A small desk with a narrow brief
Vantrellis is three people in a shared office on La Trobe Street. We read planning registers, construction programmes, owners corporation budgets and contracts of sale, and we write down what we find in language that does not require a background in construction law.
The desk started in 2019 after two of us spent a year helping family members through off-the-plan purchases and discovered that almost everything written for buyers was produced by someone with a stake in the sale. The tower rush had produced an enormous amount of marketing material and very little plain description.
We are not agents, brokers, builders, conveyancers or financial advisers. We hold no licence to give personal advice and we do not want one. What we publish is general, educational and written for a reader who is about to make a large decision and would like to understand the mechanics first.
How a field note gets written
A reader question
Almost every note starts as something a reader could not get a straight answer to.
Primary documents
We work from the actual instruments: legislation, planning registers, budgets, standard contract forms and published regulator guidance.
Practitioner check
Drafts touching law or building practice are read by a practising professional before publication. They are not paid for it and they are not credited.
Dated and revised
Every note carries a review date. When rules change, we revise the note rather than publishing a fresh one and leaving the old one live.
What this desk will not do
- No personal advice. We will not tell you whether to buy a specific apartment, or whether a particular purchase suits your circumstances.
- No contract review. Send your contract to a conveyancer or a property lawyer. That is what they are for, and it is not what we do.
- No commissions or referral fees. Nobody pays to be mentioned here, and we take nothing if you buy anything.
- No named-project verdicts. We write about how buildings and contracts work in general, not about whether a named development is good or bad.
How the desk pays for itself
Vantrellis is funded by the consulting work its principals do outside this site — document review and research for buyers' advocates, owners corporations and community legal services, on ordinary commercial terms and always disclosed to the client.
The site itself carries no advertising, no affiliate links and no sponsored content, and it runs no analytics or advertising cookies. If that ever changes, it will be stated plainly on this page and in the disclaimer before it takes effect.
Corrections. If something here is wrong, we would like to know. Email desk@blindreactions.com with the page and the paragraph. Corrections to material points are noted at the foot of the note.
Who writes here
Marisa Kenwarra
Principal, construction track
Twelve years in project management on mid-rise and high-rise residential sites in Melbourne and Geelong before moving to research full time. Writes the construction and defect notes.
Anwar Deslin
Principal, documents track
Former conveyancing paralegal, now non-practising. Reads standard contract forms and disclosure material so that readers know which questions to take to their own lawyer.
Tegan Whitlow
Numbers and editing
Builds the cost models behind the ownership-cost notes and edits everything before it goes up. Keeps the review dates honest.
Start with the explainers
Five long notes cover most of what a first-time high-rise buyer needs to understand about the tower rush before signing anything.