House façade ideas for your new home

The short version

• Pick your floorplan first. Most Rawson floorplans work with several façades, so you choose the façade once the plan is settled.
• The four styles people ask about most are Hamptons, coastal, contemporary and modern.
• Location matters. Northern Sydney leans Hamptons, the eastern suburbs mix French provincial and modern, and a knockdown rebuild needs to sit comfortably in its street.
• If your block is bushfire prone, your BAL rating can rule out timber weatherboard. Fibre cement gets you a similar look.
• Council looks at the streetscape too, so the façade can affect approval.

It’s the first thing everyone sees of your new home, so it is not surprising that choosing your front façade is one of the biggest decisions to make during the home-building process.  

Rawson Homes has many styles of exteriors to choose from, so you can suit your own tastes and the look of your neighbourhood. Most of our floorplans work with a variety of different façades, allowing you to put your individual stamp on your new home. 

It might surprise you to learn that the exterior of your Rawson Home is almost just a shell – albeit a carefully chosen, stunningly stylish one at that. Our floorplan is really the key to the home’s design and probably your starting point. Once that is decided upon, you can view the façades on offer with your chosen floorplan. 
 

Don’t forget to consider how your façade works with the floorplan details – for example, do you have a one- or two-car garage, living areas or bedrooms at the front? 

New Home Consultant at Rawson Homes, Deepankar Goyal, suggests that choosing the right façade for your home often comes down to your geographical location. 

“Most of our clients in Sydney’s northern suburbs and northern beaches want a Hamptons-style house; while the eastern suburbs can be a mixture of French provincial and modern facades,” he says. 

He adds that the location is particularly relevant to knockdown rebuild projects because the new house needs to sit comfortably within its neighbourhood. The streetscape view is also important when obtaining council approval for a new build. 

“Most knockdown rebuild clients spend at least two years thinking about it before they actually knock down the house,” Goyal says. “Go around and look at the neighbours, see other houses on the street that are knockdown rebuilt projects and get ideas and inspiration from that.” 

So, what are the most popular façades at the moment? Here’s our rundown of the top four and the key features of each. 

This article was first published in 2021. Five years on, these four styles are still the ones our New Home Consultants get asked about most. You can see every façade available on each floorplan on our home designs and façades page.

1. Hamptons

The ever-popular Hamptons trend isn’t going away any time soon. Classic in design and elegant in execution, this style of façade relies on character-filled additions such as gables, verandas and timber trims to add timeless appeal and a heritage feel. Perfectly suited to two-storey houses, the Hamptons look is one of our most popular façade designs – check out the Mayfield. 

2. Coastal

According to the Australian Government’s State of the Environment 2021 report, 87 per cent of Australians lived within 50 kilometres of the coast by 2019, so it’s not surprising that the coastal look is one of our most popular façade choices. Often timber or weatherboard-clad in shades of white and perhaps paired with soft blues, the coastal look is designed to make the most of fresh sea breezes and ocean views. This design complements a relaxed style for the interiors and open-plan living – check out the Huntley’s coastal façade option. 

Before you settle on the weatherboard look for a coastal or Hamptons façade, check whether your block is mapped as bush fire prone. If it is, the NSW Rural Fire Service says your home has to meet Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019 and will be given a Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) rating. That rating decides which cladding you can use. Timber weatherboard is limited at the higher levels, while fibre cement weatherboard gives you much the same profile and colour and, as the Australian Government’s YourHome guide to cladding systems notes, is more durable, needs less maintenance and suits higher BAL ratings.

3. Contemporary

One of the most popular facades in the Rawson Homes collection, contemporary facades offer a pared-back palette, often with a mix of materials on the front. Rendered walls combine with brick or stone feature panels to create an elegant, yet stylish option for modern families. Contemporary facades usually come with a pitched roof, either in tiles or metal – check out the Keough. 

4. Modern

The key design element of modern homes is the flat roof profile, which harks back to the mid-century style of homes, but with a contemporary twist. A monochromatic colour palette works well with this look to complement its geometric features and remains one of our most frequently requested styles – check out the Seville. 

Interested in learning more?

Contact us to learn more about the facades available through Rawson Homes.
 

Frequently asked questions

What is the most popular house facade style in NSW?

It depends where you’re building. Our New Home Consultants find Hamptons is the first ask across Sydney’s northern suburbs and northern beaches, the eastern suburbs lean towards French provincial and modern, and contemporary façades with rendered walls and brick or stone feature panels are popular right across the Rawson range. Coastal is the other big one.

Can I change the facade on a Rawson floorplan?

Yes, within the options set for that design. Most Rawson floorplans come with several façades to choose from, so you settle on the floorplan first and then pick the façade that suits your taste and your street. Each home design page shows the façades available for it. Your New Home Consultant can walk you through the façades on offer for the design you like.

Does my facade choice affect council approval?

It can. Councils look at how a new home sits in the streetscape, and that matters most on a knockdown rebuild in an established street. If your block is bush fire prone, the BAL rating under Planning for Bush Fire Protection 2019 limits which external materials you can use. Raise it with your New Home Consultant early.