The Builder constructing Passive House | Interview with Stuart Lee, Craftsmen Quality Builders -Episode 13 (Season 8 - A SIMPLE GUIDE TO A SUSTAINABLE HOME)
02/04/19 • 63 min
How do you build a Passive House?
The construction of a Passive House requires specific processes and knowledge. Learn what it takes to build the Owl Woods Passive House Project in my interview with Stuart Lee.
SHOW NOTES:
In this episode, we meet Stuart Lee of Craftsmen Quality Builders.
Stuart is the builder for the Owl Woods Passive House, and if you listened to my interview with David Rhind, the client and owner, you may recall that it was when they met Stuart, that they got interested in making this home a Passive House, and dived into this whole process.
Stuart is a fantastic advocate for the building industry, as he really demonstrates what quality building, client collaboration and teamwork looks like.
Even if you don’t want to build or renovate a Passive House, I really encourage you to listen to this episode and learn what to look for when choosing your own builder. Stuart provides some great advice to support you in your selection.
Introducing Stuart Lee, Craftsmen Quality Builders
Stuart is a builder and Qualified Carpenter, and he’s also a Certified PassivHaus Tradesman and Accredited Green Living Builder.
Stuart has worked in the building industry for over 15 years and is very passionate about building energy efficient and PassivHaus homes. He feels the best way he can support the environment is to build homes that hug the land rather than sit on it.
When Stuart learned of the passivhaus standard - and he talks about this in our interview - he felt compelled to focus his business on implementing the key principles it uses.
Stuart and the Craftsmen Quality Builders team love what they do, which in turn infuses the structure with love and laughter. Stuart believe this makes their homes feel very special.
In this episode, Stuart tells us what is involved in the construction of a Certified Passive House home.
These are the questions Stuart and I discuss in this episode ...
- Why do you believe homeowners should build a passive house (you have a great rundown on this on your website)?
- What made you commit to being certified as a Passive House Tradesperson?
- When we look at home construction, how does a Passive House differ to mainstream home construction ... what are you doing differently and how much harder is it?
- Tell us about your involvement in the Owl Woods Passive House - because I understand you were the one initially that proposed making it a passive house?
- Is building a Passive House more expensive?
- How do you suggest homeowners on a budget build a Passive House?
- It appears to me that a Passive House actually demands a really high level of attention, detail, care and quality from the builder ... and because it needs to be certified at completion to a performance level (with the blower test etc), this is a really good way of getting certainty, as a homeowner, that your home is getting built the way it should. That you’re getting what you’re paying for. Do you see homeowners feeling this way?
- How do you generally suggest people work well with their builder to get a good result?
- And do you have key tips for homeowners planning to build a Passive House? How should they start? What should they ask builders they’re speaking to?
Even if you are not building a Passive House, I really recommend listening to this episode, as Stuart helps demonstrate the standard to strive for in your renovation or building project. There’s an energy that comes from a great team working well together in a quality, focussed and committed way, that can bring total joy to your life and home in the long term. I think you’ll really hear that in Stuart’s own passion for what he does, and hopefully it inspires you to keep looking until you find a team to support you in the same way for your home.
Listen to the episode now.
This episode is brought to you by my online course “How to Get it Right in Your Reno or New Home”.
This is a superfast course that will help you get ready for your renovation or building project in the best way possible.
In it, I share my step-by-step system to help you save time, money and stress in your project, so you can know what you need to know and create the perfect home for you - simply and with confidence ... avoiding the dramas and heartaches.
You can join now, get access to a fantastic Facebook community, Live Q & A sessions with me, and all the tools and resources you need to achieve success in your project. Head to www.undercoverarchitect.com/howtogetitright to learn more and join us.
FOR RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST
How do you build a Passive House?
The construction of a Passive House requires specific processes and knowledge. Learn what it takes to build the Owl Woods Passive House Project in my interview with Stuart Lee.
SHOW NOTES:
In this episode, we meet Stuart Lee of Craftsmen Quality Builders.
Stuart is the builder for the Owl Woods Passive House, and if you listened to my interview with David Rhind, the client and owner, you may recall that it was when they met Stuart, that they got interested in making this home a Passive House, and dived into this whole process.
Stuart is a fantastic advocate for the building industry, as he really demonstrates what quality building, client collaboration and teamwork looks like.
Even if you don’t want to build or renovate a Passive House, I really encourage you to listen to this episode and learn what to look for when choosing your own builder. Stuart provides some great advice to support you in your selection.
Introducing Stuart Lee, Craftsmen Quality Builders
Stuart is a builder and Qualified Carpenter, and he’s also a Certified PassivHaus Tradesman and Accredited Green Living Builder.
Stuart has worked in the building industry for over 15 years and is very passionate about building energy efficient and PassivHaus homes. He feels the best way he can support the environment is to build homes that hug the land rather than sit on it.
When Stuart learned of the passivhaus standard - and he talks about this in our interview - he felt compelled to focus his business on implementing the key principles it uses.
Stuart and the Craftsmen Quality Builders team love what they do, which in turn infuses the structure with love and laughter. Stuart believe this makes their homes feel very special.
In this episode, Stuart tells us what is involved in the construction of a Certified Passive House home.
These are the questions Stuart and I discuss in this episode ...
- Why do you believe homeowners should build a passive house (you have a great rundown on this on your website)?
- What made you commit to being certified as a Passive House Tradesperson?
- When we look at home construction, how does a Passive House differ to mainstream home construction ... what are you doing differently and how much harder is it?
- Tell us about your involvement in the Owl Woods Passive House - because I understand you were the one initially that proposed making it a passive house?
- Is building a Passive House more expensive?
- How do you suggest homeowners on a budget build a Passive House?
- It appears to me that a Passive House actually demands a really high level of attention, detail, care and quality from the builder ... and because it needs to be certified at completion to a performance level (with the blower test etc), this is a really good way of getting certainty, as a homeowner, that your home is getting built the way it should. That you’re getting what you’re paying for. Do you see homeowners feeling this way?
- How do you generally suggest people work well with their builder to get a good result?
- And do you have key tips for homeowners planning to build a Passive House? How should they start? What should they ask builders they’re speaking to?
Even if you are not building a Passive House, I really recommend listening to this episode, as Stuart helps demonstrate the standard to strive for in your renovation or building project. There’s an energy that comes from a great team working well together in a quality, focussed and committed way, that can bring total joy to your life and home in the long term. I think you’ll really hear that in Stuart’s own passion for what he does, and hopefully it inspires you to keep looking until you find a team to support you in the same way for your home.
Listen to the episode now.
This episode is brought to you by my online course “How to Get it Right in Your Reno or New Home”.
This is a superfast course that will help you get ready for your renovation or building project in the best way possible.
In it, I share my step-by-step system to help you save time, money and stress in your project, so you can know what you need to know and create the perfect home for you - simply and with confidence ... avoiding the dramas and heartaches.
You can join now, get access to a fantastic Facebook community, Live Q & A sessions with me, and all the tools and resources you need to achieve success in your project. Head to www.undercoverarchitect.com/howtogetitright to learn more and join us.
FOR RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST
Previous Episode
The Consultant who tests and measures the Passive House | Interview with Luc Plowman, Detail Green - Episode 12 (Season 8 - A SIMPLE GUIDE TO A SUSTAINABLE HOME)
So you want to build or renovate a Passive House?
Your specialist team may need to include a Certified Passive House Consultant to help test and measure your Passive House design.
Let me introduce to you Luc Plowman, of Detail Green. Luc is a Passive House Certified Consultant and Certifier. In fact, he’s only one of 2 Passive House certified building certifiers in the country, and there’s only about 50 world-wide.
Luc was brought in on the Owl Woods Passive House project as Talina wasn’t certified yet. He assisted with reviewing and auditing the design, running it through the Passive House modelling tool, and providing feedback and advice on what needed to be included and amended in order for the home to reach required benchmarks.
SHOW NOTES:
Meet Luc Plowman, from Detail Green.
Detail Green has a wealth of building design, engineering, construction and sustainability performance experience. This includes both local and international projects in residential, commercial, industrial and educational buildings across multiple green building standards.
Luc is a Sustainability Engineer. With 15 years experience he has been involved in a wide range of green building and sustainability projects across Australia. He’s a director of Detail Green based in Beechworth, Victoria.
With a background in the commercial building industry and a range of Green Building qualifications Luc provides specialist ESD input to all areas of the built environment.
Luc is both a Certified Passive House Consultant & Building Certifier and one of Australia’s most experienced Passive House professionals.
In this episode, I ask Luc ...
- How do you describe what Passive House is?
- What is your role on the Owl Woods Passive House Project? Is this how you’re normally involved in projects?
- You’re a Certified Passive House Consultant ... what does that mean?
- How did you get involved in this type of work - what is your professional background? what made you choose to become a Certified Consultant?
- Is a Passive House not really a Passive House if a Certified Passive House Consultant is not involved?
- As a Certified Consultant, do you find that homeowners come find you because they really want to do this type of home and they’ve first done a lot of investigation and research themselves? Or do you find that there’s an interest, and then still lots of education to do on your part?
- What misconceptions do you see about Passive House?
- I know homeowners will say to me “oh my climate is quite mild, I don’t need to be this extreme about my home” ... what would you say to them? Is there anywhere that Passive House is ‘over the top’ as an approach?
- What key tips do you have for homeowners considering this as an approach for their renovation or new build?
Passive House can seem initially like a complex process of data and analysis. However, Luc shows us its fundamental aspects and the opportunity this methodology has to help us predict the performance of our homes - before we build them.
Listen to the episode now.
This episode is brought to you by my online course “How to Get it Right in Your Reno or New Home”.
This is a superfast course that will help you get ready for your renovation or building project in the best way possible.
In it, I share my step-by-step system to help you save time, money and stress in your project, so you can know what you need to know and create the perfect home for you - simply and with confidence ... avoiding the dramas and heartaches.
You can join now, get access to a fantastic Facebook community, Live Q & A sessions with me, and all the tools and resources you need to achieve success in your project. Head to www.undercoverarchitect.com/howtogetitright to learn more and join us.
FOR RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST CLICK HERE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Next Episode
The Certifier and an Australian Passive House Pioneer | Interview with Clare Parry, Grun Consulting - Episode 14 (Season 8 - A SIMPLE GUIDE TO A SUSTAINABLE HOM
Is Passive House necessary in Australia?
This is a question many ask, because they believe our climate is too mild to necessitate the Passive House approach.
Yet, Clare Parry disagrees. She is a Director and Principal at Grun Consulting, and is a Certified Passive House Certifier and Trainer. Clare was also one of the founding members of the Australian Passive House Association. Its vision is to lead change by educating, promoting, and supporting the delivery of Certified Passive House buildings in Australia.
Clare is the Certifier for the Owl Woods Passive House project - so it’ll be her job to provide the tick of approval that everyone else has done their jobs, and the home can actually be certified as a Passive House.
Clare however, fulfills many roles when it comes to sustainable design in Australia, and whenever I researched or talked about Passive House - it was Clare Parry’s name that came up. I’m really excited you’re going to meet her through this episode, and hear about her experience with Passive House, and really helping it get traction in Australia.
SHOW NOTES:
Meet Clare Parry from Grun Consulting.
Clare has had a lifelong interest in best practice building design, involving a holistic approach to achieve sustainable measures and provide a better option in the longer term, both for the client & the environment. Her focus is on building performance, and she works extensively with the Passivhaus standard. Her work as a sustainability consultant and mechanical engineer has involved experience as a Certified Passivhaus Designer, Trainer and Building Certifier, LEED AP, Green Star AP, WELL AP, NABERS and CBD Assessor.
In 2011 Clare founded the Australian Passive House Association and has been involved as a Director until late 2017. She is one of the first Certified Passivhaus Designers in Australia, and one of only two Passivhaus Certifiers. She is a certified Passivhaus trainer as well and you can often see her speak at national and international conferences.
Clare is a Director and Principal at Grün Consulting. Grün specialises in delivering high performance buildings. They deliver all aspects of Environmentally Sustainable Design consulting, specialising in Passive House (Passivhaus) from design through to certification. They are advocates for Passivhaus, for Net Zero, and experts in town planning, multiple rating tools including LEED, Green Star and the Living Building Challenge, and energy ratings including Carbon Neutral, NABERS & CBD.
In this episode, I ask Clare ...
- What made you become interested in Passive House?
- You've worked for some time (and continue to work) as a sustainability consultant in a range of accreditation systems like LEED, Greenstar, WELL, etc. How does Passive House sit in relation to this?
- You founded the Australian Passive House Association (APHA) in 2011. What compelled you to do that?
- What's the APHA's role?
- You are performing the role of Building Certifier on the Owl Woods Passive House project. Can you describe what's involved in that?
- I read an article of yours on Linkedin ... where you spoke about industry talking about the difficulty of getting the consumer engaged in the idea of sustainability. You said "The issue is not actually about engagement. That implies that people are choosing alternatives when the options are on the table, but the truth is they really have no idea what’s possible." And then you spoke about our responsibility to educate - which is what Undercover Architect is all about. How would you like to see homeowners going about really moving the needle on Passive House and its adoption in Australia? What would you tell them to do to feel more confident to pursue this for their projects when opposition might be budget, or it being too hard, etc?
As Clare mentioned, the Australian Passive House Association is an incredibly useful resource for you if you’re wanting to embark on the Passive House journey, so check out the show notes for a link to find them.
A word of warning though ... I’m finding that the more people I speak to about Passive House, I find they started their journey with an interest, and go so passionate about it, they’ve gone onto be certified! Not only professionals but homeowners as well!\
Who knows what learning and opportunity the Passive House journey might open for you hey?
Listen to the episode now.
This episode is brought to you by my online course “How to Get it Right in Your Reno or New Home”.
This is a superfast course that will help you get ready for your renovation or building project in the best way possible.
In it, I share my step-by-step system to help you save time, money and stress in your project, so you can know what you need to know and create the ...
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