Most of this work arrived already refused.

It came to us with two refusals already against it — one on a development application, one on a complying development certificate. By that point the owner had paid for a design, paid for consultants, and had two documents from two processes telling him no.

The instinct at that stage is to argue the refusal. We did not. We changed the design so that the reasons for refusal no longer applied to it, and we changed the pathway it was lodged under.

It was approved as a complying development certificate, as the client wanted it, with the consultant reports reworked to match.

An owner-builder, a house in a conservation area, and a building information certificate notice that stopped the work where it stood. Money already in the ground, a site going nowhere, and no builder carrying the risk — because the owner was the builder.

A stopped site is the most expensive thing in construction. Every week it stands still costs money and none of that money buys progress.

We designed and strategised the way through it. Approval was obtained and the notice was withdrawn.

Smoke drifting into a residential area, neighbour complaints, and media attention. At that point the planning problem and the public problem are the same problem, and neither can be solved by drawings alone.

It was resolved — and then extended. Outdoor dining approved. The liquor licensing issue worked through as well.

The measure of that job is not the approval. It is that the business grew afterwards. A second location opens on the Northern Beaches, and we are doing that one too.

The development application had been rejected. The advice the client then received was that a complying development certificate was not possible either. As far as he knew, the project was finished.

It was designed and approved as a CDC. We did the fit-out as well.

He made a thank-you video afterwards, unprompted. People do not film thank-you videos for jobs that merely went to plan.