For buyers planning a major renovation or a new build in inner and bayside Melbourne. A buyer's advocate and an architect, working on the same site from the first inspection.
.svg)
Most buyers commit to a site before knowing what it can become, or what it'll cost to get there. By the time the architect sees it, the price is paid.
The usual fix is to hire an advocate and an architect separately, months apart. They rarely talk to each other.
The block looks right, but the design you have in mind would overcapitalise it. The contract doesn't carry the best terms available, and no access was agreed before settlement for the architect or trades. You've paid for potential the site never had.
Asbestos in the existing fabric. A design phase that only starts after purchase. A permit lodged later than hoped that takes longer than expected. Each adds cost after the money's committed. On a $2 million purchase at 6% interest, every month of delay costs about $10,000 in interest alone.
One brief covering both the purchase and the build.
The property search and design feasibility run in parallel, not in sequence. The search includes owners who haven't listed yet.
Each shortlisted site is tested from both sides. Steffen tests what it can become. Sven tests what it's likely to be worth once it's done.
If a site can't deliver your brief within budget, we tell you before you bid.
Negotiated privately or secured at auction, at a price the numbers support.
No handover gap. The architect who assessed the site designs the build.
Our job is to make sure you are buying the right site,
for the right price, on the right terms.
If one doesn't stack up, we'll tell you to walk away.
You've found a property. We tell you what it can become, what it's worth, and then we secure it. Sven scores the property, sets your walk-away price, coordinates due diligence, and negotiates or bids at auction on your behalf. Steffen reads the site for design feasibility and condition before you commit.
We find, test and secure the right site. Sven runs the full search and negotiates or bids at auction. Steffen checks every serious candidate for feasibility before you commit.
Everything in Find, Assess & Secure, plus the design underway. One combined brief, a purchase-and-build budget model covering land, build, contingency and holding costs, and concept options from Steffen through to a preferred design.
Send us the link. We'll do a desktop read and tell you whether it's worth a closer look.
Thanks, we have the listing. Sven or Steffen will be in touch within two business days with a first read on the site.
Something went wrong sending the form. Please try again, or email sven@cottageandcastle.com.au.
Sven Fischer spent twelve years selling property before switching sides, and it gives his clients an edge before a listing ever goes live. He knows where sellers come from: the owner who has been weighing up a sale for months, the family preparing an estate, the vendor still choosing an agent. He knows how to find and approach these owners directly, so his clients can see properties before they're listed, and sometimes before an agent is involved at all.
Today he is the licensed buyer's advocate behind Cottage & Castle, an independent practice serving inner and bayside Melbourne, from Port Phillip and Bayside through Glen Eira, Stonnington and Yarra. He works only for buyers. No developer stock, no vendor kickbacks, and no pressure to transact when the numbers don't hold up.
He knows how agents run a campaign, and he uses it for buyers. He studied at the Berlin School of Economics and Law, has spent around fifteen years in the property industry, and that background shapes how he buys. Behavioural finance sits at the centre of his method: understanding how auction pressure, anchoring and sunk cost push buyers into paying too much, and building a process that keeps those forces out of the decision. Clients get a clear brief, a defined walk-away price and a negotiator who isn't emotionally attached to the outcome.
His assessment framework scores every shortlisted property across position, land use, fixtures and, unusually for a Melbourne buyer's advocate, energy efficiency and running cost. For a renovation or new build purchase that last measure matters twice over. It reveals what the existing dwelling will cost to hold while plans and permits progress, and it establishes the baseline the finished home should beat.
In a joint engagement, Sven runs the acquisition side end to end and owns the market side of feasibility. He tests what the finished home is likely to be worth in that street and suburb, so the purchase price and build budget together stay within what the market will support, and clients don't overcapitalise. He sources on and off market opportunities, coordinates due diligence, structures the offer and negotiates the purchase, or bids at auction on the client's behalf. Along the way he tests each candidate site against the design brief, so money is only committed to a property that can actually become the home the client is planning.
Buyers work directly with Sven from the first conversation to settlement. There's no handover to a junior and no call centre, just one advocate who's accountable for the result.
Steffen Welsch leads Steffen Welsch Architects, a Melbourne studio recognised for environmentally responsible residential architecture. The practice describes its foundations as community, sustainability and affordability, and its portfolio backs that up: renovations, compact homes and new builds that improve how families live without wasting money or materials.
The studio's approach is grounded in passive design. Projects are planned around solar orientation, natural ventilation and thermal mass, and often use recycled or low-impact materials, with rammed earth and hemp among the practice's signatures. The aim is a home that stays comfortable through Melbourne's seasons while costing less to run, with operational and embodied carbon reduced by design rather than by bolted-on technology.
That rigour is measurable. The practice runs carbon and life cycle assessments on its projects to benchmark performance against the average Australian home, and its work has been published widely, including Cloud Street in Northcote, the Life Cycle extension in Coburg, and Subtle Shift, a family renovation delivered entirely within the existing footprint and opened to the public for Sustainable House Day.
For buyers, Steffen's value starts well before design. He reads a site the way Sven reads a market: assessing orientation, overlays, existing fabric and what can realistically be achieved within budget, before a single dollar is committed. Many of the studio's best projects are modest interventions that prove a well-planned renovation can outperform a knockdown rebuild on cost, comfort and carbon alike.
In a joint engagement, Steffen provides feasibility advice during the search, then carries the design forward once the purchase settles. The architect who assessed the site is the architect who shapes the home, so nothing learned during the hunt is lost in a handover. His sustainability focus pairs naturally with Cottage & Castle's energy scoring; the two disciplines pull in the same direction.
No juggling two firms and no gaps between them. One document, one point of contact, both specialists working from the same brief.
And one budget covering land, build, contingency and holding costs, so you bid with a realistic picture of the total cost, not just the purchase price.
S. and A. engaged Sven to find a home in Albert Park. Early in the search, it became clear they wanted to renovate to their own taste rather than buy something finished, so Steffen joined the engagement. From then on, every serious candidate was tested for design and value at the same time.
41 properties came across the radar, 16 of them off market. 35 were inspected, and 4 made the cut.
The whole process took less than 3 months from engagement to purchase.
The first contender was a period home graded significant in the local heritage study. Within two weeks, it was researched and priced, the heritage constraints were assessed, design ideas were sketched, Steffen completed the building inspection, and terms and deposit were negotiated. It sold at auction for just over $3 million, a local record for its type in a soft-ish market.
The next site was already in the pipeline, two weeks out from auction. Due diligence, building and condition inspection, initial designs and contract review were all done within those two weeks. Sven secured it at auction with a 180-day settlement, giving the design and planning work room to run before the loan was drawn.
The planning application went in shortly after the sale. With builders already recommended, the project went from purchase to the start of the renovation and extension works without delay.
The six-month settlement alone saved our clients close to $60,000 in interest.
No. The joint engagement ends once the purchase is signed and, if you've chosen Find, Secure & Design, once you've approved a concept. Planning, documentation and construction are a separate appointment with Steffen's office, and you decide then whether to go ahead. The advantage of continuing is that the architect who assessed the site already knows it.
Then we tell you, and you don't buy it. Steffen's feasibility read comes before any offer goes in, so you learn a site's limits while you can still walk away. In a search engagement, we move on to the next candidate.
Both, and smaller projects too. We work on apartment makeovers, renovations, extensions and new builds, including knockdown rebuilds. Where the site allows, we test whether a well-planned renovation can outperform a rebuild on cost and comfort before you commit.
Inner and bayside Melbourne, including Port Phillip, Bayside, Glen Eira, Stonnington and Yarra, and the suburbs around them. If your search sits outside these areas, ask us.
We'll talk through what you're planning, whether the joint engagement fits, and how the fee works for your project.