What to check, what to ask and which warning signs to take seriously before you sign — so the villa you approve on screen is the villa that gets permitted and built.
Choose an architect in Bali who has completed buildings you can visit, holds an Indonesian architect's registration (STRA) or works with a registered Indonesian architect who signs the drawings, knows Bali's own building rules, and whose scope covers everything your project needs — site analysis, working drawings, engineering coordination, the PBG permit package and supervision on site. Renders are easy to produce; permitted, buildable and well-built villas are not.
Under Indonesia's Law No. 6 of 2017 on Architects, anyone practising as an architect needs a registration certificate (STRA). Building-permit drawings must be signed by licensed professionals — so the first question is whose name and licence will be on yours.
The law exempts only simple and traditional buildings, which a villa project is not. A foreign architect can design in Indonesia, but must be registered and work with an Indonesian architect who takes professional responsibility. That arrangement is common and perfectly workable — as long as it is real and named in the contract, not a signature borrowed at the end.
The same applies to engineering: structural and MEP drawings need licensed engineers, and on sloping or riverside plots the structural engineer matters as much as the architect.
On top of national law, Bali adds rules that an architect working here must know by heart:
A strong render shows a designer's taste. A completed building in Bali shows whether the design survived permitting, the budget, the contractor and the rainy season. Ask to see finished projects — and visit one if you can.
Two proposals with the same headline can cover very different work. Many design studios deliver a concept and drawings and stop there; a full-cycle bureau stays responsible from the site to the finished building. Compare scope line by line before you compare price.
| Stage | Design-only studio | Full-cycle bureau |
|---|---|---|
| Site and feasibility check | Sometimes | Included |
| Concept and 3D visualisation | Included | Included |
| Working drawings | Usually | Included |
| Structural and MEP coordination | Client hires separately | Included |
| PBG permit documentation | Often extra | Included |
| Supervision during construction | Occasional visits | On site |
| Furniture, joinery, procurement | Not included | Available |
Neither model is wrong. A design-only studio can be the better fit if you already have a contractor and engineers you trust and plan to manage the build yourself, or if you want a signature concept from a particular designer. Otherwise, every stage that is not included becomes something you manage — and the gaps between separate teams are where budgets and schedules usually slip.
Most owners building in Bali are not on site every week. A good architect replaces your presence with a clear process: defined stages, a fixed deliverable at the end of each, and regular reporting once construction starts.
Architects in Bali price in different ways — a fixed fee per stage, a rate per square metre, or a share of the construction budget. The model matters less than what the contract ties the money to.
A reliable quote needs the site. An architect who gives a firm price for design and construction without seeing the plot is pricing a different project than yours.
Ask the same questions to every studio you talk to. The answers make proposals comparable.
Ask us the same eight questions. Send the plot location and your goals — we reply with the next step within a day.
Talk to an architectBeautiful images, but nothing completed that you can visit or verify.
The studio can't tell you who will sign and take responsibility for the drawings.
Promises that zoning or the PBG can be bypassed. They can't — and the risk stays with you.
Structure "to be figured out by the builder" — the most expensive kind of saving.
Fixed numbers before anyone has looked at the slope, access or ground.
No supervision during construction, so nobody checks that what's built matches what was approved.
PREDMET.ARCHITECTURE is an architecture bureau based in Canggu that takes projects from the site to the finished building: site selection and due diligence, design from concept to working drawings, PBG documentation, engineering coordination, construction supervision, our own furniture and joinery production, and turnkey procurement.
Our work ranges from private villas like Villa SACRE — built in 8 months and rated 5.0 on Airbnb — to the 5-storey, 99-unit PREDMET.CEMAGI aparthotel and the operating PREDMET Kaba-Kaba Resort.
Yes. Indonesia's Law No. 6 of 2017 on Architects requires anyone practising as an architect to hold a registration certificate (STRA), with exemptions only for simple and traditional buildings. The drawings submitted for the PBG building approval must be prepared and signed by licensed professionals, including structural and MEP engineers.
A foreign architect can design in Indonesia but must be registered and work together with an Indonesian architect who takes professional responsibility for the work. In practice, many Bali projects combine an international design lead with a local registered architect and engineers; what matters is that the responsible architect is named and involved, not added only to sign.
Ask which projects are completed, under construction or still concepts, and visit a finished building if possible. Look for projects on similar land and at a similar scale, ask who signed the drawings, and for rental properties ask how the completed villa performs. Completed and operating projects say more than renders.
Common models are a fixed fee per design stage, a rate per square metre of building, or a percentage of the construction budget. Whichever model is used, payments should be tied to clearly defined deliverables at each stage, and the contract should state the number of revisions, the drawings included, site visits during construction and who owns the drawings.
Both models work. Separate architect and contractor give independent checks on quality; a single full-cycle team reduces gaps between design, engineering and construction and gives the owner one point of responsibility. The key is that someone qualified supervises construction against the approved drawings, because that is what keeps the building eligible for its SLF certificate.
Beyond national building law, Bali has its own requirements: buildings are generally limited to about 15 metres, Bali Provincial Regulation No. 5 of 2005 requires new buildings to reflect Balinese architectural identity, spatial plans set setbacks from coastlines, rivers, ravines and temples, and since 2026 productive farmland (LP2B) can no longer be converted into villas. An architect experienced in Bali designs within these rules from the start, so the permit review does not force a redesign.
For a single villa, design from strategy and concept to complete working drawings typically takes about two to four months, depending on the size of the project and how quickly decisions are made. The PBG building approval follows, usually one to three months for a single villa with complete documents.
Reflects regulations as of October 2026. General information, not legal advice.
