Short answer
A custom home is designed from a blank page for your block and your brief. A pre-designed home is a design that has already been resolved, supplied as a concept design set of floor plans, elevations, a section and 3D renders. Custom suits unusual sites and specific briefs. Pre-designed suits people who like a design as drawn and want to see the result before they commit.
Both are ways to arrive at a resolved home design before you pay for documentation and construction. They differ in where the design starts.
What custom home design involves
A custom home starts with your block and your brief. We work through it in four steps:
- Brief and site: how you live, your budget range and the block itself, including orientation, slope, views and neighbours.
- Layout options: floor plans that test how the house sits on the site, how the rooms connect and where the light comes from.
- Design development in 3D: the preferred option refined in form, materials and interiors, shown in photoreal renders.
- Handover: a resolved concept set of plans, 3D views and material direction.
What a pre-designed home is
A pre-designed home is one we have already designed and resolved in plan and in 3D. You receive a concept design set for the home as drawn: floor plans, elevations, a section and 3D renders.
Our first is Lantern Loft, a one-bedroom loft home.
Side by side
| Custom home | Pre-designed home | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | Your block and your brief | A design already resolved |
| What you receive | A resolved concept set: plans, 3D views and material direction | A concept design set: floor plans, elevations, a section and 3D renders |
| Fit to your block | Designed for it | Supplied as drawn. Your building designer or builder documents it for your site |
| Seeing the result | You see it develop through drafts and 3D | You see the finished design before you commit |
| Price | Quoted after a conversation about scope | On request |
How to choose
Custom design is the better fit when:
- your block is sloping or irregular, or has views and orientation the house should respond to
- you have a specific brief that an existing design will not meet
- you are changing an existing house, which is renovation and extension design
A pre-designed home is the better fit when:
- you like the design as it is drawn
- you want to see the finished design before you commit
- you are planning a small home, such as a second dwelling, a weekender or a short-stay cabin
What both have in common
Both stop at the concept stage. The building permit drawings are prepared by your own registered building designer, architect or builder. What can be built on your block depends on your site and your council, which they confirm during documentation.
Diego Benavides leads Diego Benavides Design, a Melbourne studio for architectural visualisation and home design. This guide is general information, last checked on 7 October 2026.