We purchased the land with an old house in 1997, while living overseas. It was rented out until we returned to Australia in 2008. While the old house was barely livable it was always the plan to demolish and rebuild on the site.
When we purchased the site, we were aware of issues of landslip in the area. This later led to many complications in a number of the development options we were exploring.
Initially, the approach was to talk to design build companies but most fell short in delivering on our expectations in terms of energy efficiency and were never 100% happy with the layout/design. One builder met our expectations better than most but ended up doubling the contract price from initial indications and subsequently the project stalled, after consuming a considerable deposit and demolishing the old house, completing working drawings / obtaining planning permission etc.
The project was stalled for 3 years and we then decided kick it off again, but this time we would do it differently. Get a designer to design the house in an energy efficient manner and meeting all of our requirements. We appointed a designer, who we believed was aligned to our own views, particularly energy efficiency. Unfortunately, the design was still lacking in a number of areas and out of desperation took on the design personally.
Once we had a design that met the requirements of the site and how we intended to use the building, we appointed a Quantity Surveyor to estimate the build cost. This was the best decision we ever made. The QS came back with a number to build a Standard Australian Brick Veneer house using a local build. The amount was above our budget and we were still sure that we didn't want a Standard Brick Veneer house and that our requirements would surely push the costs up. So, in February 2014, the decision was made to Owner Build.
By Owner Building, we could be in control of budgets and compromises that would inevitably need to be made during the process. The first step was to decide on the building construction. I knew that the house needed to be well insulated and my experience with polyurethane sandwich panels overseas led me to a number of international suppliers of high performance materials.
One of the conversations with the insulation manufacturer informed me of a house being built in my street, about 10 doors away, that was embarking on a "Passive House" design. A little more research led me to the concepts of Passiv Haus, a process of design and construction where a completed house will be extremely comfortable to live, and one which uses very little energy to heat and cool throughout the year.
The Passive House principles were very much aligned to my own design approach and by tweaking the design in a few areas our new house could be realised as a Passive House, or at the very least one approaching the requirements of a certified passive house.
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