A Family Home Shaped by Light, Space and Life on the Water

The owners began with a clear vision: they wanted to move beyond the familiar white-on-white coastal look and create a waterfront family home with its own character. Designed by Jayson Pate and built by Symcorp Design & Build, NAMARA brings that vision to life on Sophie Avenue, Broadbeach Waters. Its architectural presence is balanced by warm oak, natural stone and soft curves, while generous spaces and a north-east waterfront outlook make room for the way the family wanted to live.

Space to Come Together and Room to Spread Out

NAMARA was made for the changing pace of family life. The ground floor centres on an open-plan kitchen, dining and living area, with expansive glazing drawing the outdoors into view. An electric fireplace set into a stone plinth gives the living room a quiet focal point, while engineered timber floors carry warmth through the shared spaces.

The kitchen balances its sculptural curved island with the practical demands of a busy household. A concealed butler’s pantry keeps preparation out of sight, and a window splashback brings another outlook into the room. Nearby, a wine display and bar sit behind pocket doors, ready when friends come over.

There are places to step away, too. A separate media room offers a more intimate setting downstairs, while an upper-level lounge enjoys its own water views. A dedicated study on the landing and a ground-floor guest suite give the home flexibility for work, visitors and everyday routines.

Built Around the Waterfront

The connection to the water continues outside. Broad openings lead from the main living area to a covered entertaining terrace with an outdoor kitchen. From there, the space unfolds across the pool, pergola seating area, firepit and waterfront lawn.

Each area offers a different way to spend time at home: a long lunch in the shade, a swim, an evening around the fire or a quieter moment by the canal. A sauna, ice bath and outdoor shower create a dedicated space to slow down and recharge. At the water’s edge, a 12-metre pontoon makes boating part of the picture.

The home’s north-east aspect and expansive glazing bring daylight into the living areas and frame the outlook. Whether everyone has gathered around the kitchen island or moved outside for the afternoon, the water remains a constant presence.

A Private Retreat Above the Water

All five bedrooms have their own ensuites. Upstairs, the waterfront main bedroom takes in the view through a large picture window and opens to a private balcony. Its dressing room provides a considered mix of open and enclosed storage, while the ensuite includes a freestanding bath, twin vanity and twin-shower wet room.

Throughout the home, details reward a closer look. The staircase’s closed oak steps extend into seating; a dry-stacked stone wall adds texture to the entry; and soft curves appear again in the openings, mirrors and joinery. Double-glazed windows and generous glazing contribute to a home that feels open and light while offering places for privacy.

These elements give NAMARA its character without competing with the water and skyline beyond. The result is a home with a sense of occasion that still feels comfortable to live in every day.

Project Details

Location: Sophie Avenue, Broadbeach Waters
Project: Completed two-level waterfront home
Design: Jayson Pate
Build: Symcorp Design & Build
Site: 754 m² with a north-east aspect and 18.1 m of water frontage
Home: Five bedrooms, each with a private ensuite; multiple living areas; secure parking for four cars
Waterfront features: Pool, outdoor entertaining areas, wellness zone and 12 m pontoon

NAMARA shows what is possible when a home responds to both its setting and the way a family wants to live. If you’re considering a custom home on the Gold Coast waterfront, talk to Symcorp about your project.

View Transcript

0:05 Welcome to Broadbeach Waters. This is our latest custom new build, which consists of five bedrooms, lovely

0:12 stairs, custom floors, custom kitchens and a beautiful outlook.

0:17 Hi Gordon, how are you going? I just want to introduce our client who has taken delivery of his new home, Gordon Ward.

0:25 Thanks, Heath. Pleased to be here and see the results of all the hard effort over the last 12 months. It’s a fabulous product, and I’m really happy with what you guys have done.

0:33 Amazing. I guess this has been a process of nearly two years now, hasn’t it? By the time you started with your drawings and all the pre-build information, to the stage we’re at now,

0:43 you’re enjoying it. So, how was it?

0:44 Like any project like this, there’s a long lead time getting the design right and making your decisions early about which process you want to go

0:52 through. I compared building with a project home against a custom build. I’d seen Symcorp building nearby—a new house that you built—and it was a

1:00 great job. You were also recommended by my designer, so I decided to run with Symcorp after a lot of design work.

1:08 Here we are, probably 18 months later.

1:10 There you go. We committed to a 12-month build. How do you think we performed?

1:15 Well, I’m pretty disappointed. You guys were two days late.

1:18 No, fantastic effort. It’s certainly been a far better experience with you guys than what I’ve experienced with a well-known project builder.

1:25 You’ve mentioned that you’ve done other builds. Were there many differences in our processes, our styles and the things that we did compared with the other builders?

1:33 I think the biggest difference is that you get your own personality embodied in the build. The builder sees the

1:40 concept, sees the vision and then makes it a reality. It’s so different from taking a project house, like a Metricon property, for instance,

1:49 where it’s all set out for you and you’re going to get a standard product. Here, it’s something unique, individual and quite special.

1:56 We try to give you a process that allows you to remain involved while the build is happening. Did you get much more say, or did you come up

2:04 with many more ideas or anything different through that? I think the key things throughout the building process were having a project manager dedicated to

2:12 the build who didn’t change. You had excellent staff working for you, which was important, and great communication from day one and throughout

2:20 the design process. The selections we made about stonework, the size of the house and the dimensions of

2:28 rooms were all considered in great detail upfront. We then had weekly meetings on-site after

2:35 the build really got going, so that was important. Any issues whatsoever were addressed with me, so I really appreciated the level of

2:42 feedback and the ability to influence design choices along the way.

2:47 Okay. I was involved with you quite early on, obviously, around quoting, estimating and getting the sale for

2:54 Symcorp. You obviously had a budget in mind. Were we able to help you obtain that budget, tweak things or

3:01 do anything you needed to help you get the right amount that you wanted? There was a lot of collaboration going

3:08 through the project design. The initial budget I had ended up being exceeded by a reasonable amount, but that was through conscious

3:17 decisions made for the sort of house I wanted to build. It turned out to be much more of a luxury product than where I was initially targeting it, which was better than a

3:26 Metricon house, for instance, but not in that luxury range. We ended up above budget, but after we pushed the button on the contract and

3:34 started building, the total build cost was within the build cost plus contingency. I was happy with that result.

3:40 Awesome. What do you think about the level of finishes in this house?

3:44 Excellent. That’s all I can say. I’m very, very happy. I think it’s top quality. I can’t pick any faults, and the attention to detail was there

3:53 all the way through. The fixes you have to make at the end are very limited. I think it’s a superb finish. So Gordon, I guess it was a

4:00 nine-month process to get from your first meeting with us to signing a contract and starting the

4:08 build. What was your first stage of trying to evaluate where you wanted to spend and how you wanted to work with this?

4:15 What I’d done initially was get a costing and a detailed design and specification from a project home builder. I had a fairly clear idea of

4:23 what I wanted upfront, and I had a budget. My wife also had a budget, which I had to stick with. From that, I had the idea of looking at

4:32 a custom build because it gets you a better-quality finish. You will achieve a better sale price if you decide to take that next step. When I met with you guys, it was

4:41 about understanding what the cost was on a per-metre basis and how a design similar to the project home I’d

4:48 come up with could be constructed, as well as what the total cost was going to be. Timing was also important—how quickly could that build take place?

4:55 Timing is critical because time is money and you’ve got funding costs. The quicker you can get a house built, the better. From there,

5:02 we went into more detailed design once we determined that the initial budget was in the right ballpark.

5:08 Yep. Through that detailed design process, I also involved an interior designer at that stage who

5:16 spent a lot of time and effort working on the detailed drawings so we could get very specific costings for the build. We were then able to work out what

5:24 the final costs were going to be. There were a number of iterations, even in that process. I think there were seven revisions of the quote before we finally landed on the final

5:33 design and costing. Our process goes through three stages where we talk about square-metre costs.

5:41 From there, we typically go into our allowance quotes. It’s a much more detailed quote because, if you’re going to work with square-metre rates,

5:49 that’s very broad and open in terms of finishes, structures and things like that. I guess we would have gone through that stage with you, where we

5:56 discussed our square metre costs. Then we moved on to an allowance quote, still staying within the budget you were happy with, before moving into

6:03 fixed pricing. We get a lot of clients who can spend nine or 12 months doing all this by themselves without engaging a builder,

6:10 and then get to the end and can’t afford it. That’s the whole reason we go through that process

6:16 ourselves. How was it for you? I think it’s critical because you need to have that detailed design

6:24 completed to be able to cost the build properly. You can’t go to a number of builders with a detailed design and ask them to spend time and

6:32 money doing it without knowing whether they’re going to get a contract at the end. This was a decision of faith and, to some extent, based on

6:40 recommendations I’d received to run with Symcorp.

6:42 I’d picked the builder, so let’s work with them to try to get the best build we can. Let’s do smart things along the way to reduce costs where possible, which we

6:51 did with the engineering, flooring that we sourced from Malaysia and double-glazed windows that we sourced from China. There were innovations as we went through the process that allowed us to

7:00 bring the cost down. But when you go into a build like this, it’s critical to understand or be aware that you’re likely to exceed your own

7:07 budget, which we did considerably. You have to be comfortable that you’re probably going to end up spending more than you really want to,

7:15 but is it worth it to get the product and the finish level that you also want? I think we’ve achieved that result here—that harmony.

7:23 In conclusion, I’m really very happy with the result we’ve achieved through Symcorp. Like yourselves, I’m very proud of what we’ve managed to

7:32 achieve, and I’d certainly recommend Symcorp to any future client.

7:35 Appreciate it. No problem. Thanks again, mate.

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