We are almost wrapped up
How many times in the next few weeks will we hear the phrase, "oh, this year went so quickly"? It's that time of year when everyone goes crazy trying to beat the Christmas rush. Several years ago, we decided not to hurry clients into their homes before Christmas as we felt that Christmas had become more of a deadline than a holiday.
2022 saw us take a huge step in moving down a path we created for ourselves a few years ago. We started the year by handing over two projects before starting three Certified Passive House Projects. For us, this had been our ultimate goal for several years, and we finally got there. So often, you skip over these mini-wins, but I am so proud of what we have achieved. It was a big jump into a niche area still in its infant stages, and I won't lie; it felt scary. But it has been fucking awesome. I have loved every minute of it and wouldn't change anything about it.
We have learnt so much. The things you read online or the videos you watch allow you to understand what is involved. But it's not until you do it yourself, you realise you know very little. I truly think that in building, you reach a point where you think you know a lot, and you do, but that next step of "you don't know what you don't know" is very powerful. I think we finally reached that point. It has given us the confidence to seek advice when we feel we feel someone around us knows more or reach out for help when we need it.
So what happened this year?
Our Forrest Street Spotswood Passive House was part of Open House Melbourne, where we saw around 150 people come through in two hours. We were lucky enough to showcase this home and show everyone what is possible in the residential sector. Our Parade Ascot Vale Passive House enabled us to work with SIPS for the first time, which was extremely exciting. We got our first taste of what prefabrication looks like on a larger scale, and I really do think this is what the future of our industry will look like. We then started our Champion Road Williamstown Passive House, which has helped us to refine our skills and improve on past techniques. It is the first time we are using Logikhaus windows, which have recently arrived from overseas.
But whilst these are all certified Passive House Projects, there is one thing that they all have in common. We have the best fucking clients! I am so lucky that we have been given the opportunity to build their dream homes. You hear all these stories about builders and clients constantly fighting - yet our biggest argument was that I was given a long black and not a long mac! They have placed so much trust in us, and we are thankful for this. They have also taken a leap of faith, building passive houses, giving future clients and generations further evidence that these homes are a better place to live. We have definitely hit the jackpot with our clients this year.
My team has a huge role to play in this; they have done a fantastic job building homes and ensuring every little detail is thought through. Without them, this business is nothing. They constantly surprise me every week with what they can achieve and how quickly they have picked up new tricks and techniques.
We have further developed our preconstruction process, where we get involved early in the process to further connect the link between client, architect and builder. I think this is why our projects run so well, as we know the project back to front before we have even started building them. It has enabled us to save our clients a lot of stress and money along the way but, more importantly, allowed us to develop a high level of trust prior to starting construction!
So where to next year?
Well, we have some exciting projects which we can't wait to share with you. We will continue with a small renovation in Yarraville; we started last week and will get to renovate another home in West Footscray, which will meet our strict high-performance criteria. We have two Passive House projects moving along as we finalise the final cost of these homes, which we will look to start around the middle of the year. And then there's another bluestone cottage. I thought I would never touch bluestone again; however, this project was way too cool to pass up. We get to take an outdated building technique that is not used anymore and restore it to a high-performing level. Whilst we are pretty much booked out for next year, we do have space should the right project come along!
But we won't stop here. We look to build a better and healthier home every time, using our knowledge from past projects to improve our future ones. We will continue to work with our future clients where we are in the infant stages of concepts for projects in 2024. It seems like such a long time away, but good planning equals great projects. Great things take time, and we will continue to take this approach.
We are also doing some exciting new things too. Yep, if you haven't heard, we are starting a podcast. You're probably thinking, "oh not another fucking podcast" and "tell me more about what you're doing differently". I am lucky enough to team up with Hamish from Sanctum Homes where we will continue on our adventure to flip the building industry on its head and challenge what is possible. Anyone who knows me knows I love to talk, and the thought of me having a microphone might scare a lot of people but what could go wrong? We both recognise we don't know what we don't know, so we will look to get experts in their field to bridge that gap.
Who knows where this takes us, but both of us are huge on education and making everyone around us better. We want to give our knowledge to others so we can improve the building industry. If you want to keep updated on this, follow our Instagram page @themindfulbuilderpod
But the one thing we do know that will happen next year is that we will challenge ourselves, make mistakes, learn and improve on our process. I don't live in a world of fairytales and unicorns, I am realistic. I know it's going to be hard, it always is, but that's how you get better. Plus if it was easy, everyone would be doing it! There is a tonne of uncertainty in the building industry in the future. Are prices going to keep going up, interest rates, Ukraine...? But these are things that are outside of our control. It is what it is, and we will continue to deal with these challenges like we have with all other issues over the last few years. But in saying that, things are looking promising. Timber has started to drop in price so hopefully, that is a positive sign for things to come (I can't wait to see all these builders who jumped to steel to start to jump back on the timber train....)
So that's all from us for 2022. We hope that we have taught you something along the way, made you smile or challenged your way of thinking. We love our job more than ever and can't wait to show you some more sexy, high-performing and passive houses next year!