Why DM Design Collective
A design studio that works where your site is.
Modern building design is a documentation discipline, and documentation travels. We deliver fully documented, approval-ready design for Sunshine Coast projects the same way we deliver work across three states: precise drawings, the correct approval pathway identified up front, and coordination with your certifier and consultants through to approval — without you waiting months for an overbooked local drafter.
Fixed fees, quoted up front
A written proposal within 48 hours of receiving your address and project type — no hourly surprises.
Approval-pathway first
We identify whether your project needs council planning approval or goes straight to a private certifier before any drawing begins.
Three-state licensing
Licensed building design services across QLD, NSW and Victoria — the same documentation standard on every job.
Remote-first, certifier-tested
Site information, photos and surveys flow digitally; certifier questions get answered until the project is approved.
Services Available in Sunshine Coast
Every service. Your region.
SDA & NDIS Housing Design
Certifier-ready documentation to the SDA Design Standard — all four design categories, for providers and investors building in the region.
House Raising
Raise designs and approval documentation for flood-affected and sloping sites — increasingly relevant across the Sunshine Coast's river and canal precincts.
Rooming House Design
Permissibility, Class 1b / Class 3 classification and approval documentation for rooming house investments.
Dual Occupancy & Townhouses
Yield-driven design and planning documentation for duplexes, dual occupancy and multi-unit projects.
Building Permit Drawings
Building approval documentation for private certifier assessment, with council planning material where the scheme requires it.
Feasibility Assessments
An independent fixed-fee answer to “what can I build here?” — zoning, constraints and pathway, before you spend on drawings.
Local Approval Experience
Documented for Sunshine Coast Council & Noosa Shire.
Sunshine Coast projects are assessed under the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme (or the Noosa Plan in Noosa Shire), with dual occupancy, secondary dwellings and rooming accommodation each carrying their own assessment triggers by zone. In Queensland, most building approval is issued by private certifiers against the National Construction Code and the planning scheme's codes — which means your designer's documentation quality matters more than their postcode. We prepare drawings for certifier assessment, coordinate with all consultants, and respond to every certifier question through to approval.
Overlays do real work on the Sunshine Coast: flood hazard, coastal protection, steep land and bushfire mapping shape the buildable envelope on many lots, and dual occupancy or secondary dwelling rights differ block by block. The pattern that costs owners most is commissioning drawings before those constraints are checked — which is why every engagement here starts with the pathway and the overlays, and why uncertain sites start with a fixed-fee feasibility assessment rather than a floor plan.
How It Works
From a Sunshine Coast address to approved drawings, in four steps.
The parts of a project that genuinely need someone standing on your block — the land survey, the soil test, the building inspection — are done by local professionals in every project anyway, wherever the designer sits. We work with surveyors, soil testers and certifiers operating across the Sunshine Coast and Noosa daily, and slot into your existing consultant team where you have one. Everything else is documentation, coordination and approvals — and that's our job, done the same way for every site in three states.
1 — Tell us the site
Send the property address and what you're considering. We review the zoning, overlays and constraints, and confirm the approval pathway your project actually needs — before anything is drawn.
2 — Fixed-fee proposal
A written proposal within 48 hours: scope, deliverables, fee and timeframe. If the project doesn't stack up, we'll tell you that instead — an honest no costs you nothing.
3 — Design & documentation
Concept design refined with you over calls and markups, then full approval documentation — drawings, notations and the compliance demonstration your certifier or council requires.
4 — Approval coordination
Documentation issued to your certifier or council; every question answered, every consultant coordinated, through to approval. You deal with one designer, not five consultants.
Common Questions — Sunshine Coast
Asked locally, answered straight.
Do you take on Sunshine Coast projects remotely?+
Yes — and it's how most modern drafting works. Surveys, site photos and consultant reports flow digitally, documentation is issued electronically to your certifier, and we coordinate with all consultants through to approval. Where a project genuinely needs eyes on site, we arrange it.
Which approvals will my Sunshine Coast project need?+
It depends on the zone and the project. Many dwellings, extensions and secondary dwellings go straight to building approval through a private certifier; dual occupancy, rooming accommodation and multi-unit projects can trigger assessment under the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme or Noosa Plan. We confirm your pathway before any drawing begins.
Can you design SDA housing on the Sunshine Coast?+
Yes — SDA design documentation to the SDA Design Standard across all four design categories, with design-stage assessment coordination. The Sunshine Coast's growth corridors are active SDA investment areas.
How much do drawings cost?+
Fixed fee, quoted up front once we know your property and project type. Send the address and a short description — written proposal within 48 hours.
Can you check what my block allows before I commit?+
Yes — a fixed-fee independent Feasibility Assessment covers zoning, constraints, realistic yield and the approval pathway for your Sunshine Coast site, before you spend on design.
Get Started
Have a Sunshine Coast project
in mind?
Send the property address and project type — fixed-fee proposal within 48 hours.