Custom Homes

We use our Mindful Design Approach to help people build their next forever home and achieve exactly what they want, while minimizing the risk of cost and time overruns, even if they are doing this for the first time.

The Challenge

Creating an ideal home is an exciting adventure, but can become overwhelming. We have all heard stories of out-of-control projects in which costs run away, timelines are exceeded, relationships are broken beyond repair, and the end result is poor. In fact, 85% of building projects go over budget. How can people be sure they will end up with something that they love which also adds value to their life and property?

The Solution

We have created the Mindful Design Approach, which is a six stage process, to help guide people through the entire building journey. The first stage is the diagnosis, which forms the foundation of a project by identifying all major constraints, opportunities, and associated costs before launching into the design phase.

Case Study

How one family turned potential disaster into the holiday home they love.

Our clients purchased a stunning and wild piece of land on a beautiful river, but had no idea where to begin. We started off with the diagnosis, analysing the site and legal parameters.  In the process, we discovered that most of the land was located below the flood line and was therefore unbuildable. By addressing this challenge early on and designing part of the house on stilts, we could turn this ‘disaster’ into a defining feature of the new home. Since completing the house, the site has flooded twice, leaving the house un-harmed.

Client: River House Family
Location: Vaal, Gauteng

“Our biggest challenge was to visualise and implement the transformation of raw veld into our dream in an authentic manner, but we felt like a hare caught in the headlights wondering, where to start? Thorsten and his team assisted us safely through to the other side with a product and experiences beyond our wildest dreams that we continue to cherish 14 years later!” 

Gayle, River House Client

Selected Projects