“Designing a building to work with the sun.”  

 

The Queensland Government has just announced that electricity prices will be increasing by 22.6 % for domestic users and 17% for business. With aging infrastructure of our national power grid the cost of electricity supply will only increase dramatically in the near future.

In a recent radio interview, Rockcote founder, Bob Cameron stated that “it was time we stopped building a box and cladding possible. We must start designing our homes correctly to alleviate the drain on our energy resources.”

We recently completed a home in Darwin where the client removed all the  cross ventilation by deleting windows to “save money”  Then asked to add 6 split system air conditioning units. If we  multiply this by 300 lots in the estate thats around 1800 airconditioners running flat out!!

We’re not against airconditioning  as such. It’s great to come inside after mowing the lawn  and relaxing in a cool living room or sleeping  comfortablyon those hot and steamy nights. However a well designed home can cut the  need  to have the airconditioning running for up to 80% thus reducing  the home’s energy load.

So where do we start?

By heating and cooling homes naturally we can cut down the energy costs significantly with the use of good design principles. In summer the house should maximise cooling air movement and in winter trap and store heat from the sun as well as minimise the heat loss.

 Passive Cooling

•  Select adequate sized windows and orientate them so that the cooling breezes are captured.
• Reduce internal air path barriers to increase natural ventilation.
• Install ceiling fans to assist air circulation.   
  

  Natural Air Flow

• Avoid excessive glazing on the east and western facades, and use effective shading depending on your climate zone.
• Adequate levels of insulation. At least the minimum required for your climate zone.
• Appropriate use of thermal mass determined by daily temperature changes in your climate zone.
• Use light coloured roofing material to reflect solar radiation.

 Passive Heating

Design for passive solar heating  is about taking advantage of natural heat sources to heat the home. This can be achieved by

• orienting of daytime living areas and selecting suitable windows  facing north.
• Locating thermal mass where it is exposed to direct  solar radiation to store heat during the day
• Insulating walls, ceilings and floors as well as protecting around doors and windows to reduce drafts.
• Living areas and kitchen facing the north
• Bedrooms located along the east and south  facedes.Garages and service areas (laundry, bathroom) should not be on the northern sides or where they can block prevailing breezes.

  Hot Water Systems – and reducing your energy costs.

As well as selecting the correct system for your current and future needs your energy costs can be reduced by: 

• Good Design!!  Grouping together of wet areas such as kitchens and bathrooms and laundry and placing the storage tank close to these areas. This way the lengths of pipe can be reduced resulting in less heat loss.
• Insulating the walls of the storage tank to reduce heat loss.
• Switch off hot water system when going on holidays or away for extended periods.

Our aim as a Greensmart Accredited Design company is to ensure we provide environmentally responsible house design and: 

• Improve the energy, resource and water efficiency of the home
• Enable home owners to waste less and recycle more
• Reduce waste in the building process
• Create healthier homes for its occupants

 The benefits are numerous from having a home professionally designed by  a skilled and trained design professional.Lower energy bills, water bills, a warmer house in winter and a cooler house in summer, and less waste going into landfill.

“If you believe that good design is expensive wait until you see the cost for bad design!”

Getting the Cheapest Plans ….

 

A few weeks ago a renowned and very successful local Builder  walked into our reception and  asked “are you guys responsible for drawing  these plans?…..”Yes is there a problem?” was our response.”

“Well I just wanted to drop in and meet the  company that drew these as they’re the best set of drawings I’ve seen in  a very long time. Clear, concise and accurate. It’s been very easy for me to accurately estimate the  construction cost of this home. Should be a straight forward  build as everything has been documented”………

So many times we are asked to discount our fees  to match , or better a cheaper price.  Some companies are even offering “free design” services. These “free” services always have erroneous conditions which really mean they’re not free at all.   One of the biggest causes of disputes in the building industry today (nominated by HIA) is the  poor quality documentation and plans.  This has generally occurred by competition in pricing and unscrupulous discounting. 

 

How much should a set of plans cost??

Well there is no hard and fast rule except.     “You get what you pay for”.  Often if something is very cheap it’s generally not very good value.  Consequently  something can be very expensive and not good value. We always aim to provide value for money and guarantee our work.

The  price you pay for  design and documentation depends on quite a few factors and when comparing proposals  one needs to consider if the  fees are truly comparable.  Any professional consultancy  like accounting, legal, medical bases it’s fees on the amount of time  expected to be spent working on the project (or file) and  the level of skill and training and expertise of the  persons involved. Also the complexity of the  project. Payment terms can also have a  factor in pricing.

Your new home  is the biggest  financial investment you’ll ever make. Do you really want the  least experienced, unqualified person to spend the least amount of time  possible on your project????

 

The Solution:

When looking to engage  a  designer for your project  be clear with what you are wanting to achieve. Be very specific with your  budget,  build  a relationship with your designer  and discuss what is involved in the  process ahead. Find out who exactly is going to be working with you. Be prepared to let your designer do his work and weave his magic. Have a list of all your  requirements, wishes and dream features.

• Have they  the appropriate qualifications, licenses and insurance?
• Do they have the appropriate experience?
• What is the  turn around time for your project?
• How much flexibility do you have?
• Can you make changes to the original design.

 

The Result:

With a complete set of correctly drawn and detailed plans you’re now able to now obtain  comparative pricing from selected  builders or contractors. With good quality, clear and concise plans all the different  trades, suppliers and consultants are able to price their particular parts accurately and reduce  the “margins for error”.

Accurate documentation reduces  any ambiguity with the building process which can lead to disputes.  Cheaper quality materials cannot be substituted when specified correctly.

So our tip this week to avoid the mistake of trying to get the cheapest  plans is to  look at the value of the service you’re getting. Not just the lowest price. Give some serious consideration to where the hidden value may be. 

I Know-itis………….

Or as we commonly call in the office the “I know Boats Syndrome“.

Case Study….

The family  are moving to a new home!! We’ve decided to build a new home.  We’ve purchased  the perfect block of land and this will be our  dream home. everything we always wanted. It will have everything we ever wanted.

OK so we’ve got   ?? $$ to spend  and  the ads in the paper  show we can build a house for  $750 per  square meter. Wow we can have   a really big house!!  The builder  we talked to wants us to give him some plans so he can work out a price.  Well we had better  start designing…………..

We ‘ll save heaps of  money by  doing the design ourselves and not waste money on and Architect or Designer.  We know what we want and we’ll just get a  draftsman to draw it up..After all  we KNOW what we want!! ” Those  designers charge a fortune!!! And how do they know more than me about what I want?”

Armed with their sketch plan drawn on graph paper the  family rings around  a few  drafting  offices to get the plans drawn up. Often looking  for the cheapest price possible  to “save some money”.  Adamant that they don’t want to pay extra for any design work they just want the plans drawn up  a draftsperson. Too often we hear the  family say “we’re not very good at drawing , we’ve never done this before”.  And “if you have any better ideas we’d like your input.”

 

“Oh we didn’t know that   you had to be  6m from the front”…..”What does it mean when there is an easement on the land?”…….. “How do we make the home  energy efficient?”……..”Can we just get a relaxation?”……..”Just put a retaining wall in there”………”What’s the QRDG??” ……. “the driveway won’t work and we didn’t know  it  had to be like that?”………………and so the  design needs some changes.  Often a change such as raising the driveway has a major impact on another aspect and therefore  changes keep going on and on. All e costing time and money. In the end the house doesn’t really look like what  the family had imagined their dream home to look like.  It’s just a box.

The builder who has looked at the original sketch starts to  price the  drawing sand  it comes back nearly $100 000 more than they expected.  “But why is it so expensive??  Well there is a lot of  wasted space in hallways, traffic areas, the  retaining walls needed are      $40 000 and the scaffolding required  etc…. “Oh we hadn’t thought of that. Looks like we’ll have to change it again”  sigh.

Designing a home  is not just drawing  a plan… There is a minefield of regulations, standards, planning schemes, Building Codes et that  must be adhered to and  mot of all considered while  designing the  home. If your like our  family above and  have spent  years in industries not related to the building industry then these regulations will probably be like a foreign language to them.

 

The Solution:

Our second family has written a list of all their  inclusions, ideas,  and must halves in their new home. They’ve taken some pictures and what they like and have  worked out  their budget  and how much they want to spend  at the end. They want to be sure they don’t over spend. They’ve also decided to make their home as energy-efficient and want to  have their home designed to be sustainable  for their family as it grows and  changes.

 One thing we  ask is that our clients  not to try to  draw the plans themselves. Our qualified, trained and very experienced designers and architects are EXPERTS in design and will incorporate EVERYTHING that is on that wish list into the design while taking into account  all the other criteria such as  regulations, site geography, passive solar design,  future use, materials, and the list goes on. 

The most common comment we here when our clients are presented with their first  sketch design is……...”Oh I would never have thought of that!!” 

We’re often asked  what type of CAD (Computer Aided Design) package we use…………”A pencil” !!

While it is  virtually impossible to take into account  all the costs involved at this stage your  design  SHOULD be within 10% of your budget.  We in fact guarantee it!! 

At this stage there may be a few changes required. This is  easy at this  point as these changes, often being minor, can be incorporated into the  preliminary  CAD drawings.  This is where  the   plans are then sent to our Architectural Technicians.  They’re the  team members who all the technical and  construction issues are nutted out. From here we can generate some  true and lifelike Rendered Images.  

 

Now we can start to get a good look at what your new home is going to look like and some choices in materials and colours can be made.

the final stage is to produce the   technical drawings for Building Approval. Or Working Drawings. These are  documents that will  form part of the Building Contract and will be the  Approved Plans.

 So our family has now a comprehensive set of drawings  and may now obtain quotations from their selected Building  Contractors.  As they have pid for  their  design and  all the documents they are free to use these.   (many companies who advertise “free plans” or at severely reduced rates  often retain copyright  so as to not have  competitors  give  quotes on the same plans) …..Apples for apples we say.

The quotes have  come back and there is a $60 000 variation in the  prices.  From now can  work out just exactly  where the  costs vary and  which builders  provide the best VALUE with their inclusions etc. Ultimately a builder is chosen who can start immediately and  our family has   saved themselves around $10 000 on what they had budgeted. They have a home that is energy-efficient and  now sell  power back to the  grid and  is water efficient. It’s cool in Summer and  warm as toast in Winter. So they have decided not to put in those air conditioners.

 

Conclusion: Your new home  is the biggest  monitary investment you’ll ever make. Why woulkd you want to “save money” by spending the least on the most important stage of the  process. Architects, Building designers, and Drafting Technicians are all  trained  professionals and  really know how to  Would you really want the cheapest, least experienced  mechanic working on your new Mercedes?. Or would you even contemplate  servicing your  new Mercedes yourself to save a few dollars.

 

An investment in the Design of your new home isn’t a cost but a  massive saving in the  medium and long-term, and every successful project starts with the right advice. 

 

Call us today for an obligation free assessment of your project and  lets start saving money from the very beginning!!