Frequently Asked Questions

Three things stand out. First, continuity of people. Your Client Experience Lead is your continuous contact from design engagement through to handover, and your Site Manager is introduced after contract and before construction begins. Second, quality checked throughout the build. Our in-house Quality Manager inspects at defined hold points, Site Manager checks are verified by a Senior Site Manager or Construction Manager, and independent third-party quality inspections take place at key points. Third, structured aftercare. Every home has a 90-day inspection with the Site Manager who handed it over, ongoing support from our Maintenance & Warranty partner, and 12 months of RACV Home Assist.

Latitude 37 is a builder with its own in-house design team. Design, documentation, interiors and construction are delivered together by one business, so you do not need to engage a designer and a builder separately. The people who resolve your design stay involved as it is built.

Latitude 37 was founded in 2006 by Doug MacLeod and has been designing and building premium custom homes across Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula for twenty years. The business has grown substantially on the strength of client referrals.

Yes. Latitude 37 holds Builder’s Registration CDB-U 48977 with the Building and Plumbing Commission (formerly the Victorian Building Authority). It is a member of the Housing Industry Association and Master Builders Victoria. The business has been recognised in more than forty HIA and Master Builders award categories since 2006, including six wins in the HIA Professional Medium Builder category, which assesses business governance, ethics and financial management. Most recently, our Waterfront home in Patterson Lakes was a finalist in the 2026 HIA Victorian Housing Awards, in the Custom Built Home Over $6 Million category.

There is not a single measure that guarantees a builder’s future solvency, so a long track record is one of the most useful signals to look at. For more than 20 years, Latitude 37 has operated from a position of financial strength, supported by disciplined financial management and a conservative approach to debt. The business has also won the HIA Professional Medium Builder award six times, a category that assesses business governance, ethics and financial management.

The best starting point is an introductory conversation that is unhurried and comes with no obligation. We will discuss your site, or the site you are considering, what you are planning to build, and your budget. Our goal in that first conversation is to be helpful rather than persuasive. We will honestly explain where the fit is strong and where it might not be.

That is what a feasibility assessment is for, and at Latitude 37 it comes before any major financial commitment. It looks at the site, the budget, the scope, the planning requirements and the likely disruption, and tells you whether the project you have in mind is realistic. If the honest answer is that it is not, we would rather say so early than after months of design work.

Less than most people expect. A sense of the site, a sense of the budget range, and some idea of how you want to live in the home is enough to have a useful conversation. You do not need plans, a finalised brief, or answers to questions you have not been asked yet.

Your project moves through four phases. Concept design, under a Concept Design Agreement, covers discovery, your brief, the concept design and an indicative cost. Project documentation covers working drawings, interior design, selections and a quality review of the documents. It ends with a fixed-price building contract once you have approved the contract documents. Construction runs through base, frame, lock-up, fixing and completion, with quality checks at defined hold points. Handover and aftercare follows, including your Maintenance & Warranty Guide and a 90-day inspection.

Typically two to three years in total, depending on the complexity of the project and how quickly you move through the design stages. Concept design is usually around four months. Project documentation is usually eight to twelve months. Construction is usually ten to eighteen months.

Your key people are consistent, and each joins at the right point. Your Client Experience Lead is your continuous contact from design engagement through to handover. Your Site Manager is introduced after contract and before construction begins, or earlier if you would like. Our Construction Manager meets with the team weekly and visits each site every week. Your designer reviews the documentation from start to finish, and the designer and interior designer make periodic site visits during construction.

Yes. Interior design is integrated into the Latitude 37 process rather than outsourced or offered as an optional extra. Your interior brief forms part of the overall project brief and is guided by the same Client Experience Lead and Designer. It means the interiors and the built form are resolved together rather than one after the other.

Latitude 37 builds custom homes from approximately $1.5 million through to $5 million and above. Within that range, cost is a function of size, complexity, site conditions, specification and the choices made during design. We will give you an honest assessment of what is realistic at your budget in the first conversation rather than at the end of the process.

Earlier than is typical. You receive an indicative build cost with your concept design, before you commit to documentation. Once documentation and selections are resolved and you have approved the contract documents, you sign a fixed-price building contract, with any exclusions set out clearly in the contract. We would rather give you a realistic figure early than the lowest one.

Some, and we are direct about them before you engage us rather than after. External site costs such as surveys, soil tests and heritage reports may be required. Town planning, where your site needs it, adds both time and cost. Demolition of an existing structure is separate. Any exclusions are set out clearly in your fixed-price building contract, so you know what is and is not included before construction begins.

We communicate early and directly. If a site condition, a supplier delay or a variation requirement arises, we discuss it with you before acting rather than presenting it afterwards. Our preference is always a hard conversation early over a harder one later. The detailed costing work done before contract is designed to keep the number of these conversations as low as possible.

It means the work is checked by more than one set of eyes before each phase proceeds. At Latitude 37, our in-house Quality Manager inspects at defined hold points, supported by our Technical Manager. Site Manager checks are verified by a Senior Site Manager or Construction Manager, and independent third-party quality inspections take place at key points. Defects are photo-logged and need two sign-offs before they are closed.

Every Latitude 37 home is built in accordance with all applicable Victorian Building Regulations and Australian Standards. Our structured quality assurance process provides ongoing verification throughout construction to help ensure those standards are consistently achieved.

We tell you. If something unexpected occurs on site, we discuss it with you before acting, explain the options and the cost implications, and agree the way forward together. Building a custom home over eighteen months will always involve some surprises. What matters is whether your builder raises them early or hopes you will not notice.

Handover is not the end of the relationship. At handover you receive a Maintenance & Warranty Guide for your home. At the 90-day mark, the Site Manager who handed over your home carries out an inspection, which you arrange through our online Aftercare Request form. After that, our Maintenance & Warranty partner continues to support you, and you have 12 months of RACV Home Assist. None of this limits your statutory warranty rights.

Latitude 37 provides warranty coverage in line with Victoria’s domestic building legislation. Your Maintenance & Warranty Guide explains how to care for your home and how to raise a warranty matter, and your Client Experience Lead will walk you through the specific terms at contract stage.

Yes, and many clients do, whether for a future build or a project for a family member. The relationship is designed to continue well beyond the original project.

Use the online Aftercare Request form on our Aftercare page. In the first 90 days, this is how you arrange your inspection with your Site Manager. After that, our Maintenance & Warranty partner supports you with any maintenance or warranty matter.

Latitude 37 builds across six regions: Bayside, including Brighton, Sandringham, Hampton, Beaumaris and Sandhurst; the Inner South East, including Malvern, Toorak, South Yarra, Hawthorn and St Kilda; East Melbourne, including Camberwell, Kew, Glen Waverley, Balwyn and Doncaster; South East Melbourne, including Lysterfield, Narre Warren and Belgrave; the Mornington Peninsula, including Portsea, Sorrento, Red Hill, Rosebud, Mt Eliza, Mornington, Mt Martha and Cape Schanck; and the Inner North, including Northcote, Ivanhoe, Essendon, Moonee Ponds and Keilor East.

It matters more than most people expect. Site constraints, council requirements, overlays and neighbourhood character differ considerably between a Bayside block and a Mornington Peninsula one. Latitude 37 has built extensively across all six regions, and that familiarity shapes what we recommend at feasibility and how we plan the build.

Yes. A knockdown rebuild suits clients who are settled in a location, whether because of the street, the school, or the outlook, but whose existing home no longer works for how they live. Latitude 37 designs and builds your new home, and the feasibility assessment at the outset covers whether rebuilding or renovating is the better path for your site and budget.