Is there such a thing as the ‘perfect home’?

Learn how HOME Method member, Shauna, found her sustainability goals meet real life as she achieved the best outcome for her new build.

Listen to the episode now.

Hello! This is Episode 364, and in it, HOME Method member, Shauna, is back with Part 2 of our conversation about building her new family home.

In this episode, we dive deeper into the long-term view Shauna took with this home, and how that shaped her decisions around budget, investment, and design. You’ll hear how she tested her thinking along the way, continually asking herself if her choices were still delivering a better result than the alternatives.

If you haven’t listened to Part 1 of my conversation, be sure to head ot Episode 363, where you’ll hear Shauna introduce her project, and discuss how she embarked on her design process balancing sustainability goals, her budget and a complex site. You can find it at Episode 363.

In this episode, we explore how Shauna navigated her decision to go with a Design-Build builder, and how she set herself up for success in that relationship. She followed my guidance on risk awareness, and you’ll hear the smart ways she ensured clear communication, transparency, and alignment right from the start.

Shauna shares how she handled the contract and construction process, and the tools and mindset that helped her manage changes, call out errors, and advocate for what she needed, without fear of how she’d be seen or friction in her communication.

And we also talk about how she decided where to invest her time and energy, and the thoughtful, strategic trade-offs she made to suit her lifestyle, family needs, and values, while still achieving a high-performing and deeply satisfying home.

As someone who has the benefit of living now in her finished home and being aware of what she’s achieved, as well as her key learnings along the way, I know Shauna has a wealth of knowledge and information to share with you that will be hugely beneficial for your project – whether you’re building new or renovating.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE NOW.

For timeline context, Shauna joined HOME Method in January of 2023 after being a long-time podcast listener.

At the time, she was needing to make some critical decisions in her designer and builder selection and get her project officially started. 

She signed her building contract in May 2024, commenced construction in July 2024, and was in her finished home by April 2025.

Shauna and I recorded this conversation in June, 2025, so she’s had a couple of months of enjoying the results of her incredible project journey!

I hope you love hearing about Shauna’s journey and the mindset she brought to every step of her project, as she created her new home.

Her story is such a powerful reminder that you don’t need to do everything perfectly – or all at once – to achieve a home you truly love. What matters most is being clear on your values, making informed decisions, and getting well prepared so you can trust yourself to lead the process.

Shauna has created a sanctuary for herself and her girls. And she’s managed budget constraints, trade-offs, and time limitations with honesty and pragmatism, whilst she used HOME Method to stay informed, empowered, and in control.

I think you’ll see, from Shauna’s story, it IS possible to create your home intentionally, to enjoy the experience of building or renovating your home, and to then live in this built evidence of what you’ve been able to achieve. It’s so fantastic.

This is the transcript of my conversation with Shauna about how she found her sustainability goals meet real life as she achieved the best outcome for her new build.

Amelia Lee
It’s clear that you’ve had a very long term view for this, to be able to think about, “Okay, I can’t do this all now. Out of necessity, this is where I’ve got to put the lid on it. But how can I set myself up for success for future projects?” And of course, if something happened and you needed to sell the property in the next few years, all of those things are things that you can then pass on to a future buyer to embed value into it as well. So, yeah, really fantastic in terms of thinking.

Shauna
I don’t know, I don’t want to create the impression that I got everything right, because certainly, I wouldn’t say that that’s the case. I would say that there’s things that I’ve had to go, “Well, I’m just going to have to live with that.” And probably the test that I applied a lot of the way through this, having gone through the process of, “Can I renovate the home I’m in? Can I buy an existing home or am I going to build?” Even if it’s not exactly what I would have wanted, it’s still better than what I would have accepted on any of the other things.

So yeah, it’s new, or it’s nice. It might not be my first choice, but it’s still better. And I’m okay with that. So yeah, it was a question I asked myself a lot, or a test I applied a lot was, “Is this still better than what I could have got it through any other way?” And the answer is always yes

Amelia Lee
Your mindset about this is super interesting, because really, it’s a testament to a level of resilience in how you can navigate this project. To me, you strike me as a naturally optimistic person.

Shauna
Can’t be in sustainability if you’re not a naturally optimistic person. If you don’t think the world can be better and people can be better, you’d be a puddle on the ground.

Amelia Lee
And it’s clear to me, too, and it’s probably your background in sustainability as well, that this is a “We’re on the journey. This isn’t about hitting a perfect destination. This is always about doing better than we’ve done in the past, and trying to do the very best that we can with the tools that we have available.” Whilst accepting and being very honest and frank about the constraints that exist, and the juggle of priorities.

Shauna
Thank you. I don’t think there’s any choice. No one benefits, if you’re not honest. And I did get to a point with another design construct builder where, and I’d been so transparent about my budget, my brief has the numbers in it, and then I get this estimate that was $300,000 over.

And yes, it had all the bells and whistles and have allowed me to then cut things out. But, there was no Santa Claus coming, there was no extra pot of money that I was going to be able to uncover. It was up to me to deliver this project and finance the project. So, yeah, you have to be optimistic but pragmatic.

Amelia Lee
Can I talk to you about your selection of team members? I suppose, what was really important to you, and you did go down a design construct pathway, so was that always going to be the way that you were planning on going, or how were you thinking about the selection of your team and how that all unfolded?

Shauna
Yeah. And I struggled with this because it’s like, oh, it’s not proper HOME Method approach. I think I probably listened to that series around what to consider if you do go down design construct, because I don’t think it’s like, don’t do it, but just be very clear on what are the reasons.

Amelia Lee
Yes.

Shauna
And yeah, how to manage that. So, I did have relationships with builders and designers from starting out on the renovation process, but I found pretty early, when I started speaking more about a completely new build, that I was going to need to be speaking to a different set of builders and designers. And that’s probably where I went, “You know what? I actually don’t think I have the time capacity to you to manage that contract process between the designer and the contractor.” I don’t want to be drafting all of that documentation necessarily, so it was more about I found working with a design construct.

And I spoke to five, six different ones. And one, I got a bit spooked, because I didn’t feel I was going to get the design service that I was looking for. It was very much a drafts person service in hindsight. And looking at the product that that builder continues to deliver, I think had I not got spooked, I would have had a beautiful home and achieved all of the outcomes. But it was early in the process. Then others, I’ve asked all those questions that I would ask from engaging a designer questionnaire that you have, I would still ask those of the design construct process to get comfortable that I was going to get the design services and have the involvement in the design process that I wanted to have. And the same as I asked the same questions around the builder that I then would have had if I was contracting separately. So, I felt that I had enough information to be able to manage that process.

And I also thought there weren’t a lot of design options on this block. Like, when you looked at my brief and you said, “These are the rooms that I want.” There was only so many combinations that you could plunk those rooms together on to get that outcome. So, yeah, it was a bit about being a bit overwhelmed by the thought of actually having to manage the PAC Process and engage a designer separately and engage a builder separately. I did engage other consultants, like sustainability certified to do some energy efficiency modelling work for me. But I was really comfortable doing the planning type of research, because I had that knowledge. So yeah, to me, it allowed me to get what I was looking for and manage what those risks were about going down that particular pathway.

Amelia Lee
And how did they step you through it, in terms of how that specific design build builder worked? Because oftentimes, there’s some practices where you do get held at arm’s length from the designer. Everything’s being liaised through the builder, and they have to be mitigated through the builder.

Shauna
They were very responsive to changes. Like when I said, “That’s a beautiful design, but it’s $80,000 over the price that I’ve got in my head.” They turned it around and said, “Well, I think we cut out about 30-35 square metres of floor plan.” The fact that we could do it meant that it didn’t need it anyway.

Amelia Lee
Yeah.

Shauna
So, they’re an in-house designer. The group that I ended up going with is a small family business so I was able to go down and sit at the table with them. They actually took my design brief, though, and their first concept, it was like, “That’s awesome.” And I had spoken to that, this was where I ended up with those guys. I was very conscious of managing the intellectual property of different people. There’s no way I would take a plan that I had worked on with someone and hand it over to another, So, I was conscious of managing that, respecting people’s professional services, but they landed on it really, really quickly.

So, I could call the designer directly, we would email directly, and I, for better or for worse, you’d need to ask the builder. I was very present in their lives as well during the design and the contracting and construction phases.

Amelia Lee
Awesome. And just quickly on the design, because you mentioned the challenge of there is a slope. The site had a slope to it, so it slope to the street, but also slope from left to right when you’re looking at it from the street. You mentioned in your research that it was bush fire attack level 29. It was north east of street. So, that lent itself to, thinking about your living being on that upper level, looking out to that view, and being at the front of the house. How did you think about accommodating those things in the design? Did you have a picture? You’ve mentioned a few times that you feel like there was only a few ways that this could be packaged up on the site.

So, I’m interpreting that you had a pretty clear view of where you thought the layout should be. How did you navigate that? Had you done any sketches or anything like that? Or do you just have a picture in your head but you described it very clearly in the brief as you went?

Shauna
I had a picture, but I would never give that picture to the designers. So for me, there was no choice but to have the bedrooms along that southern walk, like, that side of the property, southeast side of the property. Acknowledging that that front bedroom, which I was giving to one that my daughter, who can sleep through anything, she would get that morning sun, not going to bother her at all. So then, it’s like, yeah, bedrooms have got to go along there. I definitely wanted my living dining to have a lot of glazing and be taking advantage of the view. But then it’s also going to be getting a lot of solar access as well, it will probably need external shading at some point in time, but it’s glorious in winter. Like, it’s just beautiful and warm. So yeah, one of the things that I wanted is a study that I’m sitting in here now. I wanted my study close to the kitchen. I wanted this little triangle that we talked about, the kitchen triangle. I wanted the triangle between the kitchen, my study toilet, because I work from home, and an actual absolute winner would have kitchen, laundry, study toilet, because that’s the things that you make between in any given day.

Laundry is downstairs, though, to access that. But I didn’t think there was a huge difference in how it could be put together. And I certainly tweaked things, including going back to your room guides that say ideally, you have a certain distance between the back of the kitchen bench and the other side of the living room if you actually, genuinely want to fit a dining table and a decent sized couch in it. And testing those things, like, going back to the designers and saying, “That’s just not going to work if you walk through there.” One thing that I remember listening in the pod around the upside down living was you don’t want to have to go to the front of the house to go downstairs, to get out the back of the house. So, if you don’t have stairs at the back, how are you accessing the backyard if you need to get out there pronto to intervene in some sort of a situation with the kids? So, yeah, you’d brought that knowledge in, and then, yeah, I found that designer is really willing to work with those.

I was trying to bring in a lot of intergenerational living as well. And some of that got taken out. It like, probably there’s some steps that I couldn’t overcome in terms of that and those types of things. But I think I was trying to get silver standard for the intergenerational living as well. I had a friend who still works in the GBCA, was very much involved with the Green Star Homes thing. So, that was one of the changes that I made in my design brief earlier. I said, “Oh, I just want it to be more sustainable. Either second or third version, I actually took the Green Home standard and listed in my design brief the things that I expected to see in my home, and down to the documentation that I expected to be provided to support that. So, yeah, it was a process of change.

Amelia Lee
No, it sounds very, very thorough. And I mean, with a sloping site, to meet the Livable Housing Design guidelines is always going to be super challenging, but I think you’ve done a really great job, because you have the garaging is limited by where you can get to it from the street. And then you’ve got your entry level at the halfway level, so you’re not having to go up an entire story as soon as you walk in the house. And, I think it’s worked really well. So now, can you tell us about the construction process itself, how that experience was for you?

Shauna
Fast, which is not something you hear. So, it took a long time to sign a construction contract. So, I didn’t sign a construction contract until May 2024. And so, we were 18 months in my project timeline, so it’s pretty clear I wasn’t going to be in the house by Christmas at that point in time. 

So the site peg out started, I think, about July, and then it went incredibly quickly. So, the builder was incredibly well organised. They do have their own cohort of trains. There was hardly ever a time where there wasn’t someone on site. The neighbours were all astounded around the speed at which it went up. I lived locally, so I sold the house in the street over. I bought this block, and I was renting a few more streets over. So, I was coming past every other day or so, to see what the progress was. I also had complete access to the site. I think that’s something that seems to be really unusual, but was something, even at contracting, what their contract said, had the standard clauses in there about access. And I was like, I said, “No, no, no, no, I’m going to be on site all the time.” And they said, “Oh, that’s fine, we’ll just leave that in.” And I’m like, “No, no, we won’t. We will be writing an additional note to the contract.” So, yeah, I was able to do walk arounds all the time.

My builder was in incredibly willing to engage with me. So, either meet me here, or if I had done a walk around and gone, “What’s going on there?” He would always respond, and I’m dealing with the owner and director of the company as well. So, yeah, I found it happened really quickly. And because I had made a lot of my decisions, there wasn’t that need necessarily to stop and check in at all. Or if the electrician was here, I would be like, “I’ll be over in five minutes. Just hold tight. Don’t put holes in anything. And I will come and work through the plan and make sure there’s no discrepancies in what you’ve been got.” And I certainly don’t want to suggest that there was a lot of bad things. There wasn’t.

But that was just on one occasion where, because the electrician had changed in the timing of when I had done my electrical plan to when it was being installed, I had an old version of the plan. So, they were about to go on rough in the completely wrong plan. It was like, “Oh, yay. We fixed that before it started.” Or, like, with the plumbing rough in, I was able to just walk around and go, “The plumber’s just not read the plan properly there.” And I would just call and say, “It’s in the wrong place.” And it would be fixed the next day. So yeah, very, very very responsive. And, yeah, fun to be a part of.

Amelia Lee
Yeah. And you never felt it was a problem for you to call out those things. You’re walking around site, having a look at the drawings, seeing what’s being done by comparison.

And feeling empowered that you can go, “Look, hang on, this doesn’t look like what it looks like on the drawings. What’s going on?”

Yeah. Maybe she could call and have conversation with the builder, but I wasn’t really too concerned about being perceived as a pain. It was like, it’s my approach. It’s like, I am the only person that can advocate for my interests in this project, and yes, I’m going to let you build the house, and I can’t tell you whether that is the right thing to do. And I engaged an independent building inspector to work directly for me and do those stage checks. But no one knows this plan better than me, so it was very easy for me to walk in and go, like, even, “That light is 10 centimetres off.” And they’re like, “No, it’s supposed to be 50 centimetres off the mirror, not 50 centimetres off the wall.” You can just see their faces going, “You need me to move it?”

That would be yes.

Shauna
Or I went for two packaged units for my AC rather than ducted, just to see. Actually haven’t even turned the one in my bedroom on. But I came in and I looked at it and went, actually, I told them not to start until I got there, but they had, and I was like, “You’ve put the head unit in the wrong spot.” And they’re like, “Oh, does it matter? But it’s just cosmetic, isn’t it?” It’s like, “Yeah, 100% it’s just cosmetic.” “So, want me to move it?” “Yeah. I do want you to move it, because it’s not where it is in the plan. I had deliberately put it in that spot.” I wanted it to be back-to-back with the unit outside. It wasn’t that I had just wanted to be difficult. It was like, “No, that’s not right, and you need to fix it.” And I have no trouble enforcing that type of thinking. I think it’s not to say that I knew better, because I’m not a builder, but I knew my plan and my vision better than anybody.

Amelia Lee
Yeah. Well, that’s the thing. When you’ve taken time and invested effort, time and money in creating the documentation, and been really intentional about why things are where they are in the documentation, then near enough is not good enough on site. So it’s that thing of just making sure that that follows through. And I love that you felt empowered to do that.

So now, I’m conscious of your time. So, I wondered if you could share what it’s like now that you’re in your finished home. What you love the most, what surprises or better than expected results there are? Any specific learnings that you’ve had? And also, just your sense of accomplishment and enjoyment of what you’ve been able to achieve. I mean, I’m sitting back in awe of what you’ve been able to pull together. So yeah, how are you finding now that you’re in this finished home?

Shauna
I love it. I can honestly sum it up as that. And like, I bought my first property in 2008, and it was nice, but I didn’t love it. I’ve lived in rentals that I loved but couldn’t afford to buy. I liked the house previously, but I hated the burden of the maintenance. Like, my girls loved that home, and it was gorgeous, but they didn’t see the plumbing call out every other week to deal with this ancient plumbing and the flooding down and all those types of things.

Whereas this house, it’s been two months, and I love it. I caught myself standing in the kitchen, which is just out here, a few weeks back, going, “What’s this feeling that I have right now?” And it was happiness. It was like, “Oh yeah, I feel a lot of sense of satisfaction of a job well done.” I certainly feel a huge level of achievement to be in the house, and then to see things work the way that you intended them to work is really, really satisfying. Just trying to think, like, the kitchen was an area where I was like, “Oh, I’m definitely not going to over think the kitchen the ways that I have seen some people really want to do.” But even things like, I pull out the dishwasher and I pull out the cutlery drawer behind it, and you just go…

Little things are satisfying. But then other things like, I wanted a laundry chute, but I couldn’t make, with the slope and the design, it work out. Turns out we don’t need one, because we just stand at the top of our stairs, throw our clothes and they just sit on the tiles down stairs, and then, I can wander down, scoop it up and take it into the laundry.

In our neurodivergent household, that’s actually become a way to overcome the demand that comes with showering. You’ve turned into a bit of a game that you can get to peg your clothes downstairs, rather than actually have to put them in a laundry chute or something like that. I know there’s lots of little things like that. I love the fact that I can sit on my couch and I cannot see anything other than trees or sky. It’s so incredibly peaceful.

I love that my study here, there’s a reserve to the back, and there’s a window in front of me that I see down to the lake, so I’m able to have that short and long distance view. So yeah, I’d say there’s lots of little things that I just go, “Oh, that’s worked exactly as I intended.” And that’s a really nice feeling.

Amelia Lee
Yeah, it sounds to me like you’ve created a home that is a sanctuary, in terms of it doing everything it needs to functionally, form-wise, layout, speaking to the individual needs of you and your daughters. And then within that, you’ve created these moments of joy and delight that give you this opportunity to just actually catch yourself in your day-to-day activities and go, “Oh, wow, that’s actually really, really beautiful.” Which when we create those moments of joy and delight in our life enable us to really do stay in that positive space, and build the bandwidth to then be able to just tackle the things that life throws at us.

Shauna
There’s other things as well. Like, one thing I think of all the time is I ended up going for a vinyl plank flooring. And that was the big issue of health and sustainability over an engineered timber flooring. And I listened to the podcast, the flooring podcast, over and over again. I went, did the reading, and I engaged with the HOME Method community. But it was like, for me, that was absolutely the right decision, because again, I have furniture in this house. It gets treated like a jungle gym. It’s pushed, like, rearranged constantly. And I didn’t want to be the angry mum constantly stressing over her floor. It was just like, this floor is going to still be good for the timeframe that I need in this house, and it’s going to remove that angst that comes would having children. They’re not going to stop rearranging the furniture. So let’s just make those adjustments for them now and be really happy with it.

Amelia Lee
Yeah. Can you touch on some of the learnings that you’ve had then, in terms of, because you’ve mentioned a couple of times that, I sense that this was never about aiming for perfection. This was always about doing the very best that you could with what you had available, understanding the constraints you were navigating. And yet, I also sensed that there were perhaps some things that, either maybe professionally, in terms of your aspirations, or particular things that didn’t quite get to where you would have liked them to have got to.

What have been your learnings along the way, in terms of navigating the project or the home that you’ve created?

Shauna
Yeah, look, I definitely got as good as I could, and had to be okay with that. One of those areas was around glazing. I didn’t go for thermally broken aluminium or UPVC. I have got aluminium double-glazed windows. And they ended up being only about $12,000, about 50% more than what was originally provisioned for. That’s a lesson. Get as many provisional sums contract as you can. And I did. Like I went and visited three different glazing supplies. I’m lucky that where I live, there’s a range of manufacturers. I went to the factory, I walked around, I spoke to the owners, I shared my vision, and I found that people like the glazes and the insulation. People loved having someone who was trying to understand how to get the best out of their product within the budget that they had.

So, I think, I ended up doing about five different insulation plans because it was like, “Yes, we could do that, but that’s going to cost that, and it’s only going to give this much uplift in performance.” So yes, learn and engage as much as possible. Be okay being a pest. I’ve never let that concern me and yeah, definitely being okay and maybe understanding, though, what your trade offs are going to mean, is one of those things. So yes, I went with non-thermally broken aluminium, but I got the look that I was after. I’ve got high, good performing glazing. And as we go through this first cold period, I’m seeing it operate pretty well in terms of condensation management and the like, but then my ventilation is just not working, and I’m probably going to have to put a through wall ventilation in my bathroom to get the level of ventilation that I’m looking for there, because of the venting to the eaves with the skillion roof, I’m just not getting the type of extraction that I need to get there. So, I don’t know how I translate that into learnings, other than learning about these different components and taking the knowledge from the course and and then seeing that through to implementation, and not being afraid to go, “Like I know you’re the whatever, the builder, the electrician, the plumber. But what if this? Could this work?” And, yeah, certainly, I find so many trades at the moment are actually really keen to be able to credential their sustainability knowledge that they, like, “I can see how what I’ve learned here, I’m going to be able to explain to someone else.”

So, I don’t know if I answered the question. What have I learned about myself? I don’t have nearly as much their time as I thought I did.

Amelia Lee
I love that you’re optimistic about that as well.

Shauna
I don’t know why I thought I would have time to do things. I’m really comfortable making decisions, I knew that about myself beforehand, and I had been very clear with myself about what I would and wouldn’t put time and effort into.

So yes, I will go and visit three different window suppliers and go and walk around their factories and get comfortable with their own approach and thinking around sustainability. But I picked all of my taps and sinks and cabinetry and stuff in one one-hour visit, because it just wasn’t where I wanted to put my time and effort. It was like, “It’s a tap.” And that’s what a tap was for me. But I know that for a lot of other people, taps are really important. I want to spend time revisiting those things. So yeah, I think knowing yourself before you go into the project, or at least challenging your understanding of yourself would be a really important learning for someone tackling the project.

Amelia Lee
I think it’s really impressive, Shauna. You’ve been a busy, working, single parent, navigating this project with a level of professional responsibility as well, that keeps you occupied, and yet you’ve done an incredible job of creating so much clarity around what you were seeking to achieve, right through from those big picture objectives down into the more granular details about how individual rooms needed to operate, the things within those rooms.

And then navigated through that design build process, and feeling empowered to walk on site and be able to ensure that you are getting what you’re paying for, and that you are pulling things up as you were seeing them unfold and not be as per the drawings and the conversations and the briefs that you’d provided. And yeah, massive kudos to you in terms of what you’ve been able to do and pull together. You talk about all of these things that you’ve done in quite a blase fashion, and yet, I know that the way you’ve been able to show up for your project and prepare yourself to do that, because even though you’re inside the property industry, it’s not like you’re project managing the residential housing construction process on a day-to-day basis.

So, you’ve been able to take these skills that you do have and apply them and transition them, and then you’ve been able to fill your expertise gap with the education that you’ve done and the resources inside HOME Method. And I know that before we jumped on, you said you felt like you maybe weren’t the typical HOME Method member. What I love about HOME Method is that everybody is doing their project their way and making their own call about how they use the resources. I’m very big on the fact that this is your home, and it’s your decision how you want to execute it. And so ,whilst I make recommendations about what I believe is other avenues to choose, what I love is that this community knows that they can be empowered to make their own choices whilst understanding what the things that they need to consider are in those choices. So, for example, you choosing design build, you choosing to do vinyl plank.

All of those kinds of things that you hear we talk about inside Undercover Architect, you’ve gone in eyes wide open to what you needed to cover and what you needed to do in order to make that work for you. And that’s what I love, and I think that’s why you are actually a very representative HOME Method member, because you are navigating your project your way, but doing it from that place of education and empowerment, and you’ve invested that effort and energy and time to be able to do that. So, I can’t thank you enough for sharing all of your knowledge here and for letting listeners have an insight into your project experience. I know that there’ll be loads of people that this will have been super helpful for in thinking about how they can set their standards for themselves and be really intentional about that, and not paralyse themselves through it, through trying to reach something that is unnecessarily beyond.

Like, it’s this thing of we all want to do the very best that we can with what’s available to US, and really optimise the opportunities, really make the most of realising the full potential of our budget, our site and our life, and I think you’ve done that perfectly in your home. So, thank you so much, Shauna, for your time. Did you have anything to add before we wrap up?

Shauna
I don’t think so. Thank you. For me, it’s been an experience that I have enjoyed, and I think that was in the post. I feel I didn’t share enough along the way with the community, maybe because I felt I wasn’t doing it well enough or properly enough. But I probably do need to recognise that and celebrate that little bit more. So I appreciate the opportunity to do that.

Amelia Lee,
Yeah, well, anytime you need me to remind you what a great job you’ve done, just let me know.

Shauna
I would do it again. I would absolutely do it again, and I’d be able to do it quicker. And, yeah, get good outcomes. And if I can make the dollars work, I will do it again. Not maybe to live in straight away, but yeah, who knows. I think it’s something that I would definitely tackle.

Amelia Lee
Awesome. Thanks so much, Shauna. I really appreciate it.

Shauna
Thank you. Bye bye.

RESOURCES

Episode 197 ‘How to choose a Design Construct Builder or Company’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-how-to-choose-design-construct/ 

Season 11 Episode 3 ‘The First Interior Decision: Choosing Flooring’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-id101-choosing-flooring/ 

Ellen’s episodes about there being no such thing as ‘perfect’

• Episode 356 ‘Building with Confidence: Contracts, Builder and Selections, with Ellen’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-building-with-confidence-contracts-builder-selections/ 
• Episode 357 ‘Perfection vs Reality: How to Navigate Your New Build Confidently, with Ellen’ >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-perfection-vs-reality-how-to-navigate-your-new-build-confidently/
  

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 Shauna 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