Design
Creative, functional design solutions tailored to your vision, your site and your budget.
Julatten · Far North Queensland
Local expertise.Built on experience.
Design, drafting, planning and construction advice for commercial and industrial projects — backed by nearly 60 years of building work across Queensland, now delivered from the Tablelands.
The Birdcage Hotel · Longreach, QLD
Since the 1960sQueensland building experience
Six servicesConcept through to inspection
Based in JulattenServicing Far North Queensland
Thoughtful design.
Smart planning.
Stronger communities.
Take the whole scope, or just the piece you're missing. Some clients want a full package from first sketch to final inspection. Plenty of others come to us for one thing — a planning application, a set of drawings for a builder, a single inspection. Both are normal. Tell us where you're stuck and we'll quote that.
About the practice
Built on experience. Driven by reliability.
With almost 60 years of experience across Queensland, we've earned our reputation by delivering dependable advice, lasting relationships and projects completed with confidence.
That reputation was built right across the state. Brisbane, Gladstone, Mount Isa, the Sunshine Coast and the Central Highlands — often through a town's growth years, when the building work mattered most and had to hold up afterwards. Every one of those places taught us something about reading a site, a council and a budget.
New to the region, not to the work: the practice is now based in Julatten and focused on Far North Queensland, bringing decades of documentation and approvals experience to a region we're proud to call home. Same standards, same hands-on approach, closer to your site.
Des Skinner Design & Drafting is run by Des and Patricia Skinner — a husband-and-wife practice. The people you brief are the people who draw it, lodge it and follow it through to construction.
Experienced
Nearly 60 years of knowledge and proven results across Queensland.
Reliable
Responsive, honest and committed to your project from brief to handover.
Efficient
Smart solutions that save time, reduce risk and add value.
Local
Based in Julatten, servicing Cairns, Port Douglas, Mossman, Mareeba and the Tablelands.
Our services
Innovative built environment solutions.
Delivering creative, practical and compliant solutions for commercial, industrial and residential developments.
Drafting
Detailed, accurate documentation ready for approval, tender and construction.
Planning
Council and regulatory requirements handled — development applications, conditions and compliance.
Development consulting
Feasibility, staging and strategic advice to maximise value and de-risk the outcome.
Building construction
Quality building services with the drawings, the trades and the program kept in step.
Building inspections
Independent inspections at key stages so compliance and quality are confirmed, not assumed.
Engage any one of these on its own, or the full sequence — whatever the project actually needs.
Commercial · Industrial · Residential
Built for working buildings.
Most of our work is commercial and industrial — the projects where compliance, program and buildability carry real cost. We also take on selected residential work.
Commercial
Offices, retail, hospitality, medical suites and community facilities — designed around how the space earns its keep.
Industrial
Sheds, warehouses, workshops and specialist facilities — clear spans, hardstand, access and services resolved early.
Residential
New homes, extensions, renovations and multi-residential — taken on selectively alongside our commercial workload.
Residential project · Sunshine Coast, QLD
Selected work
Where the drawings earn their keep.
Roof geometry, levels, flashings and junctions get resolved on paper before anyone orders material. Get that right and the build runs to program; get it wrong and it gets found on site, at cost.
This covered walkway links two wings of a Queensland home — a small structure carrying a good deal of setting out.
How a project runs
Supporting every stage of your project.
From concept design and drafting to planning, development consulting, construction and inspections, we provide integrated expertise from start to finish. One point of contact, five stages, no gaps.
Stage 01
Brief & feasibility
Site, budget, constraints and what the building needs to do.
Stage 02
Concept design
Options tested against cost, planning rules and buildability.
Stage 03
Documentation
Full drawing set drafted for approval, tender and construction.
Stage 04
Approvals
Council lodgement, conditions and coordination with consultants.
Stage 05
Build & inspect
Construction support and inspections through to handover.
Shaping spaces. Building futures.
From initial concept to final inspection,
we're with you every step of the way.
Let's build something great together.
Get in touch
Tell us about the project.
Plans, a sketch on the back of an envelope or just a site address — send through whatever you have and we'll tell you what's involved.
- Mobile
- 0412 665 779
- Based in
- Julatten, Queensland 4871
- Service area
- Cairns, Port Douglas, Mossman, Mareeba, the Atherton Tablelands and surrounds
- Licence
- QBCC Licence 10235