Give and take: the top 3 building constraints to our build (so far)

Hello!


On Monday we begin Week 7 of our house build. This week and the next few are going to be big because the frames will be delivered this week and everything will become three dimensional at last - yippee!

As much as possible, we've tried to select an exterior style which fits our love of classic Australian farmhouses. When I say 'as much as possible' I mean that there are constraints that we've had to work within.

The top 3 building constraints to our build (so far)

1. 6 star Energy Efficiency Performance requirement

Ideally, I would have loved to have been renovating an old farmhouse, which would have meant we could keep heritage features and wouldn't be held as tightly to the energy star rating required for new buildings in Victoria. However, we were unable to find the amount of land we wanted in a zone close enough to our town and amenities to avoid spending a lot of time driving.

The 6 star rating works on a points system where different energy-saving applications have a star value. These star values add up until finally you get to the required minimum value of 6 stars which is necessary for your building permit to be approved.

For us, this meant reducing the amount of glass facing north, applying double-glazing, reducing the amount of verandah overhanging the north side of the house, including high-rated insulation in the external walls and ceiling, and orientating the house more closely to due north, which changed our view slightly.

2. Building on land with restrictive covenants

The land we bought is great - it's a good size at 7 acres, ideal location, great view - but it does have a covenant, meaning there are restrictions on some of the materials we can use to build our house and also where on our land we can build it.

Being a lover of old Aussie homes, I'm quite partial to a rusty old tin roof. Used in Australia since the 1840's, it's been widely used country-wide and is now part of the architectural narrative. The image of a plain corrugated roof was part of how I imagined our new house, so I was pretty disappointed to discover this was a no-no in our covenant. Understandably, modern corrugated steel is highly reflective and can be very visually intrusive for neighbours and flying craft, so we chose the Colorbond colour Shale Grey, which is still very pale but still carries the tin roof vibe that we wanted.

Another major concession that we had to make was the cladding. Initially, we were all for a house which looked like a traditional weatherboard house, and we'd chosen to clad the whole house in Scyon Linea, a modern composite product which is resistant to rot and termites, making it a better alternative to the timber weatherboards of yore.

Again, it was a bit of a blow to learn that our house needed to be clad by the majority in a masonry product. So in the spirit of trying to channel a bit more of a vintage look, we decided to clad just the front aspect of the house in Scyon and the rest in recycled red bricks from building demolitions around the state. These bricks are only lightly cleaned and will still bear the patina of past buildings, bringing the lived-in look that we were trying to achieve. It's a different approach which isn't for everyone but we're confident it's going to look pretty cute.

3. Money doesn't grow on trees

Lastly, and I'm know you're all nodding with me here: spendoolies. Yep, there's never enough cash to go around when you're looking at how much it costs to build. We've had to make decisions all the way through on where we would spend a little more (and have had no choice in spending more - hello double-glazing!) and where we would choose more frugally.

But more about where we splashed out and reigned it in another time.

Let's get those frames up!