Beginning a Californian Bungalow Renovation can be exciting and overwhelming.

Louise and Zane share their first steps for their Melbourne renovation, their concerns in choosing the right team, and they get help in getting it right.

Listen to the episode now.

Hello! This is Episode 318, and in it, we continue my conversation with Louise and Zane about the renovation of their Californian Bungalow in Melbourne.

If you haven’t listened to the first part of this conversation, I encourage you to go back and check out Episode 317. Louise and Zane share background information about who the project is for, their vision for their future home, some of their nerves and concerns about budget, and decisions they’re making about their team. 

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE NOW.

This episode begins as we continue discussing Louise and Zane’s expectations about when they want to start construction, and me sharing some challenging feedback about those expectations.

Plus, I also make suggestions about their next steps, and we talk about the best way to begin when you’re exploring whether to go out with an extension or up with a second storey. 

We also discuss whether a builder or designer can have too many projects on the go at once, and I share the best way to shape your approach when first speaking to designers, architects and builders.

A big thank you to all our amazing HOME Method member guests so far on the podcast, and to Louise and Zane in this conversation for sharing so generously, and kicking off their project with us here.

Now, let’s dive in!

This is the transcript of my conversation with Louise and Zane about beginning their Californian Bungalow renovation …

Amelia Lee
Have you had a look at what your approval pathway is, and the planning requirements and things like that? Have you wrapped your head around that, in terms of that timeline?

Louise
Probably not to the extent where we should. We know that certainly on our site, we don’t have any overlays, we don’t have any easements running through the property, it’s a pretty good site in terms of all of those kind of issues that can arise. And we’re in the same council area as our previous house. So we’ve got a friend who’s an architect, and we’ve got a friend who’s a builder, they have both said that we shouldn’t have any major issues with planning and permits, but you never know until you get there, I guess.

Amelia Lee
January might be a little bit ambitious, just slightly, depending on the availability of the architect or designer that you select. And then also, I do know that the research that you’re doing, and the work that you’re doing already, is going to put you in a much better position to be decisive about things. So that will definitely speed up the design process. 

I find that when homeowners haven’t done this investigation of themselves and how they want to live, and really thinking about that holistic approach and that vision for their home, it means that they can get presented a concept and not be able to give definitive feedback about whether it’s along the lines of what they were envisaging. And so that can mean that the architectural designer’s having to almost convince you of how this is going to deliver on the things that you’ve asked for. But I think because you’re doing so much preparation, my experience is that it’ll put you in a much better position to be able to know when you see it, that you’re getting what you’re wanting to get, or if you’re not seeing it, how to communicate better to keep driving that outcome. 

And I see too, that when you do this work of preparing for your project, you actually build a lot of self trust in your ability to do this project. And so that then enables you to trust those that you bring on board a lot more easily. So one of the challenges that most homeowners have is because they’re entering into this process without having done the education, and it’s their first time, and it’s a situation that they’ve never navigated before, there’s an underlying sense of not knowing what to trust. And so that means that the person that they’re working with could be doing a really great job, but because they haven’t trusted that they’ve made the right choice, they don’t trust that they have enough information, they don’t trust that they know what’s going on, they don’t know how to trust the relationship, the process and those kinds of things.  

And so because you’ve got these tools, and you’ve upskilled yourself in this way, and you’ve got this mindset of, “Look, we know that there’s certain things that we have to do and get ready for and those kinds of things,” it puts you in a much better position to build a trusting relationship with your team members far faster, to see the red flags and to be able then to drive a much better working relationship. 

So whilst you’ll probably be faster than most, that’s only 10 months away. You will lose 6 weeks at Christmas, all of these kinds of things mean that you probably are looking I would think more towards the middle of next year. And you know that I tell you like it is. 

The thing is, though, I have had experiences where working with a client, we have nailed down their design within two months. And then because their planning pathway was self assessable, it really just needed a tick and flick from Council. We had a builder that knew that we were coming and we’d worked with, so they were ready to hit the ground as soon as that approval came out. We were able to overlap and stack things.  

And so I think my recommendation would be to not hold back on starting to have conversations with architects. I think you’ve got enough knowledge and information now, particularly if you’ve been working on your brief, to start those initial conversations. Because hearing you say that you want to find a like minded team, that’s going to take for you to actually meet people in person, have them describe their process to you, have them hear you, and have had them reflect how they’re hearing you. Have them reflect how they are understanding what you want to achieve, and also that they have a level of confidence that they’re going to step you through the process well. 

And so you can have that initial meeting, you can then say to them, “Look, we’re just nailing down our budget. We’re doing this work to figure out but we think it’s going to be around this amount. Do you think that that’s feasible?” You can be also discussing timelines with them, and understanding what their timeline is, what the timeline of the people that they’re working with is, so that you can be assessing the realism of when your start date might be. Because that can also start to change, you might find, well, if you have an extra six to nine months up your sleeve because you can’t start construction as soon as you thought you would, that might change your budget. So it’s that thing of how those things all start to work together. 

So I’d suggest rather than holding back, I feel like you’ve done enough for you to start having those conversations. Remember, too, there’s the interview checklist in HOME Method, so you can go through and you can have those conversations in a productive way with anybody that you’re talking to. So you can compare apples with apples, and not forget to ask them particular information as well. 

I find that some people you’ll meet, and you’ll have that magnetism of just instantly getting along, that a meeting will just go really well and you’ll forget to actually check the necessities. And then you might meet somebody you don’t necessarily jive with straight off the bat, but they tick all the boxes on demonstrated experience, they can explain their process to you, you can see previous projects, but the maybe the relationship is not going to be instantaneous, it’s going to take a little bit more, and then you’ve got those questions to be able to elicit more information from them. 

Louise
Yeah, that’s great. I’m excited. It’s good to hear you tell us that we’re ready. It’s nice to hear. Yeah, I’m happy, I’m excited.

Amelia Lee
And I think it’ll help you then also start to understand how they’re going to help you find the rest of your team as well. So you can then start thinking about, “Okay, based on those team members that they might be working with, when’s that builder going to be available, or what’s the turnaround time for that engineer? And who else are they recommending that you might need to bring on board, because that then will start to impact your professional fees, as well. So that will help you budget those things, too. So how does that sound in terms of jumping in a little bit?

Zane
Yeah, I think in terms of that timeline and our budget, it’s an old house, so trying to also keep in mind the fact that it’s a renovation, but it’s also repair and restoration. And we’re actually quite certain that once we start looking at our plumbing, it won’t be great. And electricals will need replacing, and we know areas of our weatherboards that are running, and when you start picking at that, how big is that. So part of the confidence of being prepared is that shock resilience too. You have to go in eyes wide open, that there are going to be some weird and wonderful surprises in this house. And that’s okay, that needs to just be part of the budget instead of plus. Because if we push ourselves, there might not be a plus. So we just have to try and think holistically. But no, I agree. I think I’m probably one who will hesitate at the starting line, but we probably just need to dive in now and start adding some of those conversations too. There’s not much more I think we can talk about it ourselves.

Louise
I don’t know if this is the way you envisaged people using HOME Method, but we’ve actually been through the whole course, and now we’re starting from the beginning again. And we did that, I think, just to understand. We wanted to understand the process in full before we started at the beginning again, just to build our Miro board and understand fully where the crunch point of decision making and brief building and all of those elements that you need throughout the process. We wanted to just clearly understand where they fit.

Amelia Lee
I love it that you’ve done that. This is the thing, I think people do it lots of different ways. I’ve had some people that they will do that, they will literally work their whole way through and then they’ll come back and revisit it as they’re starting to then step themselves through, and they’ll get that whole picture and then start doing the work in bite sized chunks. Other people watch the module, and then they start making decisions based on that. And then as those decisions are unfolding, they start getting ahead on the next module. And I think everything in between. So it’s that whole thing, everybody learns in a different way. 

And I’m probably going to botch this, but there’s something called the Dunning Kruger effect, where those who don’t know much about a topic actually overestimate their level of knowledge in a topic, whereas those that start to know a lot, underestimate how much knowledge they have in a topic. And so the fact that you’ve been through the entire program, and then you’re now coming back to the beginning to start doing it, don’t underestimate how much you know about building and renovating if you’ve watched all of HOME Method. 

For me, the biggest markers that you’re ready to speak to an architect or designer, is that you’ve got clarity around that vision of what you want to create, you’ve got a rough understanding of what your expected timeline is so you’ve got something for them to bounce back against to say, “Hey, look, let’s adjust your expectations.” And you’ve also done that investigation to create that vision, so you haven’t just picked that out of the sky, you’ve actually done that kind of research that you guys have done in terms of, “This is how we really want to live. And we really thought about this, and this has come from a lot of research and us learning more about ourselves, and also testing out how this house works for us and doesn’t work for us.” And then getting some firmness around what you want to spend. And so what that will give anybody that you’re speaking to, is a really good opportunity to help you understand it. Where is that not realistic, and where is it realistic? So that can help you adjust those expectations. And you know we talk about the fact that the sooner you get to adjust your expectations to meet reality, the better off you’ll be. 

So the PAC Process, I think, would be definitely helpful for you to investigate. And so if it’s not a formal PAC Process, at least getting a builder to help you understand what could be the red herrings in your existing house. Because, as you stated, that can be a bit of a Pandora’s Box when you start to pull them apart. The more investigation and due diligence you can do before you dive into the design process, and then moving through the design phase, you can learn things about the house. I’ve been in projects where we have discovered that a part of a house wasn’t as stable as we thought it was, and here we were doing all of this design work to try and preserve it because we thought it was going to be cheaper to keep everything intact. But in that inspection, prior to construction, we discovered actually, it needs to be rebuilt in order for it to work. So it’s like, well, if it needs to be rebuilt, we might as well rebuild it the way that we want. And that then has freed up some design opportunities. 

So things like the plumbing, electrical, in the roof space, making investigations about how much do you want to work on the thermal performance of the existing house… Like what’s that going to cost you and what’s the value proposition of that for you? Weighing that up for yourselves is going to be important, because you might make a determination of, “Look, we’re going to do what we can in terms of creating better air tightness, we’re going to insulate the ceilings, we’re going to invest in decent blinds and those kinds of things, so that we can get some thermal performance, particularly of an evening when things start to cool down in winter. But then what we’re actually going to invest in is the extension or creating these little additional living spaces, where we’re going to probably spend 40% of our time in the home. That’s going to be where we invest our money to create the rock star of this house, and then we’re going to have a thermal break between the two. We’re going to be able to shut down a door so that we know that where we’re spending most of our time and then when we’re going to bed at night, we’ll just look at how we can efficiently warm up those spaces of an evening in winter, or cool them down over summer evening.” 

So that we’re really thinking about the use patterns in this home in terms of where we’re investing the dollars, because, you know, I’ve seen people sink a lot of cash into improving the performance of an existing home because they were really passionate about it, and other people just get torn with, “I don’t know where to stop spending on this thing.” So really weighing that up can be super important for yourself. And you won’t know how to assess that until you start to pull it apart.  

So did you have a listen to the podcast interview with Melanie Lupis about the residential efficiency scorecard process?

Louise
I think I did. It was a while ago though, but yeah.

Amelia Lee
Because that might be worthwhile, you having a look for your existing house. So that’s where you can get an accredited consultant to come in, and they can look around at the existing house and they basically do an energy rating of your existing home as it currently is. And then it can help you target areas that you might need to improve. 

So I would actually just, whilst you’re reaching out to potential architects and designers and even builders and things like that, if you’ve got builders that you love and that you’ve been following, you can always talk to them first and ask them who’s the architect that they think would this project would be a good fit for. And if they’re doing the PAC Process, they generally then will bring those two parties. Those two parties will come together for your initial meeting, and have that conversation from the start.  

So really tapping in to the networks of those networks can be really worthwhile. And then doing that fact finding of things that you know are a problem in existing house, so if you’ve got any problems with the roofing… starting to get an understanding. It could even be just getting a quote from a roofing contractor of what that might cost to replace the roof. The residential efficiency scorecard is a really good system for assessing the energy efficiency of it. And those can just be small ways that you can cherry pick information that starts to build out that suite of knowledge that you have, so that you can then feel more armed in those conversations as you’re then diving down those pathways with other professionals. So how does that sound in terms of thinking about next steps?

Zane
Yeah, sounds good. And I like the way you’re thinking about it in terms of zoning, because particularly sustainability, you can start to be really compelled by a principle instead of practicality. And our bedroom would be a good example because it’s at the front of the house, it’s got all sash windows, it’s got LED lighting that we’d want to maintain, but as we went through the whole NatHERS sections, I was like, “Oh, they’re not going to be earning us too many points.” But we don’t want to get rid of them. So how do you compensate? But it might just be that smart zoning that gets us around that? So yeah, lots to think about.

Amelia Lee
And so what is most important to you in that relationship with your architect? If you had to choose one thing, what would them kicking it out of the park for you look like?

Zane
I think it’s about getting us. I really want it to be our home, and there are certain things from an aesthetic form point of view that we’re excited about. And we want it to be a really intentionally, smart, well designed place. But more than that, I just want it to feel like our home. And I think the trick of getting that right is that person or people who are willing to just sit down and invest understanding that. I don’t want our house at the end… It doesn’t belong in magazines, in photographs. It belongs to our kids. So that’s probably the main thing for me. When you’re doing your research, you see a lot of award winning homes. Our house doesn’t need to win any awards.

Louise
Oh, it’d be nice if it did. But yeah, for me, we’re just probably quite similar. Yeah, finding an architect that can perfectly marry beautiful design in the places that it needs to have beautiful design, but marrying that form and function element, and finding clever ways to save money in areas that could could be saved. We want value for money in this house, because this is, by far, the biggest investment we will likely ever make, and it’s a lot of money for us. So we want the money that we spend to work hard and to not be spent on things that aren’t going to bring a lot of value. So finding an architect that really cares about that, I think will be really important for us.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, fantastic. And I think to get really clear on that is really helpful for you in your conversations with them because you’ll start to then hear how they talk to how they support you, and how they align with you in making those choices. It’s really tricky, the architectural industry is very much geared to rewarding those who have award winning work. And it’s always difficult because your business card becomes your finished buildings, it is where people go to look to see the evidence of what you do.  

But more and more, I’m finding there are more and more architects who really do just want to create fantastic functional homes. They see that design isn’t penetrating enough of our housing, and we invest in design in all of these other buildings that we occupy on a daily basis, but the houses that we live in every day are not getting the same input and expertise in them. So there are more and more designers and architects who are really passionate about helping homeowners get that bang for buck, really ensure that they’re setting themselves up for a functional home that adapts over their lives in it. And also, it’s really exciting to see a lot more prioritising that energy efficiency and sustainability as well. 

And I think it’s going to be really critical for you to have that builder involved, because the architect’s not going to know all the time how to maximise the value of things. So to have that builder who understands how to streamline the efficiency of construction in the way that they work will be super helpful for you in terms of really having some confidence about the right decisions are being made about how this house is going to get put together, how the extension might be added on, what you might be doing to the roof.  

One of the challenges with a hip and gable roof and extending a home is how do you navigate water on it so that you don’t end up with big box gutters in the middle of your house, or an internal gutter. And on the flip side, is that you’re not pulling apart the entire old roof in order to reshape it across an extended building. And so have you thought about how you want the designer or architect to present their ideas to you? Are you somebody who can look at a floor plan and see it in three dimensions? Or are you going to need somebody who will be able to present you with 3d models, and be able to show you interior views and things like that of your home as the design is developing?

Louise
I don’t think we would need 3D models.

Zane
No.

Louise
I think we can look at a plan pretty clearly and visualise what it would look like. It’d be handy to have, what do you call them, renders?

Amelia Lee
Yeah. Oh, even just if the designer works or the architect works in SketchUp, or Revit, or ArchiCAD, or one of those 3D modelling tools, it can be really handy because you can then be seeing it through that design concept phase, how those forms might be working. You can also see how spaces might be getting added on and what that might mean to the roof of your existing house. And I think too, if you end up going down the path of a second story, my experience with homeowners is when you’re looking at that beautiful California bungalow style, it can be very difficult to visualise what is another story going to look like on this home. And so being able to see that in a 3D CAD model, and how it incorporates with the existing house can definitely be handy. 

And also, if you’re only ever seeing it on elevations, it’s going to look a lot more impressive than it potentially would be when you get to shoot a 3D version of it standing at eye level at the footpath, looking up at the house. And the front of the house, because of the perspective, probably will conceal a fair amount of the second story if it’s designed to do that. But if you’re looking at an elevation, that’s a two dimensional drawing on a plan, you won’t get the same impression. And the other benefit of 3D CAD models is that they can geo locate your home and they can run those Sun studies for you. So they can show you how the sun is moving around the property at different times of the year and day, so that you can be really making sure that you’re going to be drinking in that sunlight during winter and shading your home during summer.

Louise
And so is that something that we would need to specifically request from our architect?

Amelia Lee
Yeah, so when you’re chatting to them, and I’m pretty sure it’s in that interview checklist of talking through with them – How do they present their ideas to you? When do they move from sketching … Some architects start sketching in the computer straight away, they won’t present you with yellow trace and things like that, others will start with yellow trace and then they’ll move into the computer. 

So really just getting them to talk through with you how do they take you through the design process. How many options they’re going to present you, what’s their expectations? At the risk of calling it a game, your conversations with your potential architects are an opportunity for you to see what are they doing to hear where you’re at, and to meet you where your needs are at. What are they doing to demonstrate that they’re going to be able to support and guide you, and they see that educating you is part of their responsibility in working with you? And where are you having to ask them for information that they probably should be divulging as part of sharing with you how they work? So really, whilst you’re asking them these questions, you’re not not only just assessing how are they answering them, but you’re also assessing how are they answering them. How are they showing up in terms of what their partnership will be with you? Because if you feel like you’re having to elicit a lot of information from somebody about how they work, it’s fair enough. 

I see a lot of architects and designers arrive at a client’s house, and the potential client is just mining them for information about what are they going to do to the home and just trying to get a whole heap of free design ideas. That I completely respect that a designer architect shouldn’t have to do that, unless that’s a paid consult. But in a conversation that they’re having with you to determine whether you’re going to be a good fit working together for this project, I feel it’s really their responsibility to explain to you what is the process of working with me, what does it look like? 

And if they don’t have something that they can actually send you or they don’t have something on their website, there’s a lot of architects now that actually step it out on their website and say this is what we do and how we do it. Others will send you a pack to say this is what it looks like to work with us, others might have an agenda in that initial conversation to take you through it. But if you’re having to drag that information out of somebody right off the bat, it can be an early warning sign that you’re possibly going to have to drag information and help out of them in some other parts of the project as well. That’s something to be aware of.  

And this is why I’m encouraging you to start having these conversations soon, because it’s a great opportunity for you to not only get the information, but to gauge how you’re getting the information and to see how is that person behaving. And is that person behaving in a way that I feel I could handle this person being in my life for the next 18 months to two years, because that’s potentially what you could be looking at. So am I going to be able to have really intimate conversations with this person about where I want to put my underwear and which side of the bed I sleep on? 

My frustration at the toilet seat being left up so I need it in a box inside the bathroom, so I don’t have to look at it every time I walk in the room.

Louise
The need for some ventilation in the bathroom, definitely.

Amelia Lee
Awesome. Now, before we wrap up, did you have any questions for me about your next steps or anything that you’re nervous or concerned about? You actually both seem really calm for people who are at the beginning of your project. HOME Method’s working for you.

Zane
Are there alarm bells for you in terms of the number of projects architects and builders are taking on at any one time in terms of as we reach out, if we start to get loose commitments from people who say, “Oh yeah, I can take this on. I’m also doing X, Y, and Z.” How much focus should you be demanding from those you’re working with?

Amelia Lee
It’s a really good question, Zane. I think that different business models will be able to operate at different levels and serve a different number of clients. But they have to have the business model in place to do it effectively and productively. So it’s great to understand how many projects they are running at any one time and what they say their capacity is, and what processes they have in place in order to execute that. Because you can then start to understand a lot about how somebody runs their business, how they manage their team, what kind of size team they have. And that can start to tell you that the person that you’re meeting straight off the bat could or could not be the person that you end up working with in your project. 

So if you reach out to an architect who has a team, you might find that they are the ones that work with you in that initial concept phase, and then they introduce another team member who might be a more junior staff member. And then as time goes on, that’s the person that you end up working with. And that senior person that was at the beginning just has oversight over your project but isn’t your point of contact. And so finding that out at the beginning of your project, you can then make a call – is that how I want to work? Or do I want to have the same relationship with the same person the entire way through? Or if I’m going to be working with another team member, can I actually possibly meet that team member because I need to know that I’m going to be able to communicate with them as well? 

So I would not be so concerned about the number. You, of course, want them focusing on your project and you want them to have the systems and processes and capacity to be able to focus on your project. People who run good operations, they can tell you roughly what timelines are. Now, at the moment, we’ve got challenges in the industry where some people are making calls, they’re working a whole way through their design process, and then they’re making calls that they don’t want to proceed with construction. So you can imagine for a builder who’s been working perhaps through the PAC Process, that they might then have a hole that they didn’t anticipate. 

Things can juggle and shift and change, so just be aware of that. But any designer or architect should be giving you a schedule at the beginning of working with them of roughly what the timeline is, how long is it going to take roughly to work through the concept, through the next phase, to the next phase, to the next phase.  

So because you’re busy people, as you said right up front, so you need to know, “When am I roughly going to have to dedicate time to be able to sit for a weekend together, send the kids to somebody else’s house, so we can actually dive into these floor plans and give this architect proper feedback, so we can move on to the next phase.” And so it’s a realistic expectation for you to have that of your team, that they explain to you so that you’re not just having something land on your inbox on a Tuesday night and saying, “Look, you need to get back to us by Friday, otherwise, we won’t be able to look at this for another month.”  

And I think it’s that whole conversation about what is your process? How will you support us? And asking them how many projects they run is a really good question, but then how do they run that many projects? And so I think you will find you’ll start to learn a lot about their business just through that organic conversation. And that will tell you whether you’ve got something to worry about or not in terms of how they’re talking about how they’re coordinating that.  

So if they sound like they’re not doing a great job, and it’s all a bit chaotic, then you know, it’s, it’s, it’s a good sign that they won’t be able to focus on your project in the way you will probably like them to. And I think, immediately, just being very frank about the fact that you’d really like to break ground in January next year is going to be a great initial conversation starter of, “Look, how realistic are our timelines? How does that work in with what your load is?” Because there are a lot of good architects out there who still have waiting lists of six months. So it’s going to be valuable for you in terms of aligning that timeline with what’s possible.  

Was there anything else before we wrapped up?

Louise
I don’t think so.

Zane
I’ll throw one more in.

Amelia Lee
Go for it Zane.

Zane
Back to that thread of engaging respectfully, if we’re literally in 50-50, two minds about stay one level, go two levels, do you think that’s something that can normally be overcome just in the way that you work with your team to build the brief? Or is it unreasonable to be saying, “Can we see what that would look like in two plans?” Or is that overwork that’s unnecessary?

Amelia Lee
No, if you’re weighing up those options, I know that lots of HOME Method members have this question. There’s a video in the first module about running feasibility studies. And so this is, I think, would be a great thing for you to do at the start of your project, is to work with your architect to explore both options at a conceptual level. And so what I mean by conceptual level is literally like a scaled sketch plan of this is what everything could look like in a two storey, and then this is what everything could look like in a single story, and then get some builder cost feedback about what that might involve. Because it’s really difficult for you to assess what you really want, until you have a price tag against it. The minute that you have a price tag, you will realise what your priorities are. 

And seeing that floor plan. It won’t necessarily be, “Oh, we’ll just choose the cheaper option.” You’ll get that costing feedback, and you can look at it and go, “Well, one of those might take longer in construction than the other. One of them might cost more, but it actually gets us more value in the house, or it gets us better livability in the house, or it maintains the garden, or this one is going to help us, oh that living kitchen dining arrangement is so much nicer. And because we’re not working within the footprint of the existing house, I found that what, unfortunately, a lot of people do is that they just talk about it generically. And they get somebody over and say, “Look, if we were going to do it, this is probably what we would do. And if we were going to go up, this is probably what we would do.” And then they’ll get a stab based on that person making a bunch of assumptions about what that might look like. And then they’ll go, “Okay, well, no, that’s going to be way too expensive. We’ll just go with the other option.” But they haven’t properly explored it. 

And so I think that you’ll find that there are architects who naturally have this kind of pre design process where they test ideas against each other. I know that when I worked one to one with clients, even that initial concept design, they would tell me what they wanted, and what they were envisaging. But if I could see that there was another way of packaging up those things that might be cheaper to build, faster to build or work better for the site, work better for the home, I would draw those other options. And so they could see what they had been asking for, but hadn’t expected to see. So inevitably, that would then help them go, “Okay, actually, no, I hadn’t thought of that.” Because that’s the thing, you’re not a designer or architect, you’re not expected to be able to think about these things. That’s why you’re hiring a professional to do it. So you really want to brief them in a way that says, “Look, can we set up a process that enables us to explore these options, get some costing information back so that we can make a confident choice about which pathway we want to go down?”

Zane
Yeah, great. Thank you.

Amelia Lee
Awesome, I’m really excited. Well, I look forward to seeing your progress in the Facebook group and hearing more about it, and of course, look forward to checking back in with you soon on another conversation about this. I can’t thank you enough for joining me here and being so candid about your experience and what you’re navigating at the moment. I know this conversation is going to be super helpful for so many people, so I really appreciate your time and generosity, Louise and Zane, it’s been really lovely.

Zane
Thank you.

Louise
Thank you, Amelia.

I’m so looking forward to continuing to check in with Louise and Zane as their project progresses, and we hear updates. I hope you are too! 

Let’s recap with my 5 top takeaways that should be helpful for anyone at the beginning of their project, whether building or renovating.

#1  I loved hearing how Zane and Louise had found their own method for creating a vision for their future home using the mind-mapping platform, Miro, as a tool, as well as using the Brief Builder template inside HOME Method. Getting on the same page, and developing this important briefing documentation can take time. So don’t race into it, and do it before meeting with potential team members.

#2  Louise and Zane talked about the research they’re doing along multiple lines to determine their budget and project affordability. It’s a big financial investment to build or renovate, so careful financial planning is worthwhile.

#3  Get your expectations adjusted to reality ASAP in your project. Whilst it can be hard to hear your timeline estimations are ambitious, the earlier you know, the better.

#4  Researching in preparation for your project saves time in execution. Execution, where you’re spending money and other people’s time, is where delays can be costly and stressful. I loved hearing how Louise and Zane saw the importance of preparation before hopping on the professional train with someone!

#5  Through education, preparation and research, you can build self-trust to back yourself, and back your decisions. And that will build your ability to spot red flags faster, trust your intuition, and work far more efficiently and collaboratively with your team. 

And a bonus #6 … as a HOME Method member, when you’ve gone through the course content, you’ll know so much about the overall process of building or renovating! 

I designed HOME Method not to be some surface level, gloss over of the process, but to dive into the nuts and bolts of it, based on my 30+ years of experience, and the know-how I see make the difference. 

So, there’s a LOT of the right info and support in there to help you be well informed and educated. 

RESOURCES:

Access the support and guidance you need (like Louise and Zane are) to be confident and empowered when renovating and building your family home inside my flagship online program, HOME METHOD >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/the-home-method/

Learn more about how to interview and select the right builder with the Choose Your Builder mini-course >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/choose-your-builder 

Access my free online workshop “Your Project Plan” >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/projectplan