Architecturally designed new homes
Canstruct Builders works with leading architects and designers to deliver custom homes across Mullumbimby, Byron Bay and the Byron Shire.
Architecturally designed homes
Canstruct’s new home work is residential, custom and design-led. The projects are architecturally designed or designed by an experienced building designer. They sit on real sites, often with constraints worth working with: sloping lots, hinterland aspects, coastal exposure, tree cover or heritage neighbours. They are built for owners who will live in them.
This extends to estate and acreage projects, where the site itself is a large part of the work. Building on rural and semi-rural land often means bringing services to the site rather than connecting to existing ones: new driveway and access works, on-site wastewater and septic systems, power supply, and water. Canstruct plans for these from the start, so the cost and the program account for the whole site, not just the house.
This is a space Canstruct is comfortable in. More than 25 years of residential building, including a decade renovating heritage and architecturally managed homes in Sydney, means the discipline required for a custom new build is familiar work. Reading the drawings properly. Understanding the design intent. Building it the way it was meant to be built. Bringing trades who know what they are doing and care about how it goes together.
We take on a small number of new homes each year alongside our renovation and extension work. The number is small by design. The projects we take on are the ones where the design, the site and the client warrant the full attention of an experienced builder.
Working with your architect or designer
A custom home is a collaboration between three parties: the homeowner, the architect or designer, and the builder. Each has a job. The architect translates the brief and the site into a design. The builder turns that design into a building. The homeowner makes the decisions that shape both.
Canstruct’s job in that collaboration is to read the drawings properly, raise buildability questions early and constructively, and deliver the design as intended. Where there is a better way to detail something, we will bring it to the table. Where the design requires something difficult, we will work out how to deliver it rather than asking for it to be changed. Communication with the design team runs throughout the project, not just at the start and the end.
If you are an architect or designer reading this and wondering whether Canstruct is someone you can comfortably recommend to a client, the short answer is: that is the bar we work to. The longer answer lives in the projects we have delivered and in the architects who keep calling us back.
Recent new homes
Jarrah 1 in Ocean Shores was a Passivhaus-design new home completed in 2024 with Barefoot Building Design. The brief called for a freestanding new building connected by an undercover bridge, with a separate living area, bedroom and bathroom. The site was steeply sloped. The build delivered a steep pitched roof, vaulted ceilings, an open feel and a light-filled interior, with the Passivhaus discipline of careful air sealing, insulation and orientation.
Windmill and the Wagon in Main Arm was a tiny home in the Byron hinterland, completed in 2023 as design-and-construct. The carpentry skill required to achieve the look the homeowners wanted was a defining feature of the project.
Beyond these completed builds, Canstruct’s renovation and extension portfolio includes substantial new structures (the Stage 2 home extension at Jarrah 2, the granny flat at Jarrah 1, the second-storey addition at Garnet 1) that demonstrate the same discipline applied to new construction.
Jarrah 1
Ocean Shores /
New Build
From first conversation to completion
A new home runs through the same five stages as any project, with the design phase at the front taking longer than for a renovation. The initial conversation usually involves the architect or designer as well as the homeowner. Site visits cover access, services, slope, soil and orientation. The scope of work develops in parallel with the architectural design, with cost reporting feeding back into the design decisions before plans are finalised.
Once approvals are in place (a development application followed by a construction certificate), Canstruct prepares a full bill of quantities and contract. The build then runs through standard residential stages: site setup, slab or foundation, frame, lock-up, fit-out, finishes, completion and handover. New builds typically run twelve to eighteen months on site once approvals are through.
Common questions
Do you take on smaller new homes?
Yes, where the project is the right fit. Canstruct’s interest is in design-led residential work, regardless of footprint. A well-designed smaller home (Windmill and the Wagon is the example) is more rewarding work than a poorly resolved larger one.
Can you work design-and-construct as well as with an external architect?
Both. Most of our new home work involves an external architect or designer. Some projects (Windmill and the Wagon, parts of the Wave Hill work at Lennox Head) have run as design-and-construct, where Canstruct manages the design coordination directly. We will talk through which approach suits your project at the first conversation.
How does a new home build compare to a renovation on cost?
Generally, a new home is more cost-predictable than a renovation because there are fewer unknowns. There is no existing structure to discover problems inside. But the total cost is usually higher because more is being built. We will give you realistic costing for both options at the scope stage if you are choosing between them.
Do you work with engineers, certifiers and consultants directly?
Yes. Most projects involve a structural engineer, a hydraulic engineer where needed, a certifier and an energy assessor. We can recommend trusted consultants where you do not have your own. Where you do, we will work with them.
Areas we service
Mullumbimby and across the Byron Shire: Brunswick Heads, Ocean Shores, Byron Bay, Bangalow, New Brighton and South Golden Beach. Select new home work in the broader Northern Rivers including Lennox Head and Alstonville.
Talk to us about your new home
If you are planning a new home and looking for a builder who can deliver an architecturally designed project properly, the place to start is a conversation.