We're Building!! After all these Years

Well we finally made the decision to pull up stumps and move. But more than this to build a brand new home for ourselves in the spirit of affordable sustainability.
Can we do it you ask?
Can we do it we ask ourselves.
Well the first step has been taken and so now we have sold up our place of 34 years - can that be right? Where did that go?

And here we are homeless as of June 11th.
The idea is to find ourselves a rental place for the "plan and build" duration.

It's more than just a bit uncomfortable not knowing that you have a roof over your head in just a few busy weeks time.

So in a matter of days we will be firmly signed up to a very nice land purchase in a pleasant street of Camberwell.

Selecting a builder for our dream home is a major decision with just so much importance and a lot of potential happiness hanging off it. We don't want a house like many choose that is quick and nasty but can look superficially nice. On the other hand it is easy to get carried away and find yourself staring at a budget being blown further and further away with each passing week in the construction phase. No we want to end the exercise feeling happy on the financial side as well as the result being everything we hope for in environmental performance. If there is to be a house on this planet with our stamp on it let it be an example of one that was given a good deal of thought and consideration of the lifestyle it should support and meet our somewhat particular demands for energy performance. Oh and its ok if it looks pretty good too!

7/7/2013 Update
Progress is slower than expected on a few counts. Settlement at the previous residence was delayed almost a month with no small contribution by "which bank".

Demolition of the old house on the new property has also been delayed but is now underway.

Following demolition we can not only complete the purchase transaction but get the building design process underway with a new features survey (the ups and downs of the land). This provides the basis for developing the layout and concept of the design. A long way to go yet and our feet are quite itchy for progress as you might guess.
Meanwhile we have been a few weeks settled in to the rental place in Mt Waverley with not too many boxes still to be unpacked. Where was that widget I was looking for?

Update 15/10/2013
After a few passes back and forth from an initial set of drawings we have decided on our layout. We are really quite happy with the way it is shaping up with most of our objectives looking like they can be met.


The front view is looking good:





with a green roof over the garage to cool things down and soften the line. We are now waiting on an application to be processed through Council for the garage setback. While that is in progress the energy rating is being done to predict the heating and cooling requirements of the building. With double glazing throughout, loads of wall and ceiling insulation, not to mention the correct orientation for maximum solar gain, we are hoping to see a very small number come from these calcs..