What is a sustainable home?
Firstly, it’s important to clarify what is meant by the term ‘sustainable home’. Building a house uses a lot of resources and materials that are often high in embodied energy (the cumulative amount of energy used to produce a product). To reduce our footprint and make sustainable choices, we became quite committed to researching and learning more about what it means to build a truly sustainable home.
To us, a sustainable home is one that is built with the natural environment in mind and contributes a low overall environmental footprint. It prioritises energy efficiency, recycled or sustainable materials, natural materials, natural ventilation, low water consumption, indoor air quality, natural light, and a reduced carbon footprint. A sustainable home has minimal environmental impact throughout the whole process from building right through to day-to-day living in the home.
Why design a sustainable home?
Building a sustainable home can seem like a pretty overwhelming task, especially when you consider all the critical aspects to truly sustainable building. We chose to go down this path as it’s what aligned most with our values. You see, we care deeply about our environment, and knowing the negative impact that the construction industry can have, we wanted to do the best we could to minimise these impacts in our own build.
Why we decided to build a small, sustainable home
Budget
Because the cost of building a custom designed home proved to be a lot more expensive than building with a volume builder, we really had to think about how this approach was going to fit our budget. We don’t dream of having a big house with a big mortgage to go along with it, it has just never appealed to us. Even if we could take on a bigger mortgage financially, we still wouldn’t want to. Our time freedom gained from the ability to work less is way more important to us than a big house.
Simple, sustainable living
Because we like to keep things fairly simple and live without excess ‘stuff’, a small home was really attractive to us. We love the homely feeling of smaller houses, and when built well, can be just as functional and comfortable as a larger house. We spent a couple of years living in a two bedroom, smaller home on a property surrounded by paddocks, and this was by far our favourite rental house.
outdoor space
Seeing how many new houses are built to to take up most of the block motivated us to really think about the placement of the dwelling to maximise the functionality of our outdoor space. As you could imagine, I have pretty big plans for the garden, and just quietly, I’m almost more excited about the garden than I am about the house! Think permaculture design, vegetable gardens, fruit trees, native gardens, chickens, garden shed, fire pit, worm farm, open space for the kiddos… the list is actually endless.
Energy efficiency
We also wanted to reduce our energy consumption and therefore keep energy costs and emissions low once our home was completed. To ensure that our home used less energy, we had to make decisions during the building design phase to ensure that the home performs optimally.
Steps to designing your own sustainable home on a budget
1. Know your values, understand your ‘why’
One of the biggest pieces of advice I could share with you before you start designing your sustainable home, is to really know your values. When you know your values, you begin to understand the ‘why’ behind your desire to build a custom home. This is absolutely key in producing a set of plans that you’re excited to bring to life.
Explore your values, write them down, discuss them, spend time thinking deeply about what truly aligns with you. It’s important to think about your values as an individual, as a couple, and as a family. If you haven’t thought about or discussed this before, it can make for some interesting conversations, and a difference of opinion is totally okay too, as long as you can agree on most things.
some of our shared values
- Small, functional energy-efficient home
- Passive solar design principles
- Easy to keep clean, especially bathrooms
- Natural, low VOC (volatile organic compounds) materials
- Reclaimed local materials where possible
- Usable outdoors spaces with good indoor/outdoor flow
- Open plan that enables supervision of young children whilst working in the kitchen
- Affordable on one income to have one parent stay home with children (this is a big one for us!)
some of my values:
- Functional kitchen that is beautiful and enjoyable to work in
- Natural, low VOC materials and finishes
- Indoor-outdoor flow for ease of maintaining gardens/outdoor areas
some of alex’s values
- Sufficient storage for outdoor gear/mountain bikes
- Minimalistic, functional design that prevents clutter
- Reasonable quality without being high-end/expensive
2. Use your values to stay within your budget
Budget isn’t a very fun word, I get it. But keeping things within your budget is so important if you have a vision for your life that doesn’t include working full-time for the next 30+ years to pay off your loan. There were many occasions throughout the design process that we had to stop and think about what it is we really ‘need’ to include in our home rather than what would be ‘nice’ to have. The things that were non-essentials were removed from the design to ensure we could build our home at an affordable price.
some of the things we removed to stay within budget:
- An ensuite
- A third bedroom
- A larger deck with wrap around verandah
- A carport/garage
- Garden shed
Compromising on non-essential aspects was critical in being able to keep our dream attainable. Although it was difficult to decide what to keep and what to let go, we are ultimately very happy with our choices. Some of the things we removed are able to be added later down the track such as a third bedroom with ensuite and a carport, and we have left room on the block to be able to do this quite seamlessly. With these additions, we plan on saving up and paying cash to prevent adding to our mortgage.
3. Which sustainable house design is suited to your area?
The type of house you design will depend on your climate, with subtropical/tropical regions requiring a very different approach compared to cool temperate regions.
Considerations for homes in cool-temperate regions (mild summer and cold/wet winters):
- Apply solar passive principles with most of the windows located on the north side (in the southern hemisphere)
- Minimise external walls/windows that face west
- Maximise cross-ventilation
- Insulate floors and ceilings to reduce heat loss in a cold climate
- Include double glazing in your window schedule
- Add thermal mass to help maintain stable indoor temperatures
Considerations for homes in subtropical/tropical regions (hot/humid summers with mild/warm winters):
- Orientate the building to take advantage of cooling breezes
- Place sleeping areas on the lower level
- Extended eaves/verandahs to keep both summer and winter sun off the house
- Ceiling fans in all rooms
- Use low-mass materials for construction (so that heat is not stored)
4. Draft a floor plan that suits your family
Once you have purchased your land and come up with your list of individual, couple, and family values, get out a pen and paper and start having a play around with a few different concepts. I loved this part of the sustainable design process. It’s so much fun moving things around and visualising the best way to use your space. Make sure you map out where the house will be located on the block and which way north is. Be sure to note the location of any trees, including deciduous trees. If you live in a cool climate, like us, you will probably want to orientate your home to ensure a large proportion of the windows will face north (or south if you are in the southern hemisphere) to maximise solar gain.
If you live in a cool-temperate climate and have some epic views that you want to capture, ideally these will be facing towards the north or east (where you want the majority of your windows to be anyway). If your views face south or west, you will need to really consider whether it’s worth placing windows and glass doors on these sides of the house as they will significantly effect the thermal performance of your home and increase reliance on heating and air conditioning. In the southern hemisphere, south-facing windows will typically cause heat loss from the house during winter, increasing your need for heating. West-facing windows will cop the hot afternoon sun in summer and cause the house to heat up, increasing the need for cooling. Different areas will have minimum requirements in regards to energy efficiency, so this needs to be taken into consideration. Your building designer/architect will know what these are.
5. Develop your brief
A brief is an extension of your ‘why’ and encompasses the values you worked hard to uncover. The brief sets out all of the crucial requirements for your project, and this needs to be created before you engage you building designer/architect. Developing a brief allows the building design team to understand your goals and vision, and helps to obtain an accurate fee proposals. Your design brief may evolve as you go through the design process, which is normal, just make sure you remember your values and always come back to your ‘why’.
6. Find a building design team
Once you’ve got a good idea of a layout that meets your requirements and fits into your key values, it’s time to find a building designer or architect that will work with you to bring your vision to life. Of course, you can go directly to a building designer or architect if you don’t know where to start. You can discuss your brief with them and they can start drawing up your ideas for you. However, keep in mind that these services are often charged by the hour, and all those back and forth’s can add up very quickly. For this reason, we spent a lot of time thinking about our ideas and had a solid concept for our home well before approaching our building designer, which reduced the cost of our plans overall.
Finding the right service to create your plans is quite important, and there can be a significant difference in the cost of drawing up building plans. It’s a good idea to look around your area (or search for a service that can consult with you online) and get a few quotes for the drafting. There are differences between a draftsperson, building designer and architect, with the main differences being their level of qualifications, the cost for their service, and how involved they are throughout the building process.
We chose to go with a building designer as they were significantly cheaper than an architect and suited us better, as we had a very clear idea of what we wanted to build. It’s a good idea to ask your builder (if you’ve chosen one) who they recommend for your building plans, as they generally have a good idea of local services as well as the costs involved.
7. Be clear with your building design team
If you have done the work to determine your values and have a good idea of what you need in your plans to create a unique, comfortable and eco-friendly home, be sure to remain clear on your goals when working with your building designer/architect.
Because these professionals work with many people on many different projects, they can sometimes believe that there are things you ‘need’ to include in your home that you may have purposely chosen to eliminate. Just because the majority of people include many optional extras which are seen as the ‘norm’, it doesn’t mean you have to include them in your project.
Examples of these things could include recommendations to add several toilets, additional living room, large bedrooms, double lock-up garage, butler’s pantry, large sheds etc. Of course, you may think some of these things are needed, which is totally fine! Just keep in mind that all these things come at additional cost.
8. Keep an open mind
This may sound contradictory to the last point, but sometimes it pays to be open to new ideas. Your building designer/draftsperson may have some fabulous ideas that enhance the overall look, feel and function of your new home, without adding unnecessary extras or driving the cost of the project up. It’s good to keep an open mind going into the process whilst remaining firm on your values.
It may also be worth looking into other examples of eco-friendly houses for your new construction including tiny homes, straw bale homes, prefab homes, shipping containers and modular homes.
9. Consider renewable energy sources
If you wish to include renewable energy sources, you will want to be sure of these during the house design process. Applications of solar panels and solar hot water heating are best factored in during the design phase. You can always note the location and connection requirements during the design phase and add them to the home a bit later down the track if needed.
10. Have fun!
This process is so exciting, and probably something you have been dreaming of for a long time. Don’t forget to enjoy it! It’s normal to feel overwhelmed and possibly stressed at times, especially when things seem very new and unchartered, but try not to rush through this important stage and just take things one step at a time.
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