A bespoke architectural new build, drawn for your site, your brief, and your way of living. Designed in Dunedin by Eco Workshop’s LBP Design 2 studio.
You’ve got a section, or you’re close to buying one. You’ve started picturing the dream home you want to build on it. Now comes the question: do you pick a plan from a builder’s library? Or do you start from a blank page and design something that fits your site, your family, and Otago’s weather conditions?
If the second option is the one you keep coming back to, you’re in the right place. Eco Workshop’s small studio designs new builds that Dunedin homeowners want to live in for the next thirty or more years. Every new build Dunedin project starts the same way: a good discussion about your brief, a close look at your section, and a home drawn uniquely for you.
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A bespoke new build with Eco Workshop starts from a blank page. The home is designed around the section, the brief, and how you want the spaces to work day to day.
A volume build works differently. You choose from an existing catalogue and adapt the plan to fit the site. The difference shapes everything that follows.
| Volume builder | Eco Workshop bespoke new build |
|---|---|
| Start from a catalogue of proven plans | Start from a blank page and your brief |
| Adjust details to fit the section | Design the home to fit the section |
| Faster, lower design cost | At your own pace, higher design value |
| Predictable price on a known plan | Higher cost, one-off result |
| Same home as someone else’s, perhaps in a different colour scheme | A home design that is uniquely yours |
This is the kind of work the studio has been doing for two decades. You can see the building experience in site-led new builds like Glynllifon, or across the wider portfolio. No two Eco Workshop homes look alike. The studio works alongside trusted Dunedin builders to deliver designs that are buildable, consent-ready, and genuinely nice to live in once complete.
Cost reflects the difference. Connor Jones Group’s Dunedin new-build cost guide for 2026 puts high-performance architectural homes in Dunedin between $3,800 and $5,500 per square metre. That sits above most stock-plan builds, but the outcome is a home designed specifically for your section and the way you live.
Designing for Dunedin is its own discipline, and a new build Otago homeowners will live happily in for decades takes more than a generic plan. The city has more hillsides than flat sections, real southerlies, and housing stock often over a hundred years old.
Eco Workshop has spent more than twenty years designing homes around exactly those conditions across Dunedin and the wider Otago region.
Before any design work begins, the team works through:
A section that looks straightforward in a real estate listing can carry six figures of foundation work before the floor is poured. At the same time, some of the most difficult-looking sites end up producing the strongest homes once the design responds properly to the land itself. That’s usually the difference site visits make early on.
Eco Workshop runs every new build through the same four-stage building process. Clients always know where things sit, what decisions are being worked through, and what comes next.
| Stage | What happens | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Preliminary | Free no-obligation meeting. The team listens. | A written fee proposal if the project is a good fit. |
| Concept Design | Site investigation including sun, slope, and constraints, plus brief development and first sketches. | Concept plans and early 3D visuals you can walk through. |
| Developed Design | The concept is refined. Materials, dimensions, and spatial relationships are resolved. | A clearly resolved home design you can experience in 3D before consent. |
| Detailed Design & Documentation | Full construction documentation, specifications, coordination of consultants, and building consent submission to council. RFIs are managed by the studio. | Consented plans ready for pricing and construction, plus ongoing support during build. |
Eco Workshop holds a Licensed Building Practitioner Design 2 accreditation, which authorises the studio to design restricted building work for new builds in New Zealand.
That accreditation gives clients peace of mind that the plans being lodged with the council meet the high standard required by the Building Act 2004. The studio also offers project management and building support through to handover.
Every Eco Workshop new build comes with a 3D model you can walk through before construction begins. Most clients struggle to read a flat floor plan. The 3D model helps them see their vision come to life.
The model allows clients to:
Walk through every room from a first-person view
Change the time of day and check where the sun lands
Look at the kitchen from the dining room, or the lounge from the deck
Check sight lines, ceiling heights, and how the windows frame a view
See actual materials and finishing touches in photorealistic detail
The model is free to download. You can walk through your home before it’s built on your own device, in your own time, before consent is lodged.|
Otago homes get cold. New ones included, if the design doesn’t account for sun, glazing, insulation, and ventilation from the start. Eco Workshop designs new builds that are genuinely warm in July, not just code-compliant.
That often includes:
The studio works to the building services and material standards in the Healthy Homes Standards and beyond, depending on the brief. The “Eco” in Eco Workshop is a way of working: sustainable materials, sensible orientation, durable specifications, and homes that cost less to run for the next thirty years.
If a fully bespoke architectural home is not the right fit right now, there are other pathways available. Some clients value certainty and simplicity over a completely one-off design. Others want a more streamlined process with fixed pricing and a clearer build timeline.
Eco Workshop also offers a fixed-price design-and-build through Your Way Home, the studio’s sister company, together with SB2 Build. Same design quality, simpler pathway. Both options start with the same first meeting, and the team will help you work out which one fits.
A high-performance architectural new build in Dunedin typically lands between $3,800 and $5,500 per square metre in 2026, based on Dunedin construction cost analysis. What drives the variance is the section (a steep site can add foundation costs of $50,000 to $100,000 before the floor is poured), the brief, and the level of finish. You’ll get a written fee proposal after the first meeting.
Building a home from a blank page typically takes twelve to eighteen months from first meeting to moving in. Six to nine months sit with design and consent. Dunedin City Council has a twenty-working-day statutory processing time for resource consents and building consents, although requests for further information can pause the clock. Construction itself typically takes another nine to twelve months.
Both are fine. Plenty of clients come in already owning their section. Others bring two or three options and want help working out which one will give them the home they want. The studio is happy to look at sections with you before you buy.
A conversation about your plans over a cup of coffee. Bring whatever you have in mind: a section address, a Pinterest board, a sketch on the back of an envelope, or just an idea of what you want your life to feel like. The team will listen, ask questions, and give you an honest view on whether the project’s a fit. Zero obligations from your end until you commit and decide.
If you want a one-off bespoke custom home designed for your section and your way of living, it is definitely a yes. However, if you want certainty more than bespoke, Your Way Home is the better conversation. The team will help you navigate which pathway makes more sense during our first meeting. The studio’s best work has come from clients who highly recommend the bespoke process to their friends afterwards.
Every Eco Workshop project starts with plans drawn by people who know Dunedin by heart: the hills, the weather, the council process.
Whether you’re planning a completely new home or a major renovation, the studio designs homes that are grounded in the site and practical to build.
Every set of house plans Dunedin councils sign off on for the studio meets DCC requirements and represents how the client actually wants to live. Eco Workshop is LBP Design 2 accredited and an ADNZ professional member.
Come in for a free first meeting at 31e Stafford Street or call (03) 455 1505.
Connor Jones Group. (2026). How much does it cost to build a house in Dunedin? https://connorjones.co.nz/cost-to-build-a-house-in-dunedin/
Dunedin City Council. (n.d.). Building consent process. https://www.dunedin.govt.nz/services/building-services/processing-applications/consent-process
Tenancy Services. (n.d.). Healthy Homes Standards. Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. https://www.tenancy.govt.nz/healthy-homes/