Our story

Not necessarily.

Many customers choose multi-generational designs to future-proof their home - planning for aging parents, adult children returning home, or flexible guest accommodation. These homes are designed to adapt over time, responding to changing family needs without requiring major alterations.

As the cost-of-living increases and younger buyers are priced out of the market, a multi-generational home design that offers two distinct homes within one footprint can be highly appealing to sibling or friends wanting to pool their resources to purchase a home together.

Read more in our Journal Article: Multi-Generational Homes & Co-Buying Property in Australia

It can be more nuanced to build a multi-generational home, but complexity doesn’t have to mean difficulty.

By addressing these considerations early - layout, services, approvals, and long-term use - we ensure the build process remains clear and well-managed. Our role is to simplify the journey while delivering a home that genuinely works for everyone who lives in it.

Absolutely. A well-designed multi-generational home should feel intentional and unified, not like an addition or compromise. We focus on cohesive architecture, consistent materiality, and thoughtful transitions between spaces, ensuring the home feels considered as a whole.

Yes. Our bespoke custom homes are designed from the ground up, around you.

That means layouts, materials, finishes, and spatial relationships are all tailored to your lifestyle, site conditions, and long-term plans. We don’t start with a template - we start with how you want to live. We can also work with existing Architects' plans or modify or adapt a plan to suit.

Yes. Pools can be incorporated into the design and construction process from the outset. In fact, planning for a pool early allows us to co-ordinate structural requirements, services, drainage and outdoor living integration more effectively.

We can manage the pool build directly or co-ordinate with a preferred pool contractor to ensure timelines, compliance and finishes are aligned.

When integrated properly, a pool becomes part of the overall design – not an afterthought.

Yes, considered modifications are possible.

While the Ready-to-Build Collection is designed to streamline the process, there is flexibility to adjust elements such as finishes, inclusions, and select layout components where appropriate. This allows you to personalise the home without the time and complexity of a fully bespoke design.

Absolutely. We regularly work with customers who choose to knock down an existing home and rebuild on their current site.

We manage the process holistically - from early feasibility and design through demolition, approvals and construction - ensuring the new home better accommodates the land, orientation, and modern living needs.

Learn more in our Journal Article: Your knockdown rebuild checklist

No. You can speak with us at any stage - whether you already own land, are considering a purchase, or are still exploring options.

In fact, engaging early can be valuable. We can help assess site potential, constraints, and opportunities before you commit, ensuring your future home is designed with clarity and confidence from the outset.

While additional space can help, good planning is more important than sheer size.

Through smart zoning, vertical separation, or dual-living strategies, multi-generational living can be achieved on a range of site sizes. Early design consideration is key to achieving a comfortable and balanced outcome.

Yes. We coordinate the design documentation, approvals process, and any required consultants as part of the journey.

Our role is to simplify what can otherwise feel complex, keeping you informed while managing the technical details behind the scenes.

Yes. We specialise in the design and build of high-quality duplex homes that balance liveability, design integrity, and long-term value.

Whether you’re planning to live in one home and sell the other, accommodate extended family, or invest, we consider privacy, layout, and street presence carefully - ensuring both dwellings feel considered and complete.

Yes. We offer carefully selected House + Land packages in growth corridors and established communities. These packages combine thoughtfully designed homes with suitable blocks to simplify the path to building.

Unlike typical project-style packages, our designs remain flexible. You can personalise layouts, upgrade specifications and refine finishes to ensure the home reflects how you live.

Our team will guide you through land selection, design suitability and budgeting to ensure the package aligns with your long-term goals.

Yes. We can deliver fully turnkey homes.

A turnkey build means your home is move-in ready at handover, including flooring, landscaping, driveways, fencing and essential internal finishes.

We provide clear documentation of what is included upfront, so you understand exactly what is covered within your contract. Our goal is to remove ambiguity and ensure you move into a completed home – not a list of post-handover tasks.

The most effective way to avoid unexpected costs is to invest time and money upfront.

Clear documentation, early site assessment, and informed selections all play a critical role. At Homes By ZAC, we focus on identifying site conditions early, providing realistic allowances, and guiding selections before construction begins. This approach reduces late changes and helps ensure pricing reflects the home you actually want to build – rather than assumptions.

Look for a builder whose values align with yours, who communicates clearly, and who demonstrates consistency in quality and process. Experience with similar projects, transparency in pricing, and a willingness to guide you - not pressure you - are all important indicators. A good builder should help you make informed decisions, not just deliver a contract.

Just as importantly, choose a builder who offers flexibility and genuine freedom to shape your home around your life. Some builders expect you to fit within their system – selecting from rigid inclusions or limiting changes to protect their process. Others, like ZAC, see their process as a framework that supports creativity, collaboration and considered customisation.

Your home should reflect how you live, what you value, and what matters most to your family. The right builder will have the expertise and structure to manage complexity – but also the openness to adapt, refine and personalise. You shouldn’t feel like you’re buying a product off a shelf. You should feel like you’re creating something that’s truly yours.

Ultimately, the right builder balances structure with flexibility, guidance with freedom, and experience with genuine partnership.

Suitability depends on a combination of planning controls, site conditions, and design potential.

Key factors include zoning, minimum lot size, frontage width, setbacks, access, and local council or CDC requirements. The slope of the land, existing services, and neighbouring context also play an important role. At Homes By ZAC, we assess these elements early and holistically, helping you understand what’s possible - and whether a duplex is the right approach for your site before you commit.

Read more in our Journal article: Can You Build a Duplex on Your Land?

Privacy is central to successful multi-generational design.

We carefully plan layouts to create clear zones - often incorporating separate living spaces, ensuites, or self-contained areas - while still allowing shared spaces for connection. The goal is balance: togetherness when desired, independence when needed.

The investment required to build a home with ZAC varies depending on your site conditions, design approach, level of customisation and the finishes you choose. Rather than quoting a headline figure, we focus on helping you understand what drives cost – and how those decisions connect back to how you want to live.

From the outset, we provide realistic guidance based on comparable projects, detailed site assessments, and transparent allowances. We break down where your budget is being allocated – structure, site works, selections, and specification – so you can see exactly how your home is coming together financially.

Importantly, we don’t just price a design. We work with you to shape a home that aligns with your lifestyle priorities and your investment comfort zone. That may mean refining scope, adjusting levels of finish, or reconfiguring elements to achieve better value without compromising the intent.
Our role is to remove uncertainty. By combining early clarity, structured cost planning and ongoing communication, we help you move forward with confidence – knowing your home has been thoughtfully designed and realistically budgeted from day one.

We prioritise clarity early.

Through detailed allowances, transparent costing, and early selections guidance, we help align design ambition with budget realities - supporting informed decisions rather than late-stage compromises.

Ideally, before design begins or land is purchased.

Early involvement allows us to assess site constraints, budget considerations, and design opportunities upfront - reducing redesigns and cost surprises later.

Unlike traditional project homes, ZAC’s Ready-to-Build Collection of plans are design-led, carefully resolved, and created with longevity and liveability in mind.

While the core design is pre-considered, the homes are not mass-produced. They reflect ZAC’s design philosophy, material sensibility, and spatial planning - offering a more considered outcome than a standard volume build. ZAC also offers a higher degree of customisation on its pre-designed plans than many volume builders will allow.

A typical ZAC build takes around 8–12 months from the start of construction, depending on the design, approvals, and site conditions.

Before construction begins, there is also a planning and design phase, which includes concept design, documentation, and council or CDC approvals. We guide you through each stage, setting clear expectations upfront and maintaining open communication throughout the process.

Building a home can feel overwhelming - but it doesn’t need to be.

Our role is to guide, simplify, and support you through each stage, making informed decisions feel manageable. Clear processes, realistic expectations, and open communication are central to how we work.

Generally, yes. Because the design work has already been completed, the ZAC Ready-to-Build pathway can reduce the overall pre-construction timeframe. This makes it a good option for customers who value design quality but are looking to move forward with greater certainty and efficiency.

Who is the Ready-to-Build Collection best suited for?

The ZAC Ready-to-Build Collection suits customers who:

• Appreciate strong design but don’t require a fully bespoke layout
• Want a more efficient path to construction
• Are building on relatively straightforward sites
• Value clarity, certainty, and quality in equal measure

Multi-generational living refers to homes designed to comfortably accommodate multiple generations under one roof - such as parents, children, and grandparents - while maintaining privacy, independence, and connection.

At ZAC, this means carefully zoning spaces, considering separate living areas, flexible room use, and thoughtful circulation, so the home supports evolving family dynamics over time.  Our multi-generational range includes many Duplex designs as well as homes with detached Granny flats.

Read more in our Journal Article: The Rise of Multi-Generational Living

ZAC’s Ready-to-Build Collection offers a curated selection of thoughtfully designed single and double level homes, as well as duplex and multi-generational homes, that are ready to commence sooner than a fully bespoke custom design.

These homes balance architectural quality and efficiency, providing a refined starting point that suits a wide range of lifestyles and sites, without the longer lead time of a ground-up custom design.

Homes by ZAC is design-led, detail-focused, and life-first in approach.

We invest time upfront to understand how you live, how the site behaves, and how the home should feel - now and into the future. The result is a home that is considered, enduring, and genuinely personal.

What also sets ZAC apart is that the business is still owner-led and owner-involved. Our directors remain actively engaged in the company day to day – across design, documentation and construction oversight. That means decisions are not filtered through layers of management, and accountability is direct.

With more than 30 years of experience, we bring depth of knowledge to every stage of the process. We anticipate complexity, manage detail behind the scenes, and provide clear guidance when decisions matter.

You’re not working with a production system. You’re working with experienced professionals who are personally invested in the quality, execution and outcome of every home we build.

A custom home is designed specifically for you - your lifestyle, your site, and your long-term needs. The layout, orientation and finishes are shaped to suit you – not adjusted from a fixed template. This approach offers the greatest flexibility and is particularly valuable for complex sites or for customers wanting something highly personalised.

A project home typically uses a pre-designed plan with limited structural changes.  These homes can be efficient to build, but are often developed around standard block sizes and streamlined specifications. Modifications may be restricted in order to protect the builder’s volume process.

At ZAC, we offer both fully customised homes and a curated collection of Ready-to-Build designs. Our Ready-to-Build Collection provides a considered starting point – similar in concept to a project home – but with greater flexibility to refine layouts, upgrade inclusions, and tailor selections to suit how you live.

The key difference is not simply design – it’s service and attention to detail. Whether you choose a fully custom home or start from one of our Ready-to-Build plans, you work with a team who takes the time to understand your priorities, guide you through decisions, and manage the build with care.

You’re not navigating a production system. You’re supported by experienced professionals who value craftsmanship, clarity and personalised guidance at every stage.

We build across Sydney and surrounding regions, focusing on locations where design quality, craftsmanship, and thoughtful planning add genuine value.

You can check our Build Map to see if we’re currently building in your area or call our team to check your particular address.  We constantly reassess our build zones, so if you’re unsure whether your site falls within our build area, we’re happy to discuss your location and advise early.

Yes. We regularly build homes from customer-supplied, DA-approved plans.

The first step is a detailed feasibility and documentation review. We assess the architectural drawings, engineering, specifications and site conditions to ensure the design is structurally sound, buildable, and aligned with your budget expectations.

Where required, we may recommend refinements to improve construction efficiency, compliance, or cost clarity – without compromising the design intent. Once documentation is confirmed, we prepare a transparent, itemised proposal outlining scope, allowances and timelines.

Our role is to translate your approved design into a well-managed construction outcome – with clear communication and disciplined delivery from contract through to handover.

Yes. In fact, this is one of our specialties.

Sloping sites, narrow frontages, complex access, reactive soil conditions or challenging overlays require experience and considered planning. Rather than avoiding complexity, we assess it early and manage it methodically.

Our team conducts thorough site analysis upfront – including contours, soil classification, access constraints and service connections – so risks are identified before construction begins.

Difficult blocks often produce the most interesting homes. With the right planning and structural expertise, they can deliver exceptional outcomes – and we're experienced in navigating that complexity.