diff --git a/app/Umbraco/Archetype.Tests/Models/FieldsetTests.cs b/app/Umbraco/Archetype.Tests/Models/FieldsetTests.cs
index e1bbc0d..d699500 100644
--- a/app/Umbraco/Archetype.Tests/Models/FieldsetTests.cs
+++ b/app/Umbraco/Archetype.Tests/Models/FieldsetTests.cs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ using System.Text;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using Archetype.PropertyConverters;
 using NUnit.Framework;
+using Archetype.Tests.Serialization;
 
 namespace Archetype.Tests.Models
 {
@@ -34,6 +35,18 @@ namespace Archetype.Tests.Models
             Assert.That(propertyValue == "Box 1 Title");
         }
 
+        [Test]
+        public void Can_Get_Fieldset_Property_Default_Value_By_Alias() 
+		{
+            var converter = new ArchetypeValueConverter();
+            var result = (Archetype.Models.ArchetypeModel)converter.ConvertDataToSource(null, _sampleJson, false);
+
+            var fieldset = result.Fieldsets.First();
+            var propertyValue = fieldset.GetValue<string>("noSuchProperty", "noSuchProperty default value");
+
+            Assert.That(propertyValue == "noSuchProperty default value");
+        }
+
         [Test]
         public void Can_Convert_Property_Value_Types()
         {
@@ -47,6 +60,24 @@ namespace Archetype.Tests.Models
             Assert.That(fieldset.GetValue<string>("blurb") == "A blurb here");
         }
 
+        [Test]
+        public void Can_Convert_Property_Default_Value_Types() 
+		{
+            var converter = new ArchetypeValueConverter();
+            var result = (Archetype.Models.ArchetypeModel)converter.ConvertDataToSource(null, _sampleJson, false);
+
+            var fieldset = result.Fieldsets.First();
+
+            Assert.That(fieldset.GetValue<int>("noSuchInteger", 1234) == 1234);
+            Assert.That(fieldset.GetValue<bool>("noSuchBoolean", true) == true);
+            Assert.That(fieldset.GetValue<bool>("noSuchBoolean", false) == false);
+            Assert.That(fieldset.GetValue<string>("noSuchString", "noSuchString default value") == "noSuchString default value");
+
+            var contactDetails = fieldset.GetValue<ContactDetails>("noSuchContact", new ContactDetails { Address = "some street, some city", Name = "someone" });
+            Assert.That(contactDetails.Address == "some street, some city");
+            Assert.That(contactDetails.Name == "someone");
+        }
+
         [Test]
         public void Returns_String_When_No_Type_Specified()
         {
diff --git a/app/Umbraco/Umbraco.Archetype/Models/ArchetypeFieldsetModel.cs b/app/Umbraco/Umbraco.Archetype/Models/ArchetypeFieldsetModel.cs
index 52d2c9b..2026dbd 100644
--- a/app/Umbraco/Umbraco.Archetype/Models/ArchetypeFieldsetModel.cs
+++ b/app/Umbraco/Umbraco.Archetype/Models/ArchetypeFieldsetModel.cs
@@ -29,12 +29,36 @@ namespace Archetype.Models
         {
             var property = GetProperty(propertyAlias);
 
-            if (property == null || property.Value == null || string.IsNullOrEmpty(property.Value.ToString()))
+            if (IsEmptyProperty(property)) 
+            {
                 return default(T);
+            }
 
             return property.GetValue<T>();
         }
 
+        // issue 142: support default T value supplied by caller
+        // this code would look nicer if the two GetValue<T>() methods had one common implementation.
+        // however, this would require GetValue<T>(string propertyAlias) to call the common implementation
+        // with a default(T) value, which could in theory result in a performance hit, if T for some reason
+        // is costly to instantiate.
+        public T GetValue<T>(string propertyAlias, T defaultValue)
+        {
+            var property = GetProperty(propertyAlias);
+
+            if (IsEmptyProperty(property)) 
+            {
+                return defaultValue;
+            }
+
+            return property.GetValue<T>();
+        }
+
+        private bool IsEmptyProperty(ArchetypePropertyModel property) 
+        {
+            return (property == null || property.Value == null || string.IsNullOrEmpty(property.Value.ToString()));
+        }
+
         public bool HasProperty(string propertyAlias)
         {
             return GetProperty(propertyAlias) != null;
diff --git a/app/Umbraco/Umbraco.Archetype/PropertyConverters/ArchetypeValueConverter.cs b/app/Umbraco/Umbraco.Archetype/PropertyConverters/ArchetypeValueConverter.cs
index 32f56cf..ad99f1c 100644
--- a/app/Umbraco/Umbraco.Archetype/PropertyConverters/ArchetypeValueConverter.cs
+++ b/app/Umbraco/Umbraco.Archetype/PropertyConverters/ArchetypeValueConverter.cs
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ namespace Archetype.PropertyConverters
             if (!sourceString.DetectIsJson())
                 return defaultValue;
 
-            using (var timer = DisposableTimer.DebugDuration<ArchetypeValueConverter>(string.Format("ConvertDataToSource ({0})", propertyType.PropertyTypeAlias)))
+			using (var timer = DisposableTimer.DebugDuration<ArchetypeValueConverter>(string.Format("ConvertDataToSource ({0})", propertyType != null ? propertyType.PropertyTypeAlias : "null")))
             {
                 var archetype = ArchetypeHelper.Instance.DeserializeJsonToArchetype(sourceString,
                     (propertyType != null ? propertyType.DataTypeId : -1),