RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE, WITH CONSTRUCTION REALITY BUILT IN
BRIDGING THE DIVIDE BETWEEN BUILDER & ARCHITECT
Three Hat Buildings is a residential architecture practice shaped by both design thinking and site experience. With the heart of an architect and the methods of a builder, we help you move from uncertainty, incomplete ideas, or over-designed schemes to a home that is well-considered, buildable, and financially grounded.
Beautiful, buildable homes with cost, risk, and sequence kept in view.
Many clients start with a short, paid second opinion to test assumptions before decisions harden. If you are already ready to proceed, you can engage us for full service architecture.
The calm before the lock-in
Most residential projects take shape long before they feel serious.
The early stage often seems harmless: a useful chat with a builder, a sketch on paper, a rough number, a feeling that things are moving.
This is usually when people say, “We’re still very early.”
But early decisions rarely announce themselves as big moments. They arrive as momentum.
A garage location leads to a slab.
The slab sets the height.
Height triggers planning.
Planning locks the budget.
The sequence begins, whether anyone calls it out or not.
WHO WE WORK BEST WITH
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Thoughtful decision-makers. You want good judgement, not noise. You value a calm process and a clear plan.
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Time-poor professionals You need someone to reduce complexity and keep the project moving in the right order.
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Clients who want buildable beauty Design that can actually be delivered, with cost and construction reality kept in view.
If you are feeling calm but slightly rushed, or if you have competing advice and you are not sure what is safe to decide next, a second opinion is usually the right first move.
Why no one stops it early
Builders
are rewarded for progress. For keeping things moving. For getting on site and turning intent into action. Standing still doesn’t pay particularly well.
Designers
are rewarded for solutions. For putting a line on the page and turning uncertainty into a decision. A blank page doesn’t present well.
No one is rewarded for saying: “Let’s pause and look at what this decision makes impossible later.” This idea sits at the centre of Find Your Way Home, where I unpack how these early, seemingly minor decisions quietly shape everything that follows.
Everyone else
are rewarded for encouragement. For reassurance, certainty, and strong opinions.
It’s easier to be certain when you’re not the one paying for it.
Why a paid second opinion before decisions harden
In medicine, law, and finance, a second opinion is normal. You do not seek it because something is wrong. You seek it because you are about to commit.
Residential building disguises commitment as progress. A second opinion is a short, paid decision review that brings constraints forward while options still exist.
The outcome might be confidence to proceed. It might also be permission to pause, redirect, or stop before costs escalate.
Not design. Not options testing. Not reassurance. Facts, constraints, and decisions only.
If you are early, unsure, or getting mixed advice
You have had early conversations. A sketch might exist. Costs are fuzzy. You want to avoid locking in a sequence by accident.
If you are ready to proceed with full service architecture
Full architectural services
Three Hat Buildings designs bespoke homes, renovations, and extensions. We work closely with clients, consultants, and builders from concept through construction.
The difference is not style. It is sequence and judgement. We make decisions in the right order, with an understanding of cost, risk, compliance, and buildability before they become expensive to unwind.
Regret in building rarely feels sudden. It shows up later as the quiet realisation that the project you thought you were choosing is no longer available.
New Release: Find Your Way Home
by Alexander
This book is your map for the design-and-build journey.
Think Lonely Planet for residential construction: what’s ahead, what to watch for, and how to stay on track.
A practical guide that cuts through the noise so you can build with clarity, confidence, and common sense.
AS FEATURED IN
Alexander Hill
OWNER / ARCHITECT
Awarded the Architects Board Prize in 2001, I began my career in Melbourne in 2002. In 2007 I started my practice with a beach house in Queenscliff. Intent on focusing on private dwellings, I continued working with builders to understand how to better implement an architectural design, which ultimately led to my own builder’s license. In 2015 I joined Destination Living to work on scaling the architect-builder model. Finally, in 2021 I pulled it all together to open my one-person office.