Can you help choose a site for a custom home?

Yes. Before you buy, we can review a site's planning rules, access, orientation and likely constraints so you understand what kind of home it can support.

Do you provide 3D visualisations?

Yes. Design-stage 3D visuals help you understand form, light and materials before documentation begins.

Is a luxury home harder to consent?

Not necessarily, but larger and more complex homes involve more specialist input and detail. Well-coordinated documentation reduces council questions. Council decisions, requests for information and processing times are outside our control, and no consent outcome is guaranteed.

Custom & luxury home design

Custom and luxury home design for sites that deserve more.

A premium home is not a bigger standard plan. It's proportion, light, materials, privacy and the way the house opens to the landscape — resolved carefully enough that the builder can deliver what was designed.

Start your project

The service

Custom & Luxury Homes with Nator Architecture

We work closely with owners from first ideas to detailed documentation, carrying the design intent through consultant coordination and consent.

Led by Timmy Nator, LBP (Design) Class 1, with around 15 years of residential design experience. Available throughout New Zealand, with remote delivery where appropriate.

Who it's for

Owners of view, coastal, rural or sloping sites
Clients who want a one-off home
Families planning a long-term residence
Builders delivering high-end residential work

Scope

What's typically included

Detailed brief and site analysis
Design options and 3D visualisation
Material, glazing and detailing development
Full consent documentation and specification
Coordination with engineers and specialists
Support for builder pricing questions

Scope is agreed in writing for each project. Council fees and consultant fees are separate.

New Zealand considerations

What to know before you start

Complex sites

Steep, coastal or exposed sites commonly need geotechnical investigation and specific structural design. Allowing for these early avoids redesign later.

Glazing and energy

Large glazed areas must still satisfy the Building Code's energy-efficiency (H1) requirements, which affects window specification, framing and insulation choices.

Licensed design

Design of restricted building work must be carried out or supervised by a suitably licensed Licensed Building Practitioner (Design) or other authorised professional. Timmy Nator is an LBP (Design) Class 1 with around 15 years of residential design experience, and Nator Architecture is an architectural design practice, not a registered architect practice. Work is taken on within the scope of that licence; structural, geotechnical and other specialist engineering is provided by independent consultants where a project requires it.

Questions

Common questions

Start your project

Tell us about your site

Send the property location, what you want to build and your approximate budget. An enquiry is not a formal site assessment.

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