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Shouse Designer

Your home starts with your ideas.

Design your shed home in 3D. Explore layouts and finishes, and see it on your block.

Start designing — freeExplore designs

Free to design • In your browser

The Pod, a one-bedroom Zincalume gable shed home with a timber-lined entry, rendered from its Shouse Designer model on a rural block
The Pod, designed in 3D
The Pod’s floor plan, exported from the Shouse Designer: kitchen and laundry, bathroom, bedroom, an open bay and two skylights, with dimensions
The Pod’s floor plan — from the same model as the render.
  1. Free Design
  2. Detailed Estimate
  3. Prelim Drawings
  4. Engineering
  5. Order Kit
See it take shape

Draw your plan. Watch your home take shape.

Explore your layout, then see it in 3D.

shousedesigner.com · Architect Mode
The Shouse Designer workspace in Architect Mode: the Pod’s 8.3 by 5.3 metre plan with two bays and an open bay — kitchen and laundry, bathroom, loft and a bedroom with two skylights — drawing tools on the left and properties on the right

A capture of the actual studio — the Pod, with its bays, skylights and live floor areas. The kit price shown is this example’s own, for its region. Static preview.

Try your own design
Your home. Your block.

See how your home fits your block.

Explore placement, orientation and available site information.

The Shouse Designer siting view: a one-bedroom Pod plan drawn inside a yellow parcel boundary over aerial imagery, with the bearings of each boundary and level points marked

The Pod drawn inside the parcel boundary, with the bearings of each side and level points marked. Example site from the Shouse Designer — not a surveyed boundary.

Where does the site information come from?Mapped information is indicative and does not replace a survey.
  1. 01

    Public mapping

    Type the address and the Designer finds the parcel from the state’s cadastre, draws your home inside its boundary, and notes flood and bushfire-prone area mapping where the state publishes it. Free and instant, so you can design and price straight away.

  2. 02

    Your own levels

    Type them in and they are used in preference to the mapping.

  3. 03

    A registered surveyor

    Four corner levels, your floor level, the benchmark and their registration — the drawing set includes the request sheet they work from, and the final set is reissued on their figures.

Every sheet in a drawing set says which source its levels came from. When a survey comes in, the real levels go in and the set is reissued with a revision history showing both.

From design to documentation

Turn your design into preliminary drawings.

Communicate your proposal with clear plans of your home and its position on your block.

  • Dimensioned floor plans
  • External elevations
  • Site and shadow plans

Stage One

Prelim Drawings

$1,200 inc GST

Explore preliminary drawings

For preliminary planning discussions. Engineering and approvals follow separately. Ordered from inside the Shouse Designer; credited to the kit.

The Pod’s floor plan, exported from the Shouse Designer: kitchen and laundry, bathroom, bedroom, an open bay and two skylights, with dimensions
The Pod’s dimensioned floor plan, exported from its Shouse Designer model.
See everything includedThe issued A3 set, sheet by sheet — how many depends on your block and your storeys.

  • Cover sheet

    Your own render on the front, with the job and the revision.

  • Site plan, true scale

    Your home drawn on your actual parcel, setbacks marked. Large lots get a location plan as well.

  • Shadow plan

    Cast at 9 am, noon and 3 pm on 21 June — the winter solstice, the day an overshadowing study uses.

  • Floor plans

    Dimensioned, with every room, opening and fixture where you put it.

  • Elevations

    Each face of the home, with the window and door schedule on the sheet.

  • Levels, flood and bushfire noted

    The early site answers a council asks about, on the set from day one.

  • MBA’s site-fit review

    A person at MBA reads your home against your block before the set is issued.

  • Wind verification

    Your wind region checked and recorded on the set. A check, not the engineering — that follows in Stage Two.

  • Revision control

    Every reissue is tracked, so the set in your hand is always the one that matches your model.

Prepared for pre-lodgement and planning discussions, and it may form part of a planning application where appropriate, subject to local requirements. The engineering for building approval follows in Stage Two, drawn from the same model. Your final set is reissued on a registered surveyor’s levels.

A clear path forward

Start free. Take the next step when you’re ready.

Understand each stage before you commit.

  1. The Shouse Designer studio in Architect Mode, the Pod open01

    Free Design

    Free

    Explore and develop your home.

    Start designing
  2. The Pod’s render, as it appears on the cover of the sample Detailed Estimate report02

    Detailed Estimate

    $299

    inc GST

    Understand costs and key project considerations.

    Explore this step
  3. The Pod’s east elevation sheet from its Preliminary Drawing Set03

    Prelim Drawings

    $1,200

    inc GST

    Document your proposal.

    Explore this step
  4. The Pod’s structural frame model: portal columns and rafters, purlins, girts and bracing, exported from its Shouse Designer model04

    Engineering

    $5,000

    inc GST

    Progress site-specific professional work.

    Explore this step
  5. Steel portal frames of Shed Home #03 standing on the slab at Weymouth05

    Order Kit

    Project quote

    Proceed with your kit supply.

    Explore this step

Paid services are separate from the free Designer.

How engineering, quotation and kit ordering connect

  1. $5,000 inc GST

    Stage Two · Engineering

    Engineer it — site-specific engineering and the energy pathway, produced by qualified professionals and coordinated by MBA.

  2. Evidence

    Engineering release

    MBA records the professional outputs and the engineering-resolved bill of materials for your design revision.

  3. Issued

    Formal quote

    MBA issues a written supply quotation against the release — an offer with a 14-day validity, accepted per the terms.

  4. Kit

    Kit supply

    MBA supplies it — every member counted from the model, flat-packed to your site. Your builder or owner-builder builds it.

The formal quote is issued after engineering, against a named engineering release — never before. The whole path, stage by stage, is on how it works; the governing terms are on terms and conditions.

For builders & designers

Bring your clients’ ideas into focus.

A shared design workspace for presenting ideas and developing your own range.

  • Present your designs

    White-label outputs and your own published range — the engine is ours, the name on the sheet is yours.

  • Work with clients

    Share a design link — a customer, a builder or a bank can view and spin the model on any device.

  • Continue your workflow

    Architect Mode, first-pass structural checks as you draw, and DXF export of the plan and the 3D shell for your own tools.

Explore Design Partners

Professional features depend on your account. Partner accounts are set up by MBA.

shousedesigner.com · Architect Mode
The Shouse Designer workspace in Architect Mode: the Pod’s 8.3 by 5.3 metre plan with two bays and an open bay — kitchen and laundry, bathroom, loft and a bedroom with two skylights — drawing tools on the left and properties on the right

The design library.

Published from the studio — a firm’s own range works the same way.

View all
Good to know

A few things before you start.

Clear answers, so you can design with confidence.

Is the Designer really free?

Yes. Start designing for free — draw, revise, render and share as much as you like, and we don’t sell off-the-shelf plan sets. Estimates, preliminary drawings and engineering are separate paid services, and they start only when you ask for them.

Do I need CAD experience?

No. If you can sketch on a napkin, you can design a shouse. Everything snaps to the structural grid, so what you draw is what we can build.

What does the indicative kit price include?

Engineered shell kit — frame, roofing, cladding, flashings and fasteners. Delivery, slab, window and door units, services, labour and internal fit-out are additional. Your kit price is confirmed by a formal quotation after site-specific engineering. The Designer shows a live indicative kit price as you draw, counted from your own model. Your Detailed Estimate turns it into reviewed facts with the basis stated. The formal quote is issued after engineering, against a named engineering release.

When do I need preliminary drawings?

When you want to take your proposal to a council pre-lodgement or planning discussion, a builder or your bank. The Preliminary Drawing Set (Stage One, $1,200 inc GST) is the issued A3 set of your exact home on your exact block. It is prepared for pre-lodgement and planning discussions and may form part of a planning application where appropriate, subject to local requirements. The engineering for building approval follows separately, in Stage Two.

Is my design engineered?

Not yet. The grid keeps you inside buildable limits and first-pass checks run as you draw, but they are a first pass. In Stage Two the structure is engineered for your site and wind region by qualified professionals, coordinated by MBA. You concept it; they make it stand up. Approval decisions rest with your council or certifier.

Can I use my own builder or designer?

Absolutely. Share your design link and they can work in the tool with you, or take the DXF into their own software. Your design is yours; MBA’s terms do not make it exclusive to us. MBA supplies the kit — your builder or owner-builder builds it, under the terms.

Who does what

You
Own the project — the land, the approvals, the builder or the owner-builder permit.
Qualified professionals
Produce the site-specific engineering and the energy pathway.
MBA
Coordinates the technical pathway, records the engineering release, quotes and supplies the kit.
Council · certifier
Make every approval decision.

MBA is not your builder, certifier or approval authority.

What would your shed home look like? Find out free.

Start with a design you like, or create your own. Design in your browser. Explore at your own pace.

Start designing — freeBrowse designs

Aussie-made · BlueScope steel · Nationwide delivery