Good design doesn't start with a trend. It starts with a story.

Every project is different, so every budget is different. Once we know the story behind your build, our advisory report gives you a realistic indication.

We never present the building cost on its own. The report comes with a maintenance plan and a fixed-costs plan, because a house keeps costing money after handover. With those three side by side you can see which investments are worth it and how fast they pay back: extra insulation, solar panels, better glass.

What each step costs · Which choices pay for themselves · See a sample report

More is possible than most people think, and all of it within the law. There are structures under which a private person, without a company, can hold a house and the rights to the land for decades, including the right to sell at market value.

Which structure fits you depends on how you'll use the house and for how long. Our development partner and a notary work that out in the advisory report, tailored to your situation, before any design starts.

Lease, buy, permits: who handles what

Every plot has a zoning that says what may be built on it, and a rule for how much of the land you may cover. A residential zone allows a house but not, for instance, short-term rental. The report checks the zoning, the land certificate and the road access, and compares what you want to build with what's allowed. If the house fits the land and the rules, you know it before you commit to the plot.

Land, zoning and permits

A building permit (PBG) and, when the house is finished, an occupancy certificate (SLF). The permit application takes six to twelve months, so it runs as a separate track: our partner architect files it early, alongside the concept. Where the difference between a smooth project and a stressful one usually sits is not in the building but in the paperwork: unclear agreements, incomplete documents, wrong assumptions between landowner, builder and the local office. The report lists what has to be in place, so nothing is missing when it matters.

Which permit, and who files it · Where the permit sits in the five steps

The advisory report takes two weeks, the concept two weeks, the drawings about six, the bill of quantities two. Construction takes about fourteen months, from site preparation to handover. The building permit runs as its own track of six to twelve months, so our partner architect files it early, alongside the concept.

Two steps you pay Antara for, the advisory report and the concept, both credited when we continue. Architecture and construction are quoted by our partners. Every step, with what it costs.

Building in Bali is demanding. It's not just building the perfect Instagram picture, it's making sure that picture still looks the same in ten years. Most of what decides that is invisible once the house is finished. We help you understand those things.

We work in a joint venture with a licensed builder and an architect, so you don't have to find one. They work to our standards and speak our language, and we specify the interior down to the last tile and supervise it against that specification.

The partners, and who signs for what

You don't have to. Through your project portal you follow the progress: where we are, what's done, what's planned, with photos to back it up. On top of that you receive a monthly construction report from our partners, with the test reports attached.

You're more than welcome to come and see it. But you don't need to.

Simple: lack of knowledge, and saving in the wrong places. Building in the tropics is different from building in the West. Heat and humidity are the two enemies, and they wear a house down when the details were made for another climate.

We combine old, proven techniques with today's knowledge and specify with those two enemies in mind: insulated cavity walls, solar-control glazing, enclosed bathrooms with extraction, metalwork chosen for the exposure, and cooling sized from a heat gain calculation instead of a guess.

What we specify for the tropics · How Rumah August deals with it

Yes. Notary and legal fees, permits, the village contribution, utility connections, and the upkeep once you live there. We put all of them on the table before a single euro is paid.

Every cost, at a glance

Building to rent is different from building to live in. For your own use, the return on an investment is mostly quality of life; for rental, it's financial. Those are choices to make before the design, because they also decide which permits you apply for and which zoning you need.

All of this is part of the advisory report, together with our development partner.

Our development partner, for rental and villa management