Award winning home builders, Perth
Three custom home wins across the 2025 and 2026 awards
Trendsetter Homes is an award winning custom home builder in Perth, and the results are recent. In 2026, The Grosvenor in Mount Lawley won the HIA Perth Housing Awards category for Custom Built Home $1.2M to $1.8M and the Master Builders WA Building Excellence Awards category for Contract Home $1M to $2M. In 2025, Sheppard Way in Marmion won the HIA Perth category for Custom Built Home $1.2M to $1.7M.
Those wins sit on a record that goes back to 2018: seven wins and eleven finalist places across the Housing Industry Association, Master Builders, national and business awards. Every one is listed on this page with its year and category, and the home where we can name it, because that is how an award should be read.
Trendsetter Homes (BC 10254) has designed and built custom homes in Perth since 1997. Design, construction and interiors are one team, and our projects typically start at $1.5M for the build, excluding land.
Winner
Master Builders WA Winner 2026
Contract Home $1-2 Million
Winner
40under40 Winner 2026
Michael Agostino
Winner
HIA Perth Winner 2025
Custom Built Home $1.2-$1.7 million - Winner
The wins
Seven wins, newest first
Five wins for homes and projects we built, and two for Managing Director Michael Agostino. Price bands are shown as each awarding body set them that year, which is why they shift.
| Year | Award and category | Home or recipient |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | HIA Perth Housing Awards, Custom Built Home $1.2M to $1.8M | The Grosvenor, Mount Lawley |
| 2026 | Master Builders WA Building Excellence Awards, Contract Home $1M to $2M | The Grosvenor, Mount Lawley |
| 2026 | Business News 40 Under 40 | Michael Agostino, Managing Director |
| 2025 | HIA Perth Housing Awards, Custom Built Home $1.2M to $1.7M | Sheppard Way, Marmion |
| 2022 | Master Builders (WA) Ric New Medal for Excellence (under 35) | Michael Agostino |
| 2019 | HIA Perth Housing Awards, Townhouse/Villa Development up to $750,000 | Trendsetter Homes |
| 2018 | Bankwest Master Builders (WA) Housing Excellence Awards, Renovation/Addition over $1M | Trendsetter Homes |
The finalist places
Eleven finalist places since 2018
A finalist reached the final field in its category and did not take it. HIA's John Pietersen Award for Custom Built Home of the Year is contested by the winners of each Custom Built Home price band, so our two places there follow from the category wins above.
| Year | Award and category | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | HIA Perth Housing Awards, John Pietersen Award for Custom Built Home of the Year | Finalist, The Grosvenor |
| 2026 | HIA Perth Housing Awards, Small Lot Housing over $500,000 | Finalist |
| 2025 | HIA Perth Housing Awards, John Pietersen Award for Custom Built Home of the Year | Finalist, Sheppard Way |
| 2021 | HIA Perth Housing Awards, Display Home over $800,000 | Finalist |
| 2021 | Bankwest Master Builders (WA) Housing Excellence Awards, Multi Unit Development 2-5 | Finalist |
| 2019 | HIA Perth Housing Awards, Custom Built Home $625,001 to $900,000 | Finalist |
| 2019 | HIA Perth Housing Awards, Renovation/Addition Project over $1M | Finalist |
| 2019 | HIA Perth Housing Awards, Townhouse/Villa Development | Finalist |
| 2018 | Bankwest Master Builders (WA) Housing Excellence Awards, Multi Unit Development 2-5 | Finalist |
| 2018 | HIA Perth Housing Awards, Townhouse/Villa Development up to $1.5M | Finalist |
| 2018 | National Excellence in Building and Construction Awards, Renovation/Addition over $1M | National finalist |
Inside the winning homes
Two award winning homes, two difficult sites
The Grosvenor, Mount Lawley
Three storeys in an Art Deco language on a 265 m2 inner-city block, completed in October 2025. Curved walls and glazing, a custom balustrade, brass detailing and checkerboard balcony tiling give the home its character. The construction story sits underneath: restricted access, a full basement level dug on a tight lot with soil stabilisation to protect the neighbouring properties, and a recording studio that needed its own acoustic separation. It is the only home on this list to win at both the Master Builders WA and HIA awards. See The Grosvenor.
Sheppard Way, Marmion
A 777 m2 corner block with two street frontages at different levels, completed in February 2025. The undercroft called for a 4 metre retaining wall, the ground floor needed 4,000 mm ceilings within council height limits, and with no hardstand for deliveries every contractor worked under a traffic and pedestrian plan. The finish earns its attention too: porcelain sheets of 3,230 by 1,600 mm to keep grout lines down, and a living room that opens to the alfresco, pool and firepit without a visual break. Read how it won.
What the two share
Both homes came down to planning. Michael Agostino's account of Sheppard Way would hold for either: "Certain problems came up, but we had already looked at them during planning." The site, the structure, the trades and the materials are worked through early, with the interior designer and the engineers in the room, and the same team carries the home from drawings to handover. Awards reward the finished result, and most of that result is decided before construction starts.
Reading the awards
What a building award tells you, and what it does not
How the HIA Housing Awards are judged
The Housing Industry Association runs its Perth Housing Awards each year, with Custom Built Home categories split by price band. For the 2025 awards, judges scored entries out of 100 across four criteria: quality of workmanship (50 points), design effectiveness including environmental sustainability (20), innovation (15) and visual and market appeal (15). Workmanship carries half the marks, so a win says something about how a home is built as well as how it looks.
How the Master Builders WA awards work
Master Builders WA runs the Building Excellence Awards, which recognise craftsmanship and construction quality across the state's building industry. Contract Home categories are split by price. HIA and Master Builders are separate programs run by separate industry bodies, which is why a home that wins at both is worth a second look.
Winner, finalist and award winning
"Award winning builder" can mean a category win this year or a finalist place a decade ago, and the words alone will not tell you which. Look for the year, the awarding body, the category and the home. That is the format we use on this page, and it is a fair test for any builder on your shortlist, including us.
Why the price band matters
A win at $600,000 and a win at $1.8M are tests of different work. Site complexity, structure, joinery and finishes all change with the budget. If you are planning a custom or luxury home, look for wins in the band closest to your own. Our 2025 and 2026 wins are in the $1M to $2M categories, and most of our projects sit between $1.5M and $4M.
How to check a builder's awards
Go to the source. HIA publishes winners and finalists for its Perth Housing Awards, and Master Builders WA keeps a list of past award winners. New results can take time to appear and older ones are not always online, so if a result is not listed, ask the builder to show you the certificate.
What an award will not tell you
An award judges a finished home, not the experience of building it. For that, read the reviews, talk to past clients and walk through finished homes. Ask who will run your job, how pricing is handled and who you call after handover. Our guide to choosing a luxury home builder sets out the questions.
Finished homes
See the work behind the awards
From our Managing Director
My incredible teams at Trendsetter Homes, they show up every day knowing the vision and never stop striving for excellence. This award belongs to them as much as it does to me.
The people behind the awards
Design, construction and interiors are one team. These are the people you meet first.
How it works
How an award winning home comes together
Discovery
We start with your block, its orientation, how you live and what the site can carry. Many clients have this conversation before they buy the land.
Concept by hand
Early concepts are drawn by hand and reviewed by the full team before you see them, so what is presented already works as a building.
Design development
The interior designer and the engineers are in the room. This is where a difficult site gets solved: structure, excavation, retaining, privacy and height are resolved together, and the design is prepared for council.
Pricing and contract
Estimating is done in-house with a detailed pricing breakdown as the design develops, so the figure you sign is one you have watched take shape.
Construction
The same team carries the home from drawings to handover, and your client portal holds the programme, documents and visuals through the build.
Handover and after
You walk the finished home with the people who designed and built it, and a dedicated maintenance manager on our team is who you call afterwards.
See it in person
Walk through the work before you choose a builder
A list of awards is a starting point. Standing in the rooms tells you more.
Rather than a display home, we arrange private tours of finished and in-progress client homes, by invitation and with no obligation. You see real rooms at real sizes, built for a real brief, and you can ask the people who built them how it was done.
Call Marek on 0412 688 079 or request a tour below.
Questions about award winning builders in Perth
Frequently asked questions
What awards has Trendsetter Homes won?
Seven wins since 2018. For homes and projects: HIA Perth Custom Built Home $1.2M to $1.8M (2026), Master Builders WA Contract Home $1M to $2M (2026), HIA Perth Custom Built Home $1.2M to $1.7M (2025), HIA Perth Townhouse/Villa Development up to $750,000 (2019) and Master Builders (WA) Renovation/Addition over $1M (2018). For Managing Director Michael Agostino: the 2026 Business News 40 Under 40 and the 2022 Master Builders (WA) Ric New Medal for Excellence. Eleven finalist places are listed on this page.
Is Trendsetter Homes an HIA award winning builder?
Yes. HIA's published Perth Housing Awards results list Trendsetter Homes as the winner of Custom Built Home $1.2M to $1.8M in 2026 and Custom Built Home $1.2M to $1.7M in 2025. Our record also includes a win in Townhouse/Villa Development up to $750,000 in 2019. Trendsetter holds memberships with the Housing Industry Association and Master Builders WA.
What did The Grosvenor win?
The Grosvenor, a three storey Art Deco home on a 265 m2 block in Mount Lawley, won Contract Home $1M to $2M at the 2026 Master Builders WA Building Excellence Awards and Custom Built Home $1.2M to $1.8M at the 2026 HIA Perth Housing Awards. It was also a finalist for HIA's John Pietersen Award for Custom Built Home of the Year. Read about the Master Builders win.
What is the difference between an award winner and a finalist?
A winner took the category. A finalist reached the final field and did not win it. Both are real results, and a builder should tell you which one it holds. If a website says award winning without a year, a body and a category, ask for them.
Do building awards matter when choosing a builder?
They show that a builder's work has been judged against its peers, most usefully in a price band close to yours. They do not tell you what the process was like, so read them alongside reviews, conversations with past clients and a walk through a finished home.
How much does it cost to build with an award winning builder in Perth?
It depends on the builder, the site and the specification. Our projects typically start at $1.5M for the build, excluding land, and most sit between $1.5M and $4M. As a working guide a Trendsetter home costs $4,000 to $6,000+ per square metre. Our cost guide has the detail.
Can I see an award winning home before I build?
Rather than a display home, we arrange private tours of finished and in-progress client homes, by invitation and with no obligation. Call Marek on 0412 688 079 or request a tour.
Where does Trendsetter Homes build?
Across the Perth metropolitan area, with most of our clients in the western suburbs, along the coast and in the river suburbs. Our recent award winning homes are in Mount Lawley and Marmion. Our area pages set out what the local planning rules mean for your block.
Who are the best award winning home builders in Perth?
There is no single answer, and be wary of any builder who claims the title. Shortlist builders with recent wins in a price band close to yours, then check those wins on the HIA and Master Builders WA results pages. Walk through finished homes, read the reviews and ask who will run your job. Our guide to choosing a builder sets out the questions to ask.
Talk to us about building your home
Book a design meeting at our Osborne Park office, or request a private tour of a finished home. Office (08) 9446 2822.