New service — Cape Town & Knysna
Find out what you can and can't do on your site — without appointing an architect first
When an architect starts a project, the first thing they do is work out what the site will actually take: survey it, establish the setbacks, height, coverage and slope, and dig out the servitudes, overlays and title deed conditions nobody mentioned. We'll do that work on its own — and hand you the document at the end of it.
You aren't tied to us for what comes next. If the site stacks up and you decide to build, take the document to any practice you like — ours or someone else's. Architects can commission it too, instead of doing the legwork in-house.
There's no fixed price, because there's no fixed job — a flat empty plot and a steep site with an old house on it aren't the same piece of work. Tell us about your site and we'll come back with what we'd cover, how long it takes, and a quote. The quote itself costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Produced by AB+HvD Architects — an architecture practice based in Cape Town & Knysna.
Ask us what your site needs
A few quick questions, so the first thing you hear back is a real answer about your site rather than a brochure.
What we can look at
No two sites need the same work. A vacant plot raises different questions to one with a house on it — and someone who just wants to know what's possible needs something different again to someone set on adding a second dwelling. We scope it to your site, from this ground:
The site itself, measured
We work from the actual site — levels, slope, boundaries and whatever is already built on it — instead of assuming a flat, empty plot.
What can go where
Setbacks, height restrictions, coverage and bulk, worked through for this erf: the real envelope you have to build inside.
Servitudes, including the buried ones
Rights of way, municipal services and other servitudes — including the ones that never show up on a plan and only surface once you dig.
Overlays sitting on top of the zoning
Heritage and other overlay zones add a second layer of rules over the base zoning. We check which ones apply and what they change.
Title deed restrictions
Conditions written into the deed that can override what the zoning appears to allow — surfaced from the deed rather than guessed at.
One document, in plain English
All of it written up as what you can and can't do on this specific site — and what that means for the kind of project you have in mind.
Who it's for
Property owners doing their homework
Still deciding whether to hire an architect, but want a proper site-specific read first — no obligation to go further with us.
Architects outsourcing the groundwork
Any practice can commission this for a client's site instead of doing the site legwork in-house.
What it isn't
- It isn't drawings or a design.
- It isn't a guarantee of council approval.
- It isn't a commitment to appoint us — the document is yours to take wherever you like.
Tell us about your site and we'll quote it
Send us the address and a line about what you're weighing up. We'll come back with what your site needs looking at, what it costs, and how long it takes — before you've spent anything.
Ask for a quote