What is a floor plan review and what does it include?

A floor plan review is a professional analysis of your existing home layout, redesigned with two alternative options drawn to scale. FTLO Design's Stage 01 Floor Plan Review includes: your existing floor plan drawn and documented to scale, two redesigned layout options with measurements, a full video walkthrough explaining every design decision, budget context, and builder instructions, and DWG-ready files for your draftsperson or builder. Delivered in 7 business days for $899.

How much does a floor plan review cost in Melbourne?

FTLO Design's Stage 01 Floor Plan Review is $899, delivered in 7 business days. This is a fixed-fee service with no hidden costs and no obligation to continue. The $899 covers two redesigned layout options drawn to scale, a full video walkthrough explaining the design decisions, and DWG files ready for your builder or draftsperson.

What suburbs in Melbourne does FTLO Design service?

FTLO Design primarily serves Melbourne's north-east, including Eltham, Warrandyte, Diamond Creek, Research, Greensborough, and surrounding Nillumbik suburbs. All three design stages are delivered remotely, so clients throughout Melbourne can access the service.

What is the difference between Stage 01, Stage 02, and Stage 03?

Stage 01 is a Floor Plan Review ($899): your floor plan redesigned with two layout options, video walkthrough, and builder-ready files. Stage 02 is Exterior Design Concepts: two 3D options for your front facade and two for the rear, with materials direction and a video walkthrough. Stage 03 is Interior Design Concepts: full 3D concepts for every room, materials and finishes schedule, joinery direction, lighting plan, and a complete builder briefing document. Each stage is independent with no lock-in.

FTLO Design Developments

Mid-Century House

Location: North Warrandyte, VIC
Original house: 1956 Robin Boyd project home, with the Fler Company
Scope: Restoration: new roof, subfloor, re-clad, bathroom and laundry
Completed: 2023
Cladding: James Hardie Axon and Linea
Photography: Dylan James

The house

A 1956 Robin Boyd project home on a bush block above the Yarra. It didn't need to become something else. It needed someone to work out what was there, what had failed, and what to leave alone.

We had watched this pocket of North Warrandyte for six years before it came up, and bought it in 2021. Late in the sale we confirmed what we suspected: it was one of Robin Boyd's project homes, designed with the Fler Company. We came in planning a big renovation. The longer we lived in it, the smaller the plan got. The asbestos roof was replaced, the subfloor rebuilt and the floorboards repaired. The original cladding had failed, so we re-clad it in profiles that match what was there. The bathroom and laundry were renovated where the original couldn't be saved. It is still three bedrooms and one bathroom, as Boyd drew it.

01 — Before

What we started with

Before: the front of the house with weathered vertical timber boards, the chimney and the covered outdoor room

Before: the rear of the house behind an overgrown garden

Before: the living room with its wall of glass, timber-lined ceiling and fireplace

Before: a plain laundry with a single cabinet and washing machine

Before: a bedroom with sliding doors to a balcony

Before: the dining area with raw timber-lined walls

Before: the 1980s timber kitchen with a window to the bush

02 — The plan

Good design for people without an architect

Floor plan of Mid-Century House: three bedrooms and one bathroom along one side, living and dining around a central fireplace, and a covered outdoor room

Boyd's project homes were drawn for families on a budget who would never commission an architect. Seventy years later, that is still most people.

The plan is simple, and that is the point: a gabled roof over one rectangular plan, arranged around a free-standing fireplace. Kitchen, living and dining open to each other. Then a wall of glass, floor to ceiling, opening to a covered outdoor room.

Aerial view of the white house and its covered outdoor room, set into a bush block

03 — The decisions

Restore first

Restore wherever restoration is still possible. Renovate only where it isn't. That one rule decided everything else.

Match the original cladding

The original boards had failed. Axon went on the front to replicate the linear boards, and Linea Weatherboard on the sides to match the original profile.