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Jennifer Crawford first appeared on Home Style Green when Our New Home Coach was just getting started. Six years on, she’s back to discuss her journey and why she still believes strongly in helping people build the right home.
2020 has been an interesting year for everyone, Jennifer included. A few months after starting a job as an Architect for a building company, the global pandemic led to a number of layoffs. Fortunately for Jennifer, she had a fallback. Beginning in May 2020, she reopened Our New Home Coach the Monday after her redundancy and has been busy helping clients since.
Jennifer is a Registered Architect. The advice she gives her clients is similar to what some Architects offer at the early stage, but she’s independent. Offering a paid, professional service avoids any confusion about whether the advice is free in the hope of the Architect winning work, or an obligation that takes up time.
Jennifer helps people decide if they actually need an Architect, or if they could use a draftsperson or go straight to a builder. It depends on the size and complexity of the project.
She says that a lot of her value is as an interpreter. There’s a lot of jargon and terminology that designers, engineers and builders use. The process of building needs a guide and translator and this is where Our New Home Coach can help.
Reality Check
Jennifer says that sometimes she feels like a party pooper. She provides a reality check on the grand visions that clients often have. Many people are surprised just how expensive it can be to build up with a second storey or to add that fourth bedroom and second or third bathroom.
Build the Right Home for You
It’s always important to know who you’re building for. Jennifer will have a much different conversation with someone who is planning to sell in two years, compared with people who are planning to live out their retirement in their new or renovated home.
Helping people to define clearly what they really need and actually want is an important step. Real estate market perceptions are not a good gauge of what’s going to work for any given family or household. A retired couple probably doesn’t need that fourth bedroom.
Being at Home
2020 has seen an increase in time spent at home. People are working from home and schooling from home much more. This has made people think about their home and how it performs, which has increased the demand for services offered by Jennifer. And with less money going into overseas holidays, people are thinking more about investing in their homes.
Retrofitting to Passive House
Jennifer is now a Certified Passive House Designer. She’d love to be doing some Passive House projects but sees this as much more likely for new builds. She agrees with the sentiment of her Passive House trainer who advised that retrofitting to Passive House is really hard.
Many existing houses in Australia and New Zealand could easily absorb $100,000 worth of renovations to improve performance and most of that would be invisible in the real estate photos. Improvements to insulation, airtightness, ventilation and heating will definitely make a home healthy and comfortable. Unfortunately, this investment is not likely to be recognised by the bank. That’s okay though if you’re building for you, which more of us should do.
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