Kendenup Home Builders

The ground at Kendenup is mostly flat, and the Shire’s own village policy flags soil types and a high water table to plan for. We understand what that means for a home on small acreage north of Mount Barker in WA. The Rural Building Co. has built across regional Western Australia since 1992, from Kalbarri in the north to Albany in the south. We are an award-winning WA builder, proudly built by WA Country Builders (BC11422), and we build for people who value craftsmanship and a real connection to the land.

Kendenup sits in the Shire of Plantagenet, about 20 kilometres north of Mount Barker in WA and just east of Albany Highway, with the Great Southern railway line running along the village’s eastern boundary. It is a village and a district rather than a town, roughly 1,900 lots all up, and the 2021 Census counted 1,062 people across the Kendenup locality.

That settlement pattern is the thing to understand before you buy. There are 595 lots and reserves inside the village, many of them only 1,000 square metres, and then about 1,300 rural lots around it running anywhere from 8 hectares to 50 hectares depending on which side of the village you are on. A village block and a 40 hectare paddock need very different homes.

Our designs are made for both, with verandahs deep enough to shade a west wall, raking ceilings that follow the roofline, and windows placed for the outlook rather than the street. Whether it is a family home on a village lot or a homestead on acreage, we build for the block you have chosen.

The village is the centre of the district, 595 lots and reserves in all. Reticulated scheme water reaches most of it from the Mount Barker treatment plant, and both three-phase and single-phase power are available.

Many lots are only 1,000 square metres, so the plan matters more than the floor area. The Kalgup Retreat Loft or The Ridgewood Den suit a village block. A loft design fits an upstairs room inside a steeply pitched roof, so you gain a level without spreading out.”

The rural lots ringing the village are the larger part of Kendenup. East of it they run 30 to 50 hectares and to the north 18 to 40 hectares. Both the Porongurup and the Stirling ranges are visible from parts of the district.

A block this size has no streetscape to line up with, so the house can face the sun and the outlook instead. The Julimar Retreat or The Linton suit a site with room around it.

West of the village the lots run 8 to 30 hectares and to the south 10 to 25 hectares. That is room for stock, a shed and a windbreak without a farming operation behind it.

Holdings like these call for a home that sits low and long. The Daintree Retreat or The Bushland Retreat are drawn for a treed block where you would rather work around the trees than clear them.

Mount Barker is the major town of the Shire of Plantagenet, 20 kilometres south of Kendenup and 50 kilometres north of Albany, and the Shire calls it a significant service centre for the surrounding agricultural areas.

Kendenup has a primary school and a general store, so the bigger shop and the high school are a drive south. If your block sits closer to town than to the village, The Kanowna or The Pinehill suit a serviced town lot.

Narrikup is the shire’s other rural village, 18 kilometres south of Mount Barker and west of Albany Highway. The Shire calls it an important growth area and puts its appeal down to a small-scale village character and its role serving the farms around it.

It is an attractive alternative to the larger regional towns, with Mount Barker and Albany both within reach. The Rivergums Skillion or The Sorrento suit a village lot here.

Kendenup’s neighbouring localities include Mount Barker, Narrikup, Porongurup, Woogenellup, Tenterden and Cranbrook, and we build across all of them. The Shire of Plantagenet has about 5,338 residents, so this is a district of villages and farms rather than towns.

It is the block rather than the boundary that decides the design. The Evergreen or The Quedjinup Retreat work on an open site with room around it. Tell us where the block is and which way it faces.