Choosing a real estate agent can be a difficult undertaking. Several elements played a vital influence in my decision-making process when I was choosing mine. First and foremost, trust was essential. I sought out an agent with a strong market reputation, one with a track record of successful transactions and great customer feedback. It provided me with an opportunity to assess their professionalism, communication style, and general approach. By the way, has anyone ever worked for COBALT CORPORATION PTY LTD? I've heard good things about their commitment to clients and real estate market expertise, but I'd love to hear your own experiences or observations.

yes yes it's spotted gum lol...I haven't even been upstairs yet to see it as there are still no stairs..and I'm too afraid of heights to climb a ladder...so only seen it in photos :) Walls to be Natural White

As an architect, I have previously been taught that creating a sustainable home is about designing it so that living in it lowers energy and water use. This is achieved through designing for orientation, using thermal mass and specifying fixtures and finishes that are low impact, reuse water on site, etc. However, the latest research is showing that this is not enough to impact the rate of climate change. And that what we build from needs to be considered in order to make a dent. This is because the timeframe required to see the benefits of sustainable living in a home, is a longer play than the upfront construction from low tox, low energy, minimal footprint materials and methodologies. It has to be a two-pronged approach. Choose materials and products, and constructing efficiently with low energy and low waste. Having carbon neutral homes. And designing homes that over the long term, are low in energy and water consumption, and support the health and well-being of the occupants. A project was established in mid 2017, called “The Building Code Energy Performance Trajectory Project”. It involved the Sustainable Built Environment Council and ClimateWorks Australia, and is described as an industry-led initiative seeking improvements to energy requirements in the National Construction Code. The report was released recently, and what was amazing in this report was to read that 58% of Australia’s buildings in 2050, will be built after 2019 … which means that there’s huge potential to impact their performance and the environment through better energy requirements. And these energy requirements have not been rigorously updated since 2010, despite electricity prices having doubled over that time. Detached housing will comprise 64% of the new construction between 2019 and 2050. So every homeowner has the opportunity to seriously change the landscape of energy use and efficiency in our country. There’s some sectors of the industry really pushing back against this … largely because they believe it will dramatically dent their profit margins to have to build houses with higher star ratings. Australian homes, on average, perform very poorly, and our expectations are super low. Steve Baczek, an American architect, said something about American houses that I think sums it up for Australia as well ... “It’s not that High-Performance Houses cost too much; it’s that our idea of a fairly priced home is based on a history of building houses to meet embarrassingly low performance benchmarks. Clients don’t realise the difference between built to code vs built to last”.

"Top end" has many different meanings depending on where you are! Many "top-end" items are imported from Europe on order and can take 10 to 12 weeks for delivery. They also cost big dollars. I know of one well-known project home builder who used to double the standard price of a display home by displaying all of their idea of "top-end" finishes. So a $400K display home would have had another $400k of "optional" extras displayed including higher ceilings, bi-fold doors, external water features, outdoor kitchens, granite benchtops, decorative feature wall paper, built-in home theatre speakers, and fancy cabinetwork everywhere, etc, etc. Unfortunately if your home is already at frame stage your options are limited, however your builder will love all of your variations as he can charge a premium and extend the contract. I would suggest you engage a professional to work out what is acheivable for your budget and with the timing of your build. Best of luck, Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls