Is it possible to enjoy building a new home?

Many feel it can only be stressful and overwhelming…

Well – it is possible, and these HOME Method members share how.

Discover how Fionna and Ed made their build enjoyable and collaborative, with early planning, a great team, and clear decisions from day one.

Listen to the episode now.

Hello! This is Episode 380, and it’s Part 4 of my conversation with Fionna and Ed, as they take us behind the scenes of their new build journey of their sustainable, accessible home.

In this episode, it’s the last in our 4-part series, and we’re talking about what it’s been like on site – visiting regularly, watching progress unfold, and tracking schedule and budget.

Fionna and Ed share how their builder has provided regular, transparent updates against budget and time, which has helped them stay informed and confident every step of the way. 

You’ll hear why the time they invested in the design phase well and truly paid off once construction began… and how their clear expectations of the consultants involved, along with their architect’s thorough preparation, helped set everything up for success from the outset.

In fact, they say they’ve had far more confidence in this build than in any of their previous renovation projects. And I think it’s largely due to their level of preparation and education, and then how they’ve been able to pull such a fantastic team together that they’ve collaborated so well with.

They’ve been proactive, intentional and well-informed, and you’ll hear Fionna’s thoughts towards the end of the episode as she shares some great advice for you if you’re planning your own project.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE NOW.

For timeline context, Fionna and Ed joined HOME Method in July 2023. At that point they had put a conditional offer on a property in December the year before, with settlement happening in April 2023. 

They hired their architects in June 2023, and joined HOME Method the following month. They signed a contract with their builders in October 2024, and are expecting completion of their project early next year, 2026.

One of my favourite moments in this conversation is Fionna’s reflection on the importance of trusting your past self. 

Because when you make well-informed decisions early, and document them properly, you don’t need to second-guess or course-correct constantly during construction. 

Trusting in her past self, and the research she made to inform those decisions at the time is one of the things that has helped keep things moving smoothly, even when the inevitable bumps have arisen.

If you haven’t listened to the previous parts of our conversation and want to hear the whole story from the start, head back:

• Episode 377 ‘How to Buy the Right Block and Build a New Home, with Fionna and Ed’
• Episode 378 ‘Managing Budget, Design and Builder Selection for a New Build with Fionna and Ed’
• Episode 379 ‘What Makes a Cost-Plus Contract Work: Scoping, Selections and Teamwork, with Fionna and Ed’

This is the transcript of my conversation with Fionna and Ed about how they enjoyed their new home build, and the steps they took to set up a fantastic construction process for their project.

Amelia Lee
Now, I’m curious how construction has gone for you. You’re at the tail end of it, you’ve been doing an amazing job of balancing, I think, sustainability, energy efficiency, you wanting to have a home that where you can age in place, make sure that it’s super pragmatic and functional for you. You’ve been collaborating incredibly closely with your team. You’ve also spoken about your joy in quality and your desire to make sure that that was an important approach to your project, as well. We spoke a little bit last time about some of those conversations about the flush thresholds, getting the seals right, making sure that the roof design was all right, and what the builder and the architect both did to upskill themselves in that. 

Have there been any hiccups and hurdles through construction, and how have you actually structured and coordinated your communication with the builder? Are you going to regular site meetings? How is all of that working and navigating when any challenge might have come up in the project?

Fionna
So, we haven’t set whether, I guess there’s two things, because they send us a bill every month, versus every milestone, I guess if you’re on a different contract. So, we always go through that meticulously. And they, when they send us the bill, have a list of pluses and minuses, because we’ve had both in terms of the costs, and how your budget’s tracking. And then we often use that as the opportunity to have a conversation about time. So they gave us a GANTT chart at the beginning, which gave us the sequence for the whole build, really. Though that’s been updated verbally, rather than we’ve asked for an update. But that’s okay, because that’s been enough. So, that’s been the money and time element. And then the quality element, we didn’t set a regular site meeting, but we discuss what’s coming up in terms of decisions. And sometimes, we just want to go and have a look, because we wanted to go have a look. And other times, they would call us in.

So, when the slab was laid, it was, “Come and have a good look at that.” And we got Wendy, our architect, to come for that as well.

Ed
And that was the end of January, the slab went down.

Fionna 
Yes. Oh, and Parry, something we hadn’t even thought about or thought to ask, said, “I’ll come and have a look. I’ve just got them to build two prototype little brick walls with two different colour grouts in it so I can see what you think.” And he wanted to do a more expensive finish on the garage walls. So, it’s really been there’s been a bit of progress, or there’s something we want you to look at, which has probably worked out every couple of weeks.

Ed
Probably on average, yeah. And more so towards the end. So, we were quite confident in letting them get on with things and not get under their feet.

And I think that’s that’s been borne out. So, there haven’t been too many problems. They had a couple of weather issues in the middle of the year, and they also wanted a couple more bodies than they had, and had trouble recruiting them. So, that dragged the schedule out a little bit, and 1.1 of the walls was slightly too narrow for a key bit of furniture, they had to rebuild that.

Fionna
It wasn’t a wasn’t a big wall.

Ed
But there really haven’t been too many issues. When they went to put the MHRVs in the ceiling, particularly the one at the front end of the house, it would fit where it was planned to fit, but then they couldn’t attach anything to it, so they had to move it to the other end of that pavilion.

So, it was an example of a change, but that wasn’t a change of scope, and it didn’t affect any costs. They just had to rethink it.

Amelia Lee
Has Wendy gone out there at all without you? Or is Wendy only ever there when you initiate it and get in touch with her?

Fionna
She’s been out occasionally to take photos, that kind of thing. But for her own interest.

Ed
And in terms of going out onto site, we haven’t wanted to get under foot, but there’s never been any hesitation in us going there.

So, we had an unexpected visitor the other day with a couple of hours notice said, “Can I take a look at the place?” So I rang up the builder, and he said, “Oh, of course, come on out.” There was absolutely no hesitation. So yeah, and I think that’s partly because I understand we’re not there every week with a white glove and a magnifying glass, right?

Fionna
And I think it’s in contrast to the renovations we’ve done in this house, where we’ve lived in the house while it’s been going on. But in both those cases, I’ve thought, “Yes, this would go pear-shaped if I wasn’t looking at it every night and greeting them every morning.”

Amelia Lee
Yes.

Fionna
We’ve just had much more confidence in this process, which takes so much stress out of it.

And I think the other thing to note, I think we said last time, Parry, our builder, had to take some personal leave. And so he’s handed over to Eugene, one of his two other partners, who’s also absolutely lovely. And that was a bit of an intense week because it was short notice, but it’s really been pretty seamless. There’s been very little that’s got dropped, and Eugene and Parry both did the pricing and signed the contract together with us. And Eugene did the framing, so he managed some of the very first bits of the build. And then Parry was managing up to pretty well lock up at that point. And they said, as a company, they’d sit down every they sit down every evening and talk through any difficulties, issues, whatever they’ve had during the day. 

Amelia Lee
Yeah.

Fionna
So, that really showed in terms of we lost a key person at one level, but they had enough depth to seamlessly hand that over.

Amelia Lee
I think what’s really interesting is pointing back to what you said earlier about you had a five to six hour design meeting how frequently?

Fionna
Every three weeks.

Amelia Lee
Every three weeks, and you had 43 pages of documentation and a 38-page selections schedule. To me, we talk a lot about how your ability to control what happens on site actually happens before you get to site, with the documentation that you provide and the decisions that you make up front. And I can see that a lot of the time that you’re investing now is significantly less. And it’s not that thing of you feeling like you need to be on top of the builder or monitoring everything that they’re doing, because you invested so much time and effort through that design phase, and and also got all of that documentation in place. And so it’s a really interesting study of your project’s going to take time from you, where are you best investing it in order to get the best outcome for the finished home and for the experience overall? And I can see, because you front-loaded it and chose to invest it there, that that’s now paying dividends in construction being a much more… 

Fionna
Absolutely. And you always say, and I say that from the other design work I do in my professional life is, paper prototype, prototype, prototype, prototype everything. And I think the other thing that really took a lot of the stress out too is Wendy, when she first started working with us, said to us, “I have a three-week turnaround.” So we just knew that was going to be the interval. And she said to us a few times, “I don’t know how people do it on a one or a two-week.” But in the HOME Method Facebook group and so on, you so often see people who haven’t heard from their architect for months, or haven’t spoken to their architect for months, and just having that expectation really clearly articulated up front. And I think the other thing was, you got us ready for and so did she, there’ll be a number of other design consultants on the project. When she quoted, she had this list of and here are the other consultants I’ll use. And had we not done the HOME Method, we might have thought, “Well, who are all these people?”

But we were expecting to see them, so that that helped, and also helped with knowing what a reasonable design budget would be. And I think if we add all of the design budget up, it would still be well under 5% of the project.

Amelia Lee
Which is fantastic.

Fionna
That’s right.

Amelia Lee
Yeah. So, it’s been in interesting to understand how you’ve been utilising Wendy through that design phase and for the interior design. And I think, having her available at an hourly rate is a really great opportunity. I find that some architects, and we’ve spoken about this in HOME Method, they’ll insist on including contract administration in their fees because they want to be able to be your representative on site. And sometimes, that can be a business decision for the architect, because they feel that that’s the only way that they can really protect the outcome of their design, which ends up being their business card and their reputation in the project. But it’s really great that Wendy’s given you the flexibility of being able to utilise her hourly. And also, did a very good job of preparing for construction by having such a comprehensive set of documentation and selections, and having that all in place before construction began. And I liked your description of her reasonability in how she’s thinking about how she’s spending her time, and where she can really add value to your process.

Fionna
Oh, and she’s really clear about, “I don’t think I could add value here, but I could here. But the other thing, I guess, is Pichelmanns recommended their firm to us in the first place. We actually thought we were maybe going to get Wendy’s partner, Claire, but we got very happy with Wendy. But her remark, because this was the first time she and Parry and Eugene had worked together, and she just said, “Oh, I just wish I could build every building with Parry.” And he’d go, “Oh, she’s so clever, and this is such an amazing design.” So clearly, there was some chemistry between them that really worked.

Amelia Lee
Yeah.

Fionna
And she explained that the contract administration option to us, and had we gone with our other close to final choice, we might have done that.

But she was also saying, the way Parry works, there’s no point in the architect doing that. But I think everyone’s been very respectful of her design.

Amelia Lee
That’s fantastic.

Fionna
To administer it to do that.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, and so important when you’ve invested all that effort, time and money in getting the design right. But then there is that mutual respect during construction, so that you’re not then faced with the builder going, “Hey, look, I think that this might work better. How about we change it? It’ll be cheaper, it’ll be faster, it’ll be simpler, or it’ll be better.” And you forget all of the decisions that you made around that design, because you can’t remember absolutely everything that you’ve done over the last 12 months. You agree to it, and then, as it starts to unfold, it looks different for how you expect it. And you go, “Oh, that’s right, that’s why we had that design decision in place. And I wish I’d remembered, because now what’s happened is, I don’t really like the outcome as much”, and all of that kind of stuff. 

So, it’s great because you’ve invested a lot in the design phase. You’ve got that locked away. You’ve become really informed about what the design represents. So, you can be guardians of it, but you’ve also got a builder respecting that there’s been a lot of intention, effort put into that design, so they’re not going to suggest holistic changes to it unless, for example, a challenge comes up, or it’s a detail resolution, or those kinds of things. It just sounds really fantastic as a process.

Fionna
Yeah, it’s worked well. And there’s been a few things where I’ve reminded myself to trust my past self.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, I love that.

Fionna
Well, I think there’s two things is don’t mortgage your future self too high, figuratively and literally, and trust your past self because you probably thought about it quite closely then.

Amelia Lee
We should put that on a t-shirt, Fionna, like front and back.

Ed
Whenever the builder has suggested slight changes, they’ve been in sympathy and they’ve been in consultation.

Fionna
Yes.

Ed
So, one example was on the inside of the garage, above the garage door. It was going to be Gyprock, and he looked at it and said, “I’m sure we’ve got enough spotted gum left over. Why don’t we do that in spotted gum, not Gyprock, it’ll look better. And on the outside of the garage on one end, and your study at the other end”, he said, “How about we put an angle on the side of this brickwork? It’ll just look back that little bit.”

Fionna
Oh, and actually, that was one of the things, because we’ve got a couple of bits of decorative brickwork that ended up with us just turning the bricks sideways, so the Canberra stamp showed. And Wendy had designed a horizontal line. And Parry looked at it and he checked with her and said, “Is the fuse box going there?” And he realised we’ve done this decorative thing that would point straight at the fuse box. And so he said, “I’ll do a square.” And it looks great.

Ed
And another example was when he started doing the framing. And before they did the trusses, he looked at the line of the front between the roller door and the windows and the door.

And thought about it, and thought, “No, I don’t like the way that line looks.” And again, in consultation with Wendy, said, “Look, if I bring this up and I bring this down, I think that’ll look more integrated.” And she agreed. And it meant that the truss design for the front pavilion had to change, and it meant that the ceiling height in our studies went up, in fact. But it was just him thinking, “Okay, I’ve got a design. I’m going to build it. Are we going to get what we want?”

Fionna
Yes.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, and he’s building it in his head before you’re building it on site, which…

Fionna
Definitely.

Amelia Lee
As a builder, I mean, it’s what they’re supposed to do, but it’s quite interesting to see how rare it can be with builders to do that. And that mental coordination of all of the documentation, and then that manifestation visually of what it’s going to mean.

Fionna
And clearly he’s done it a lot, but Eugene started out as a builder, but Parry actually started out as a plumber.

They’re a very good team.

Amelia Lee
Can I ask you, I remember there was a point in HOME Method where you asked about acoustic ceilings in the Facebook community. Can you remember what that was about?

Fionna
And it was when we upgraded to the wooden floor, and we were standing on site, and we had Wendy, Parry and Eugene that day. And we said, because Parry just looks so relieved we went from engineered floor to wooden floor. I said, “Is there anything else that you think we should do, quality-wise, that we haven’t done?” And Eugene said, “Oh, I’m a bit worried about the noise level with the wooden floors in the main pavilion. Would you consider an acoustic ceiling?” And we went round in circles, and that was really aesthetics versus practicality. And I was, I think, mucking around on the web, and we discovered the world of acoustic lighting. And so, we now have these very big, bright orange chandelier things that will be in the pop-up ceiling in the room that we think will work. 

I can remember exactly what it was about.

Amelia Lee
Yeah?

So it’s the idea that the lighting, because of the shape and the design of it, it’ll act as the sound baffle that’ll break up some of that reverberation. Yes, that’s awesome.

Fionna
But we were all spinning our wheels. And Parry was suggesting the wood baffle ones, and then there’s the commercial ones. And every time, I’d go to different places for my work. So, looking up at their ceiling… What have they got? So we’re all spinning our wheels. And then finding these lights was the breakthrough. And then Pichelmann’s building a new office for themselves, and they’ve now ordered the same.

Ed
It’s a Melbourne company,

Fionna
Yeah, and they’re recycled.

Ed
Recycled materials, and they will recycle at end of life. So they’re designed and built in Melbourne.

Amelia Lee
Okay, do you remember the name of the company?

Fionna
Yeah, Acustico, I think. I think it’s Acoustic or Acustico lighting. I’m just trying to read it. Yeah, I think it is.

Amelia Lee
I’ll be keen to see those. Yeah, fantastic. So for those listening, they’re like a ring with a pattern around, almost a corrugation around the edge of them. And they used to be in the opera house before they did all of the refurbishment inside the Opera House. There used to be doughnut lights and fixtures that were suspended over the stage that act as the acoustic.

Fionna
There’s three of them in different sizes so they look like industrial gears.

Amelia Lee
Oh, that’s going to be really dramatic for that space as well. So, it’ll be really great to see. Awesome.

Fionna
They had a whole range of good things.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, fantastic. Oh, great.

Ed
We’ve gone from having a ceiling that would have been expensive to make and look a little bit industrial.

Amelia Lee
Commercial, yeah.

Ed
Got a statement about it.

Amelia Lee
Yes.

Ed
Because it’s the perforated Gyprock, a space with some acoustic dampening in, and then a second solid bit of a Gyp rock.

Fionna
And that was because otherwise, it would have mucked up the thermal performance.

Ed
Yeah. Well…

Amelia Lee
Yeah.

Ed
It’s essentially building a speaker cabinet. But yes, we didn’t want holes into the roof space.

Fionna
Yes.

Amelia Lee
Yeah.

Fionna
That took quite a bit of circling.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, I’m glad that that came to such a good resolution. Yeah. Now, can we talk a bit about the landscape design, you’ve touched on that?

Fionna
Yeah.

Amelia Lee
How has that worked, in terms of arriving at somebody to work with, briefing them, getting that incorporated, and it now being executed on site.

Is Parry going to oversee the execution of the landscape design?

Fionna
Eugene now, but yes. So, it was quite a complicated process. So, we had a quite renowned landscape. We got quotes from two or three, and we worked with the one that seemed quite renowned, and she did a landscape design in our brief and we just weren’t quite happy. And she didn’t have a very consultative style. And she had a price for an initial plan, and then a price for the more detailed schedules and so on. And we got it quoted, when we had everything else quoted, by one of, I think Eugene had worked with the provider but not Parry… And because we just had one of our fences done, it included the fencing, that was a pricing point that made it look very expensive, because the fencing was about two or three times the price of the length of fencing we just had done, but there’s an interesting plot twist at the end. And we just weren’t sure. So, what we wrote into the contract with Parry was, if we made a decision about the landscaping within a reasonable timeframe, that would be included in their management fee. And then Parry’s suggestion was, wait till we’ve got at least the…

Ed
Window frames.

Fionna
The window frame and the cladding and so on. And one of the points of contention was there were quite high stone walls just outside our window. And Wendy was saying, “I think they’re quite nice.” And Parry was going, “You’ll feel too closed in.” So he was saying, “Let me prototype the height of those walls, particularly, and a few other things, and then you can make up your minds about what you want to do.” And it took us longer to get to the point when we could have a landscape meeting than we thought because of…

Ed
The scaffolding stayed up a long time to finish off the clothing.

Fionna
Yes.

Ed
Some of the brickwork, so, yeah, and bit of weather-related delays. 

Fionna
Yeah. So, by the time we got to that, Parry decided he’d get another contractor that he’d used with more often to come and have a design meeting with us. We decided we’d hire a different landscape designer for phase two and just try and fix this. There’s just this real expanse of bricks right outside the living room to have veggie gardens on it that just didn’t look right because it’s north. And then we also hired a new landscape designer to do the schedules, and so we had this pivotal meeting. The landscaper brought along this beautiful, expensive limestone pavers that he wanted us to use. Got a lot of paving for accessibility reasons. Oh, and Parry, in the meantime, would become convinced that we wanted a…

Ed
Gazebo.

Fionna
Something like that. And so he’d gone and drawn this gazebo that we didn’t like as well. We all had a meeting, and then we really took to Michelle, the new landscape designer, and she went away and redrew the plans, or the south side bit of the garden that’s got the oak tree in it could stay much as it was. But she redid the north side, including giving me a pacing circuit, which is something I really wanted.

Amelia Lee
Oh, fantastic.

Ed
And the other breakthrough was Parry saying, “Why don’t you put all the veggie patches and herb garden off to the east so you don’t see them, plenty of room?”

Fionna
Yeah. So there was northeast, it can be at the service end of the house. And then we had much nicer spaces to play with the decorative.

Amelia Lee,
Yes.

Fionna
Bit of the garden, and we brought the walls down to seat height so we could borrow the view from a park over the back fence. And it’s just a much nicer, more flexible design. And then, Parry’s preferred contractor went and did a quote, and everybody had to sit down, largely based on he talked us into these lovely limestone papers. And we’re getting close to the 11th hour now, because I think this is October. This all happened.

Amelia Lee
Yeah.

Fionna
And then Michelle, the landscaper, said, “I’ve got a couple of people I’ve worked with, so just let me see what they think about the quantum of the quote.” And we’re saying, “Look, we can’t guarantee them the work, but it’d be really handy.” And one of them thought he could do it for much less, including the expensive pavers.

Ed
Yeah, and we’re not showing them the other person’s quote.

Fionna
No. And he said to Michelle, “So can I quote?” And he did the quote in two days, and he’s available. And we checked his reference. She’s worked with him a lot, and we checked his references, and people were incredibly happy with him, including the guy who stages Floriade every year. He’s his favorite landscaper in Canberra.

Amelia Lee
Oh, wow, that’s a good endorsement, isn’t it?

Fionna
Yep. So I did feel very sorry for the first landscaper, because had he not upgraded the pavers, we probably would gone ahead with our first.

Amelia Lee
So are you still using limestone pavers or are you using something else?

Fionna
Limestone.

Amelia Lee
Yep, okay.

Ed
Humble blue limestone.

Fionna
Yeah.

Amelia Lee
Yeah.

Fionna
So we had Trihex before that, and we have to have permeable pavers because of the tree plan.

Yeah. And the other thing Rick the landscaper did, because we really emphasised the accessibility bit. And he said, “Look, let me order some of it and lay them, so I can be really certain I can get these ones as flat as you want them to be.” And so he laid a metre of them, and he said, “I’ll compress them on top of this.” And then he said, “If we have to, we’ll go over it and just check there’s nothing jutting out.”

Amelia Lee
Yes, gotcha.

Ed
Just replace any high ones.

Fionna
Yeah.

Amelia Lee
Okay.

Ed
Because they have about a two millimetre variation in thickness, which is quite startling.

Fionna
Yes.

Amelia Lee
Right, okay.

Fionna
We just wanted to be sure.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, which isn’t great when it’s all designed to be an accessible pathway.

Fionna
That’s right. And it means that the pathways are wider, in case we’re there on wheelie walkers.

Amelia Lee
Yeah.

Fionna
Yeah. So, there were lots of plot twists. But on that first pricing point on the fence, the fencer did a great job, but took forever. Like, he kept on coming back and doing it in bits, which was one of the things that probably created more tension with our neighbours. And then one of our neighbours wanted a longer fence than we anticipated. So, we got him to quote again after he finished, and he’s gone bankrupt.

Amelia Lee
Oh, wow.

Fionna
So that explains the great quality work, poor timing and clearly quoting a bit too low.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, it does, doesn’t it? Wowsers. And so, you said that landscaping work’s starting next week, is that what you said?

Fionna
Is it next week or the week after? Yes, and he had the time to do it, but he’s also waiting on the limestone to arrive.

Amelia Lee
Gotcha, okay. Are you going to see all the limestone?

Fionna
Yes.

Amelia Lee
Yep. And are you worried about that in terms of maintenance or anything like that?

Fionna
Ah, I don’t think so. And my main concern was slip. But he seemed to think it wouldn’t affect that particularly.

Amelia Lee
Yeah. Have you looked at getting some test pieces done? Because there’s different kind of sealants that you can use. Some can be penetrative, some kind of a more coatings. Have you chatted to him about doing some samples so that it doesn’t…?

Fionna
No, but that’s that’s a good suggestion. And he’s very cognisant of lowest maintenance possible, less slip possible. And the painter was actually talking to us about the garage, the epoxy coating on the garage floor, and said the same thing. And he said, “You’ve got the range of easy to clean. You’re not going to break anything at one end. You’re not going to break anything the other end.” And he said he’d painted an epoxy floor against his better wishes at a golf club recently, and he said, “And then they had a spate of broken hips.”

Amelia Lee
Oh, wow.

Fionna
Yes, hips and wrists.

Amelia Lee
That’s not good. How’s everything feeling, now you’re seeing all the spaces coming together?

Fionna
Oh, it’s really exciting. It’s really exciting. And there hasn’t been any nasty surprises. So, I did have a moment of thinking about the spare room cupboard doors today, because I think they might be opening a bit far compared to where the bedside table might be. But I’ve got to take in the bed into account, but not the bedside table. But if that’s the worst that’s happened…

Amelia Lee
And all of the colours and finishes and everything like that, and the way the light’s coming into those spaces, is that all feeling how you expected? Is it exceeding your expectations? How’s that been?

Fionna 
I think the living pavilion’s exceeding expectations, as are our offices and the bedroom. The laundry is darker than I thought, and the bathrooms are darker than I thought. Relatively, in the days of LED, that’s okay.

Amelia Lee
Yeah. Well, it’ll be interesting to see, once you get the electric lighting in and on, what that feels like in those spaces. And I think too, once all of the finish is in, or all the paint’s on, and you get that clean, that can also lift the feeling of the spaces as well. There’s something about that that can shift it slightly. So, I’m really excited.

Fionna 
Yeah. And Rick, the painter, was, when we’re looking at the ceiling colours for the laundry, he was going, “Oh yeah, you want to be able to see the stains in here, so we’re just going to put a lighter colour on the ceiling.”

Amelia Lee
Love it.

Fionna
He’s very conscious of that, certainly.

Amelia Lee
Oh gosh. Well, you’ve had such a great experience of your project. You’ve clearly done it with a lot of intention. The collaborative nature of your project, and the way that you’ve assembled a team who not only respect each other, but clearly respect and listen to you as the visionaries of this goal that you have for your lifestyle and for this home, I think, is really to be commended in terms of how you’ve positioned yourselves to navigate this project well.

Do you have any advice for anyone who is starting out, who is thinking about how they’re going to invest, what they’re going to make choices about, how they’re going to go about their project, that you think would be valuable for them to understand at this point?

Fionna
I think the the main thing is just really allow enough time and money for design. Just don’t undercut that. One, because it’ll save you money. But two, it just works better. And all the things about prototyping and understanding usability. We’ve got a rail running along the front of the kitchen bench so that our shorter friends can put their feet on it if they’re sitting on stools, because we’re quite long-legged. And so, we were there on site with the cabinet maker and a chair that was at the average height of a stool, and Ed sat on it, and Wendy sat on it because she’s quite petite. So we were all checking that.

So it’s that thing, think three times, cut once approach to life. So, I think that’s it. I think, the relationship with the builders, if you get to the point where you’re having to look at the contract all the time, that’s when you’re in trouble. So, I think that thing about making sure you’ve got respect and keeping Wendy in the loop. What would you say Ed?

Ed
I think we said earlier, it’s the three P’s. Listen to the Podcast, Plan and Prototype.

Fionna
Yes.

Ed
Certainly the relationship. And the builder. We’ve been lucky. When Fionna gave the example that Parry had decided what the design solution was, and he’d drawn up this picture of a gallery sort of thing, and Fionna said, “No, I don’t like it.” It was just, “Okay, fine.” Didn’t have any pushback. Was okay, “Where do we go next?”

And they’re all a bit like that. Our egos are not the thing. It’s you, the customer, and you, the architect, as the facilitator of the vision. 

Fionna
Yeah.

Yes. And something for people who have accessibility things, and I’m not too bad at the moment, but we’re building accessible house, and then we didn’t think, because they take so much soil out to do the foundations, then it’s not a very accessible building site for me.

Amelia Lee
Oh, gotcha. Good observation, yep.

Fionna
And Parry’s solution to that was he would always be running around, standing next to Ed, holding his hand out as well, going, “Steps were a bit high.” But Eugene’s solution was we arrived on site the other day and he built a ramp at every ramp. But I was thinking, in general, we were able to be flexible about when we could go and see them. But not everybody would have that. But we’d also say to them, “Look, we’ve got a busy period coming up, so major decisions have to be brought forward or can’t be made to after whatever date.”

So, it’s just that, talk about your working arrangements, I think, is really important, both with the architect and the builder.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, I just love this conversation, Fionna and Ed. I think you’ve done such a tremendous job of navigating your project, and I’m so grateful for how generously you’ve spoken about the detail of it on the podcast, because I know it’s going to be super helpful for those listening. I really look forward to getting you back when you’ve been living in the home for a while, because I think that it’s always exciting to see. My experience is when you’ve invested so much in the intention of the project and taken that time in design, as you say, and then you’ve had a great experience of the construction process as well, even though there might have been hiccups and hurdles along the way, that then living in the house is this regular reveal of the fruits of your labour, basically.

It’s this testing it through the seasons, finding joy in these unexpected moments, or even seeing something deliver on that conversation that you had back three months into the design phase of, “Well, in summer, this can happen, and in winter, this can happen.” And I think it’s such fun, in terms of that long-term experience of the home. So, I look forward to getting you back and having that conversation with you. But I want to say thank you so much for being on the podcast, for sharing your story, and for being such great HOME Method members. It’s been really great to be able to share your journey with those on the podcast, and I’m super grateful.

Fionna
Well, I hope we’ve given back a small portion of what we’ve got out of it.

Ed
Yes, it’s been a very great, useful resource.

Fionna
And you are so generous with the information that you give.

Amelia Lee
Oh, thank you. That’s super kind of you. All right, well, thanks so much. And we’ll look forward to seeing you really soon. And yeah, I’m hoping that you can share some photographs as you’re now at the pointy end, in the Facebook community.

Fionna
Oh, we will, yes.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, that will be awesome to see. So, yeah, cheers, Fionna and Ed really appreciate it.

Fionna
Okay.

Ed
Thank you.

RESOURCES

Listen to Fionna and Ed’s previous episodes on the podcast:

• Episode 377 ‘How to Buy the Right Block and Build a New Home, with Fionna and Ed’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-how-to-buy-the-right-block-and-build-a-new-home/
• Episode 378 ‘Managing Budget, Design and Builder Selection for a New Build with Fionna and Ed’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-managing-budget-design-and-builder-selection-new-build/ 
• Episode 379 ‘What Makes a Cost-Plus Contract Work: Scoping, Selections and Teamwork, with Fionna and Ed’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-what-makes-a-cost-plus-contract-work/ 

Access the support and guidance you need (like Fionna and Ed 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 

My free ’44 Ways’ E-Book will simplify sustainability for you, and help you create a healthy, low tox and sustainable home – whatever your dreams, your location or your budget. Access your copy here >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/ways