advertising) you pay for each time someone clicks on the Advertised link. This can easily be more than $2 a click. You can also pay for SEO. SEO breaks down into 2 main categories. The honest way, through content titles, metadata keywords and quality links, or pay for "Black Hat" SEO (analogy of the bad wizard) which is about getting high placement through trickery such as Re-directs (ever typed in something to google & gotten a completely unrelated result), invisible text (white text on a white background), tiny text too small to see, buying links, or siphoning link juice from other sites. I've taken the middle road. I spent a little time to find how Google worked (my blog covers this if you are interested) & then I played by their rules doing my own SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). I may not be top, but I am still able to be found somewhere between page 1 and page 5.... & I'm not paying a fortune to be there.
Interested? Email me or call my land-line on 08 8296 0759
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