When it comes to building with confidence, especially in a new build, homeowners are often concerned about their contracts, choosing the right builder, and having clarity with their selections.

In this conversation, HOME Method member Ellen, shares how she stayed informed, set up her project for success, and is now navigating her new build simply and confidently.

Listen to the episode now.

Hello! This is Episode 356, and in it, HOME Method member Ellen is back to give us an update on the construction of her new home in Ballarat, Victoria.

Ellen was on the podcast in Episode 336 and Episode 337 discussing her project journey up to commencement of construction. If you haven’t had the chance to listen to those episodes, I encourage you to check them out as you’ll hear more about the earlier parts of the process, choosing her team and getting the design right.

This has been a long process for Ellen and her family, so it’s super exciting to have her back to talk about the build process itself, and how she’s set herself up for success and a smooth process overall.

Ellen and her partner are doing a knockdown-rebuild, and creating a single-storey home for their family, which includes Ellen and her partner, and their two teenage kids.

In this episode, Ellen and I talk about the early signs she started getting from her builder that communication and collaboration was going to be a positive experience during construction.

We also discuss how useful it’s been to make selections earlier in the project, so that construction itself can be managed more effectively and calmly. Ellen also shares how she’s developed confidence in her selections, and how she’s worked with her team to feel comfortable that the significant and impactful factors for her home and build are taken care of as construction commences.

Plus, Ellen is a psychologist by profession, so I love understanding her insights into human behaviour in a project such as this, and her suggestions for dealing with hiccups, managing your mindset and well-being and overcoming concerns as the project unfolds.

This is a fantastic conversation with so many gems of wisdom – I hope you really enjoy it.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE NOW.

For timeline context, Ellen was a member of an earlier iteration of the course that became HOME Method, joining back in 2018. 

Back then, I was still offering 1:1 Design Services, and so I worked with Ellen and her partner to design some concept options for their new build. We did this in late 2018. 

You’ll hear Ellen talk through the Design process in this podcast, and how they developed the initial concepts I did for them, and the professionals they worked with along the way. She also shares how they’ve managed their budget, and its required increases, across this extended timeframe for their project.

Ellen and I recorded this conversation in August, 2024. At the time of recording, their project was under construction, with the contract being signed with their builder at the end of 2023 and demolition of the existing home starting in February 2024.

Ellen also shares about coming to terms with the idea that ‘there is no perfect’ in the decisions and choices for her new home.

I think it’s great to bring this up and shed light on it, because often I see homeowners really paralyse themselves with the pressure of making the perfect choice, or trying to freeze time so the result is the ultimate outcome it can possibly be. 

Yet, in an industry that is regularly and rapidly changing, bringing in new products and methodologies, and for homeowners who are also evolving, there is really no such thing as the perfect home. It’s not a budget thing – even the biggest budgets can’t buy perfection. 

Your home is on a site with constraints, built to building codes and regulations, and it’s a snapshot in time of the industry status, your priorities and the other multitude of moving parts you’ve brought together to create it.

I firmly believe there’s no such thing as the perfect home – or even the dream home. Just the ideal home for you: your site, your budget and your life.

This is the transcript of my conversation with Ellen about the construction of her new home, including working with her builder, reviewing her contract and gaining clarity in her selections.

Amelia Lee
Well, Ellen, it is absolutely awesome to have you back on the podcast, and I’m really looking forward to being able to talk more about how your project’s been progressing. And where we got up to last time was we were talking about the design process, choosing your builder. I loved that you said I went with vibe, and then you rattled off all of the actual due diligence checks that you did do on your builder. And after that conversation, after we finished, hit stop, we had that conversation of how it was interesting to reflect on the gain of knowledge that you’d actually been able to achieve in this journey. I mean, it’s been quite a long time for you, and this is something I see regularly with HOME Method members, is that you actually totally underestimate how much you have up skilled yourselves with the work that you’ve done to educate yourself and to invest in this learning and to use all the tools and things like that. And so, it was really lovely hearing that kind of realisation in that conversation. But then also, I think, the humility of you just actually don’t realise how much you do know in terms of how you’ve navigated this. So, I tip my hat to you, because you really have up skilled yourself, and it’s been quite extraordinary. 

I also loved the psychological aspects that you brought up in our conversation last time, and I know that that’s something that I see very regularly in our HOME Method community, and in our Undercover Architect community. But not being professionally-trained, I don’t necessarily have the language for it. And it was really fantastic for you to talk about that as well. So, I loved diving into that too. Now, what I wanted to go into with this conversation was understanding how construction has been going for you, because your project’s under construction at the moment. I’m wondering if we can start with just talking about, I suppose, what your expectations and your concerns were for the construction phase generally, before you were embarking on it, before you knew that it was going to be coming at you, what were you nervous about? And what were you thinking about construction overall, and how you’re going to get ready for it?

Ellen
I have to cast my mind back a little bit, because we have now been in the construction phase since early this year. So it’s been, what about eight or nine months? I think probably, like most people, it’s “Have I done the required work? Have I ticked off the boxes? Do I have the drawings that we need? Is there something fundamental that I’ve forgotten? Is there something fundamental that could challenge us?” And I know this is and it was something that I spoke to my builder about early on. He said this, “There’s always something that’s unexpected that comes up.” And the not knowingness, I suppose, of that, where we are, weather is often a factor, because we can have some incredibly wet, dreary winters. And we started our construction in February, so we’ve been going over the entire winter period. And I keep bestowing gratitude on whatever gods are out there for the very dry winter we’ve had. I know this is problematic in all sorts of ways, for farmers and other people around town, but in terms of a year to construct a home, we’ve had it probably, in our environment, as good as you can get. So, that wasn’t affected. 

But even look, there’s funny things in Ballarat. People discover mine shafts under their homes. We are an old gold mine community. My builder mentioned that he’s found boulders when digging to place footings and those sorts of things. So, there’s always that little element of the unexpected. For me, there was, and probably, I expect it for most people, that compounding, what is it that I haven’t done? What is it that I haven’t thought of? What is it that I’ve maybe forgotten in all of this? Which just raises that anxiety, the not knowingness.

Amelia Lee
Did you just accept that that was going to be the nature of you embarking on the project? Like, how did you lean into trusting yourself that you had, I suppose, ticked the box and not, like, left out something glaringly kind of dramatic?

Ellen
I think I had to rely on the fact that, I mean, I had, as we’ve discussed a long time, to do the preparation for this. But also, and this is what has been affirming as we’ve gone along, I have had a team of people involved in this. So, as we discussed, architects, interior designers, great drafty who’s also a builder, my builder himself, garden designer, lighting designer. There’s been a big team of people involved in this. And so, I had to remind myself that someone somewhere, hopefully, will have picked up if there’s something fundamental that I’ve missed. And thus far, there’s been a couple of little things that I’ve gone, “Oh yeah, probably should have”, but nothing significant. So, reminding myself that I’m not the only person, and that I’m not the only one, I’m not going to say not responsible, because ultimately, I’m responsible, but who has the opportunity, at least, to pick up where there might be something. A lot of people have looked at these plans. A lot of people have poured over these plans. A lot of people, with expertise far greater than mine in all of these different areas, have had involvement, and I just had to trust that.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, that’s fantastic. And it is so important, isn’t it, that you surround yourself with that team that you can rely on, that do have that expertise and insight, and that also know what you might not know, so that they can help fill that expertise gap. And, “Hey, did you think about this? And, oh, just mentioning this to you.” We talk a lot in HOME Method about how assumptions are big holes in the ground that money and time falls into, and so ironing out those assumptions, making sure that everybody’s on the same page. I absolutely love it. It’s interesting, that thing that you mentioned about Ballarat and finding mines under properties. Recently in the Live Life Build community, two builders in two entirely different locations around Australia both found cellars underneath the houses when they started demolishing them, and it’s completely unexpected. So, I think too, there’s that element of understanding that there may be things that you uncover, but if you’ve got everything else in place, then those things aren’t necessarily as stressful or, I suppose, fraught, because they’re not compounding on a bunch of other stuff that you haven’t dealt with, or you haven’t decided on, or you haven’t resolved. They’re just that one off challenge that you then need to navigate and solve and find a solution for.

Ellen
Yeah, that’s really true, because often, at this point, I think, my goodness, I’m glad we have had so much time to prepare, and that we have been pretty thorough in doing that, and that we have had all of this team there to support us, and that we’ve been doing all this work. Because it’s still stressful when you have to make a decision, even a small decision, in a quick time frame, with all the other multiplicity of life going on around you. 

And so, if you had that compounding effect of a bigger problem sitting on top of perhaps having to make a whole raft of decisions in a short time frame, because you haven’t done that preparatory work, that would be really challenging.

Amelia Lee
Now, we spoke last time in our conversation about the process that you went through to choose your builder and how you were whittling down to two and then made the commitment to the one that you did.  

I’m wondering about how understanding more about your builder through that due diligence and about understanding their business style, their business model, their communication abilities, their previous projects, how has that paid dividends for you as you’ve been embarking on this project and navigating your relationship with them?

Ellen
It’s absolutely helped. But the key things for me were, I suppose, I’m going to call it conscientiousness, high expectations of self, all the sorts of things. That’s the psychological language I would use. But having a builder who I know is quite particular and very careful and holds himself and his team to high account means that I can rely on that, and that has played out in the way I expected. I think, because of that, it forms a level of trust for me to say, “You know what, he’s going to pick up any issues, he’s going to let me know really quickly if there’s a problem, he’s going to be transparent in conversation, in discussion, even in the very early stages when we had some very minor hiccups around Council issues”. And he said, “Look, this hopefully won’t be a problem, but I want to be absolutely transparent.” 

And those sorts of just that language, that willingness to be really upfront about things that probably weren’t even going to play out, just have spent that I can have faith that if I don’t hear anything, then it’s because things are going well. And also, a willingness to meet on site whenever I need to. More often, it’s him saying, “Do you want to catch up?” And that’s just being, I’d say casual. I mean, it’s informal. Let’s put it that way. So, I always feel like I can make a phone call, send a message, approach him if there’s anything that I’ve got questions about, and I feel like he does the same. And not just him, it’s his team as well. It’s that whole team. So, knowing that he’s running a good operation with good staff who are equally conscientious but helpful, that all seems to work really well. 

And I’ll tell you a little story, because I’ve actually shared this with a lot of clients. I work as a workplace psychologist, and one of the things that he did very early on, which to me, was an indicator of his business practice, although it seems perhaps like a minor thing, but I think it’s a really good life lesson for lots of people, was around setting boundaries. So, he told me very early on, right in our initial conversations, that he is fully prepared to answer questions, answer calls, text messages, whatever, within business hours, regular business hours, and not outside of that. And he said that’s just because I need to have a life, etcetera, etcetera. And to me, that made perfect sense. It’s like, “Cool, yep, that’s fine.” And I know that if I do send a message, say on a Sunday, I do not expect to hear anything until Monday, and that’s absolutely fair enough. 

But it’s been really instrumental in some of the conversations I’ve had in workplaces with people to say, when you set those boundaries with a customer, you’re helping them, and you’re helping you. Because I think a lot of people feel like, “Oh no, the customer.” So, I have to bend over backwards for my customer or my client. And then, of course, that gets really messy for everybody. So, I’ve used that often in workplaces as an example of my personal experience, because it just makes it really clear for me. It makes it really clear for him. And then, we’ve got those boundaries established that work for everyone. So, lots of little things like that.

Amelia Lee
I absolutely love that, Ellen. I know that that’s one of the first things that we teach builders inside Live Life Build, is to set business hours and to then actually go ahead and stick to them. Because oftentimes, you can find that need to, I suppose, that concern about people pleasing, or that concern about wanting to keep people on side, you can set these boundaries and rules, but then you can break them and not adhere to them. And so, sometimes they’ve got to overcome their own concern and navigating that, I suppose, uncomfortability of what that feels like, because it can feel prickly to maintain your boundaries. And so, navigating that can be really interesting, but I love that you mentioned that it helped you manage your expectations and helped you understand. And I mean, you wouldn’t expect to call a lot of professionals on a weekend and get a response. 

I think when you work with a builder, you can often feel that you’re doing something really personal, like a home. It’s a person-to-person kind of relationship. And so, that can kind of sometimes get clouded, and you can forget that you’re actually dealing with a business. And a business has operation rules and regulations, and practices and processes and things like that. So I love that this builder has navigated it that way, because it does, it just makes everything much simpler overall.

Ellen
Yeah, and I think too, for the builder, it’s their business. For the client, you’re probably working a job, and therefore you think about this as the project that sits outside your regular business hours, so therefore you are doing things after hours on weekends. Which makes perfect sense from that perspective, but you cannot expect that your builder is going to work to those hours, because they’re not. It’s their job.

Amelia Lee
Love it. Now, can you talk through some of the things that you did do to get ready for construction? You touched on that a little bit earlier in terms of bringing forward some of your decision making. I find that people are often in a really big hurry to get to site, because it feels like that’s the realness of when things are actually starting to happen. You can feel like it’s all a bit magical and mysterious when it’s lines on a page and navigating your approvals. Construction is where the rubber hits the road, and you get to see these dreams become real. People can have a lot of urgency to get there. What did you do to set yourself up for success and get ready for a smooth construction process?

Ellen
I suppose, because we had such a long time in the lead up, for me, by the time we got to that point, it was funny, because I think if I cast my mind back, it was almost like the opposite, in a sense, of, ‘Oh my goodness, this is actually real now, and all of this work that I’ve done will reveal whether I’ve done it right, whether I’ve done it wrong.’ But there was a little bit of code of perhaps almost, “Oh goodness” hesitancy. And I fully understand that need, that urgency. I think, for me, it was often the expectations of others around me. Because they don’t see all of the work that’s gone on in the background, they don’t see. And as much as people like to say, “Oh yeah, show me your plans”, they don’t really care that much. So, it’s a pretty cursory conversation. But then, when you’ve got something happening on site that you can take photos of and share them and show people, then, for them, it becomes much more real. So I knew, because I had put so much time and effort, and as you say, I reflected on what you said earlier, too, about the fact that in my sense, is that it’s just a vibe. But I’m pretty conscientious by nature, and because it was a big project, I’d never done it before, I had put a lot of time into, and still do. All of those being part of the UA community and part of the Facebook group, just seeing other people’s conversations, other people’s discussions, and things come up, and that is still constant information that you’re absorbing at all times. So, there’d been a long period of doing that. 

Then when it came to the actual work on site, other than the signing on the dotted line, which is one of those both very exciting but also very terrifying prospects because you’re signing up for a fair chunk of money. Then really, it was trusting the process at that point. It really was just trusting the process and saying, “Right, we’ve done the work. We’re ready for this. This is the point where the rubber hits the road.” But for me, that was largely exciting. I think, because the preparation had been done, all of that stuff had been laid and I’d already had quite a long relationship with my builder in terms of just talking about the project, I had faith that he was going to do the right thing by me.  

There’s always that little bit of fear, as we discussed earlier, about things revealing themselves, but trying to get used to that discomfort. And for me, it really was balanced by, and not just for me but for my family. My kids have been waiting, literally, for years for this house to be built. I think all of us have had thoughts of, ‘Will they actually still be living at home once it’s ready?’ 

I remember the day the original house was demolished. Well, we were technically on the school run, but school’s not very far from home, so we’re in the car when my builder called and said, “If you want to come see the house get knocked down, they’ve just started.” And so, I said to my boys, “Well, should we just scoot past really quickly?” And when we got there and all got out of the car, and we were watching the trucks and the equipment and the whole show, I thought, “We’re not going to school quite yet.” So, quick message to school to say both will be late. So I think we spent half an hour to 45 minutes just watching that, and they were fortunate enough that the guys allowed them on site to throw some rocks through the front windows.

Amelia Lee
That must have been such an interesting experience for you as a family, to be able to see that starting to happen.

Ellen
Yeah, it was great. It was great. So, yeah, a lot of trust in the fact that we’d done the work and that the preparation was there. And I’m a big believer that if you’ve done the preparation, then it’s just a matter of playing what’s in front of you. And having to go into it with that mindset. Let’s just do this one step at a time and keep playing what’s in front of us.

Amelia Lee
Yeah. So, I know you had a comprehensive documentation set. Had you made the bulk of all of your selections by the time you started site?

Ellen
Yep, everything, every toilet, tap, tile, wallpaper, flooring, you name it,we’d done it. Other than a couple of little things like… So we’ve got uPVC windows, and I had picked out colours, but I wasn’t absolutely sure. And it was really good advice for my builder to say, “Go to the showroom”, which, if you’re living in a metro area, is not usually an issue. But for us, it’s a two hour drive for me to get to where the showroom was, which is on the other side of Melbourne. But it’s worth just going and having a look. And so I did, and subsequently changed my mind about which colour we were going for with the windows. But the big decisions were made.

Amelia Lee
And you’d worked with a lighting consultant as well, hadn’t you, to do a lighting plan?

Ellen
Yeah. So, I worked with Adele from Mint Lighting to do all of our lighting design, because I have a thing about lighting. I suspect, everybody who builds a house has one thing that is their thing. And I know my builder was surprised, because things like lighting, windows, we’ve gone quite high end, I suppose. But then, my kitchen appliances are pretty average, because I don’t really particularly want to be in the kitchen. It’s not my thing. But I know other people would spend a lot of time and money on their kitchen. So, everyone’s going to have their thing. And for me, it’s about lighting. I really felt that I could make our home or help to make our home feel that much more high end, to use a term, through good lighting. And bad lighting just gives me the irrits (irritation). I don’t know. It’s just one of those things. So, I did invest in that, and it was really helpful, because they were the sorts of decisions I wouldn’t know enough about, and it would be overwhelming and confusing, I think, to try and investigate all of that on my own. So to have an expert in that, similarly with the interiors. 

So, Frances from White Pebble, who I know has been a guest on your show, did our interiors. And that was, again, a really interesting process from a selection perspective. Because we made those decisions in peak COVID. So, everything was done via Zoom, and she’d post stuff out to me. And even with, the design process, which we talked about in terms of the home itself, it was learning more about us, our family, how we lived, and then pulling selection options together that just took us from “Here’s 4 million potential options”, down to “Here’s five. Which way are you leaning?” And drilling it down that way. But even then, I went off, I took my mum, we went out to the Reece bathroom showroom in Melbourne one day because we had a few options to go and look at. And even with the options, we just still were just like, “Oh my god, this is hurting my brain. There’s so many things to decide.” So, really valuable for me to have the expertise. 

We used a colour consultant at Haymes for paint colours. Drawing on the expertise of people to help with all of those decisions just made it a lot easier. And it did mean that I could make all of those decisions prior, before we even did anything on site.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, that’s fantastic. And giving yourself the time and the space to be able to make those decisions as well. And I’ve loved some of the stuff that you’ve shared on your Instagram, of those colour combinations you’re pulling together, because you did have a very strong vision for how you thought this would ultimately look. And that’s been a really great guide, I think, in terms of that foundational understanding of then checking those decisions against. So, it’s really lovely seeing that palette come together, and I’m going to be super excited in the finished home.

Ellen
Well, look, colour is one of my favorite things. I put a lot in. I enjoy clothes. I enjoy interiors. When I was finishing school, interior design was one of my options for things that I might see. I turned into a psychologist, a bit different. But I’ve always enjoyed those sorts of things, and for the most part, trust my judgment with those sorts of things. 

And I know it’s interesting, because I’ve had conversations with friends who have done renovations, and the second guessing, I suppose, or really struggling to trust their judgment about those sorts of things has been really almost paralysing at times. So, I’ve always had to come back and say, “You know what? Trust your instincts, trust your judgment.” And I am very fortunate because my sister is a designer, my mother is an artist. Both of them have a good sense of these sorts of things. My mum made the good point the other day, something I wouldn’t have thought of… So we’ve gone for a timber look uPVC windows. We’ve got a different, darker timber as our cladding. There’s a few different options all in there. And the front doors timber, but different again. And I’m like, “Is this too many different things going on?” And mum said, “You know what, look at nature. Nature does timber in all sorts of different colours, shades, textures.” 

She said, “If you lean into nature as your example with those sorts of things, you can’t go too far wrong.” “Oh yeah.” Mums still have good advice.

Amelia Lee
That’s excellent. Geez, you are the black sheep. If you’re a psychologist, aren’t you, you got a sister doing design and a mum who’s an artist?

Ellen
Yeah. Well, interestingly, my mum actually trained in psychology as well. So, there’s something going on.

Amelia Lee
That’s fantastic. Now, you mentioned signing the contract just quickly. Was there anything, I suppose, that you were focusing on or that you’re concerned about, or that jumped out to you, that you needed to check and be across?

Ellen
Not particularly. I had asked for copies of contracts prior from a couple of builders. I just wanted to check that they were fairly standard. I used the resources from inside your programs to guide me. I’ve got a business background so a contract is largely a contract. You review it, and you can, I think, mostly tell if there’s something that looks like it’s non-standard. And I also relied on the fact that I had a builder. And the couple of builders I was speaking to earlier were certified by all of the appropriate bodies, membership bodies. They had all of that to back them up as well. So I thought, “Well, we can’t go too far wrong.” So, I had brief moments of thinking, “Should I send this to my sister-in-law, who’s a lawyer, and has also built a house, just to check?” But then, it got to a point where I was running out of time . 

And again, trust your judgment. Trust that, even though you feel like you don’t know what you’re doing, pretty much. At that stage, I was 50 years old. “You’ve got 50 years of life experience to back you up in this.” But again, it is a bit nerve-wracking. It’s a lot of money and it’s a big commitment. And I think that’s been something, again, probably from a maybe a psychological perspective, you can’t be across every detail of everything. You just can’t. It’s too big. There’s too much.  

There will be things where you just have to lean into the fact that other people have the expertise, relying on relationships that your builder will tell you if there’s an issue or not, all of that. Because you will turn yourself inside out, I think, if you try to be across every single detail of everything. So, yeah, you trust the process.

Amelia Lee
Yeah. And I can imagine, if you were using the resources inside HOME Method to assess that… We talk a lot about some of the specific things to check. And I think, even just having a good read through of the contract, all the standard contracts have a raft of definitions at the back which explain the terminology you might not be familiar with. 

A lot of people just don’t even bother read through at that level of detail. And so then, variation happens on site, and they don’t know what that means, or they get surprised that they’re going to be charge for it. So, I think, just taking that time to sit down and read through it in detail…

Ellen
I do remember doing on a train trip into Melbourne for work, I sat there and trawled my way through. And absolutely, to his credit, my builder also said, before we signed it, he said, “Let’s sit down.” And I think we spent about two hours.

Amelia Lee
This builder sounds awesome.

Ellen
Going through every aspect of the contract and making sure that he explained things that I asked questions.

Amelia Lee
Which is what a good builder should do.

Ellen
Yeah, and it goes to that relationship building aspect as well, that he was prepared to take the time to do that and make sure. And to his credit, and from a business perspective, makes perfect sense. You want to be able to manage your expectations of your client from the outset. You don’t want them being tripped up by something that’s going to trip things up for you, holds build up, cause conflict over money. It just makes good business sense to sit down and do that work in preparation.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, I love it. I remember the very first thing that we did at Live Life Build was we presented a workshop to a room full of builders, and we asked the room who hasn’t read the whole way through their contract? And a lot of the builders in the room put up their hands. 

And so, I think that if you do have a builder that is actually sitting down with you and spending a couple of hours going through the contract in detail, it’s a good testament to the fact that they understand the contract, and they understand how important it is for you to understand the contract. So yeah, he’s done a lot to really help you understand what the rules of play are going to be, how things are going to be navigated, building up that relationship of openness and trust. Yeah, it’s really fantastic. So yeah, well done. Kudos to you for finding him.

Ellen
I think it was probably social media was the initial trigger. You’re just scrolling through, or you maybe search Ballarat builders or something, I don’t know. It was so long ago, I can’t actually remember how I found him. 

But for me, as fraught as social media can be in many ways, I think it is enormously helpful to be able to just get a gauge on, and maybe it’s what websites used to be a million years ago, but just to get a gauge on somebody and how they operate probably informed that for me, in the very early stages before you then have a conversation.

Amelia Lee
Awesome. Now, you’ve been under construction since February, you said. So, can you talk us through where things are at on site? And how things have been travelling, in terms of, I suppose, navigating the steps of construction, any hiccups or hurdles that you had along the way, how your budget traveled, any surprises… I’d love you to do just a great big download of what that construction process has been like for you.

Ellen
Okay, downloading. So, demolitions happened at the end of February. I’m pretty sure, I think it was the end of February. And things have felt like that happened really quickly, straight away. Old house went, next thing I knew, we had the set out done. We had all the levels done. Suddenly, we had a slab. All of that seemed to happen really, really quickly, which was really exciting, having waited as long as we did. So, at this point, we have a roof. We have our guttering and fascia done. We, as of last week, have all our windows glazed. So, a couple of weeks ago, the frames went in. They’ve all been glazed. Cladding starts, I think, this week or next week. So, we have what looks like a house. And it’s funny, because so many people on site. I go down, it’s only a 15 minute walk, and I walk the dog down there several times a week. And quite often, it’ll be during business hours, so I’ll drop in and say hi to whoever’s working on site, have a little conversation. And so many people have asked me, “Is it how you imagined it would look?” And I honestly say, “Yes, it is absolutely how I imagined it would look.” You have a few moments. And both my builder and his team have all said, “Oh, yeah, people always say, ‘Oh, this looks bigger than I imagined, or this looks smaller.'” And you do have that sense, especially like in terms of room dimensions and things, because it starts to feel small, and then it’s big, and then it’s small again. But for the most part, it is exactly as I have imagined it all the way through… Possibly better, which is nice.

We’ve gone triple glazed uPVC windows. There’s a lot of windows. They’re big windows. The block, as we discussed last week, runs east west. So, the whole premise of the build was to be able to get all of that northern light into the main living areas. So, yeah, they’re big, but beautiful windows. We’ve got a couple of doors in. All the external doors are in. That’s about it. And trying to think, what are the key moments? There’s really been no problems or challenges, touch wood. Again, I think the fact that we had everything decided prior, that my builder is very conscientious, and that we have a really good relationship, has just meant that… And I think it’s really helped with my level of comfort going in. 

Now, it’s just executing. Now, it is literally just executing. And if we don’t have hiccups with, as we’ve mentioned before, boulders or mine shafts or weather, then there really shouldn’t be any issues. There’s the occasional thing that has come up, funny little things – where to put the dog door, for example. I forgot when I did the original interior work about where to put the dog door, so in my head, it was in the laundry. But then, of course, we went and put triple glazed door with glass insert in it, so that can’t go there, and it can’t go into it as it just can’t fit. So then I was like, “Well, now, where do I put it?” So, there’s couple of things like that that I haven’t quite, but my builder’s basically said, “Well, let’s just work it out, and then we’ll do it.” He said, “That’s not a big deal.” So there’s minor things like that that have come up where I’ve gone, “Ah.”

And funny things, like, in my head, we still had a brick base with cladding above, because the very original plans we were building, not on a slab. And we’re going to insulate underneath. So in my head, that was still there, and it took quite a while, like, it happened quite recently. I go, “Oh, hang on, no, we’re not doing that. That’s why nobody’s asked me about what colour bricks I want. Because there are no bricks.” So, occasional things like that have come up. But it’s largely about my own expectations, really. And things have come up where I’ve gone, “Ah, has that been specified? Have we made that decision? Is that written down somewhere?” Recently, we’ve got two sliding doors that meet at an intersection at a right angle. And in my head, again, they were going to open so that they both open outwards, and then you’ve got the corner is all open with just a pier / post. And the installer was like, “Oh, they’re not. They both slide the same direction”, if you know what I mean. This is difficult to describe an audio. But I went back to the drawings, and I went, “Well, is this something that I’ve just misinterpreted or overlooked or not thought about?” And of course, in the drawings, it’s been constructed exactly as drawn. And it’s that really good reminder that those drawings are key to this whole process. 

If it’s drawn that way, and you’ve signed off on those drawings, then that’s the way it’s going to be constructed. And that makes perfect sense to me. So for me, it was like, “Oh, well, it’s not as I imagined it, but it’s not because anybody made a mistake other than perhaps, I should have, way back when, so long ago, thought about it.” And, like I said, you can’t think about everything. So for me, it was a case of it’s constructed as drawn. I’ve double checked that that was what was drawn.

Amelia Lee
It still looks okay?

Ellen
It’s still fine. Yeah, totally fine. You do get to a point where you realise that there is no perfect. And it’s always better than what we had. So, I’m very reconciled to the fact that there will be things that I go, “Oh, look, I’d probably do that differently if I had my time again. But in the whole great scheme of things, it’s not a big deal.”

Amelia Lee
I love that you said that, because I think that’s what a lot of people can hang on to, is they feel like this is going to be the only project that they do in their life, and so it has to be perfect. And all it really can be is the best possible outcome for you at the time, based on your finances, the site, what you’re capable of, the attention that you give it, and the team that you pulled together to help make it happen. And that can still be absolutely amazing. And in 99.9% of cases, I see it be a dramatic transformation and improvement from where that person was previously.

RESOURCES: 

For Ellen, a Knockdown Rebuild was the right choice. If you’re trying to decide this, read the blog and the 7 questions to answer here >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/renovate-or-detonate/ 

Member story for Ellen >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/building-a-family-forever-home/

Instagram account for Ellen >>> https://www.instagram.com/the.house.the.hughes.built

Curious about Ellen’s work and resources? >>> https://bit.ly/m/Potential-Psychology

Ellen’s previous episodes on the podcast

• Episode 336 ‘When your New Build takes longer than expected, with Ellen’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-new-build-takes-longer/ 
• Episode 337 ‘Creating the Right Relationship with Your Home Builder, with Ellen’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-creating-the-right-relationship-home-builder/ 

Clare’s episodes (more conversation about relinquishing the idea of perfection)

• Episode 313 ‘Building a Sustainable New Home: Here’s How to Get It Right’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-building-a-sustainable-new-home/ 
• Episode 314 ‘Design a Home for How You Want to Feel in It Everyday’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-design-a-home-for-how-you-want-to-feel/ 

Access the support and guidance you need (like Ellen did) 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