Creating homes that feel as good as they look.
Residential Building Design - Gold Coast & Northern NSW
Abode Design Studio is built on the belief that great design goes far beyond creating beautiful spaces. It is about improving the way people experience everyday life. Every project begins with understanding the people who will live within - the way they move through the home, come together, retreat, and begin each day. From there, we consider the site, the light, the landscape and how the home can sit naturally within its surroundings. The aim is to create something that feels grounded and considered, as though it has always belonged there.
Specialising in new homes and renovations across the Gold Coast and Northern New South Wales, we guide projects from conception through to detailed design, documentation and approvals.
Selected Work
Services
Designing a new home means bringing the site, brief, budget and construction requirements together from the outset.
We develop custom homes from the ground up, considering orientation, site constraints, planning requirements, structure, buildability and how each space will be used.
From concept design through to detailed construction drawings, every stage is resolved with the build in mind, giving clients and builders the clarity needed to move confidently toward construction.
Renovations often present an opportunity to solve existing problems before adding more space.
We look closely at how the home currently functions, where space is being underused and which parts of the layout are creating friction. Often, a more considered reconfiguration can improve flow, functionality and amenity without significantly increasing the building footprint.
Where additional space is needed, extensions are developed to work naturally with the existing home, with careful attention to structure, buildability, approvals and how the old and new come together.
Dual occupancies and secondary dwellings can unlock more value from an existing site by creating additional living or income-producing potential.
We look at how the property can be used more efficiently, balancing planning requirements with access, privacy, parking and outdoor space to create two well-considered dwellings that work independently.
Whether the goal is rental income, accommodating family, creating future flexibility or increasing the overall value of the property, the design is developed to maximise the opportunity without compromising liveability.
Pools and ancillary structures can have a major impact on how the home and site are used, particularly when they are considered as part of the overall design rather than added later.
We design pools, cabanas, studios, garages, carports and other supporting structures to work cohesively with the existing home, landscape and site conditions.
Careful consideration is given to access, privacy, orientation, entertaining areas, setbacks and approval requirements so these additions feel integrated, practical and purposeful.
We begin with an initial consultation to understand your site, how you live and what you want your home to achieve.
Concepts are prepared taking into consideration your brief, site parameters and local Council regulations. We provide drawings through to walk-through renders, refined together until perfected.
Detailed drawings, schedules & specifications are prepared for relevant approvals and construction.
Ongoing support is provided throughout the build process, ensuring design intent is carried through to completion.
Process
Abode Design Studio, led by founder,
Sammy Cusack.
"A home used to just be a shelter. Now it's expected to be a sanctuary. I believe the built environment has an immediate, tangible impact on how we feel - both physically and mentally, every single day."
With a Bachelor in Building Design & Diploma in Interior Design, Sammy has spent the past decade designing homes across Australia. Prior to her design career, she spent the past 10 years living and working across seven different countries, gathering ideas, craft and perspective from every one of them.
As a mother of two, Sammy understands exactly how frustrating a poorly designed home can be - and exactly how much better everyday life feels when a home is designed intentionally. That's not theory for her. It's lived experience.
Being naturally equal parts creative and problem-solver, Sammy thrives off the challenge of a tricky site, an awkward brief, or a family who can't quite articulate what's missing from their current home and finding the design solution that makes it all click.
Abode Design Studio is based in Palm Beach, Gold Coast and services the entire Gold Coast region and Northern NSW. Remote services are also available on a case by case basis - please enquire to see how we can help.
Both can design a beautiful home, but the qualifications and scope differ. Architects complete a longer university pathway and are registered under a separate Board, which allows them to take on larger or more complex projects, including significant commercial work. Building designers complete accredited building design qualifications and are licensed through the QBCC, and specialise specifically in residential design - new homes, renovations, extensions, duplexes and secondary dwellings.
In practice, for most homeowners the real difference isn't qualifications on paper, it's experience with your specific type of project. A building designer who has designed hundreds of homes in your region will often have a more direct, practical understanding of council requirements, local conditions and construction costs than a generalist.
Design fees vary depending on the scope and complexity of your project . A full knockdown-rebuild involves considerably more documentation than a single-room renovation, for example. Rather than quote a generic figure that won't actually reflect your situation, we'd rather understand your project first and give you a proper, honest number.
What we can tell you is that design fees are a genuinely small proportion of your overall build cost - and the right design decisions made early on, particularly around what's actually approvable and buildable, tend to save far more than they cost. Get in touch and we'll talk through your specific project.
The design timeline is broken down roughly into three phases: formulating the client brief, reviewing all constraints and developing an initial concept; refining that concept into full 3D design; and then the documentation and approval process, where we prepare the full drawing set and manage council and consultant liaison on your behalf.
Depending on your council, the complexity of your site, and how quickly consultant reports (engineering, energy assessments, and so on) come back, this process can take anywhere from between 4 weeks to 4 months. We will provide you with a more accurate estimation once we have a clearer idea of your scope.
In almost every case, yes. Even renovations that don't touch the external walls can trigger approval requirements, depending on your council, your zoning, and whether the works affect setbacks, height, or site coverage. Knockdown-rebuilds always require approval, since you're effectively starting from a blank site.
The scope of approval depends heavily on your specific property and council. This is exactly why we review council regulations from the very first conceptual design stage, rather than designing something you love and then discovering it isn't approvable.
A Development Application (DA) deals with whether your proposed building is allowed on your site at all. It assesses constraints such as height, setbacks, site coverage, and how it fits with council planning rules. A Building Approval deals with whether the building itself is constructed safely and compliantly - structural adequacy, fire safety, plumbing, and so on.
Not every project needs both. Many straightforward renovations only require Building Approval. Knockdown-rebuilds, and anything that doesn't meet standard planning requirements, will usually need a Development Application first. Part of our job in the early design stage is working out exactly which approvals your project needs, so there are no surprises later.
This is one of the most common questions we help clients work through, and there's rarely an obvious answer without actually looking at your site. A renovation makes sense when your existing home has good bones - a sound structure, a workable layout, and a footprint that still suits how you want to live.
A knockdown-rebuild tends to make more sense when the existing structure is either beyond repair or the home is poorly positioned. We start every project the same way regardless: understanding your site, your budget, and how you actually want to live, then working backwards to whichever approach genuinely solves that problem. Sometimes that means talking a client out of a rebuild they'd already set their heart on, because a renovation gets them there for less with a bit of creative problem solving.For many Gold Coast and Northern NSW properties, the answer is yes, depending on your block size, zoning, and council overlays. Secondary dwellings and duplexes can be a genuinely effective way to increase a property's income potential or accommodate multi-generational living, provided the site and planning controls support it.
We can review your property's potential as part of an initial conversation, and if it stacks up, factor it into the design from the outset rather than as an afterthought.
Yes we do. You don't need to be building or renovating a home to work with us on these. Pools, carports and outdoor living spaces are often exactly the kind of project that transforms how a home actually functions day to day, and we take them on as standalone projects as well as alongside larger builds.
Frequently asked questions
