Should you engage an architect before buying a house?
Jenny and Linty don’t know each other, but they both know me.
Jenny is an architecture-loving scientist who is an absolute guru on low-energy buildings. Her Instagram account The FixIt Chicks (@jenlishfixitchicks) is the greatest, most down-to-earth resource for improving the energy efficiency and comfort of your home. She is also a nominee for the ACT Australian of the Year Award. Holy Moly.
Linty is also a scientist, but her speciality is ears, not houses. She is a great friend. Our youngest kids are best friends and I walk past her house everyday on the way to school. A couple of years ago she and her husband started looking for a new home and she became a client. She doesn’t have an Instagram account and hasn’t yet been nominated for Australian of the Year. BUT! She does star in the short film at the end of this email.
Here's the thing. Linty and her husband did buy a house. They also didn’t buy many other houses. I warned them off one in particular, bluntly describing it as a “tent pretending to be a house” due to its complete lack of insulation and poor state of construction. Every window, door, wall vent and construction joint leaked a draft. The family would have lived in discomfort for years while they planned a renovation that would have stretched them. What Linty really wanted to be spending the next 5 years on was enjoying her family.
(If you want the kind of advice Linty and Sandy got, to steer you towards a house with good bones - one that is a real asset and not a liability - check out and book our Pre-Purchase Design Review)
Jenny would have told Linty and Sandy the same thing about the house, though she might have called it a colander instead of a tent. But, as I said at the start, Linty doesn’t know Jenny.
Linty could have subscribed to Jenny’s Instagram, but it’s a lot of mental work to translate someone's smart content into a practical application in your own life. And when you bring the emotions of buying a home into play, it’s even more challenging to be objective. Being a translator, guide and linchpin in a knowledge network are just three of an Architect’s superpowers.
Step by step, I look forward to working alongside Linty and Sandy to plan how best to:
make a better connection between the house and the garden.
create the best spot to sit and look at the chickens with a cup of tea.
reconfigure and make sense of a slightly rambling floor plan with a dog-leg passage way.
insulate the heck out of their home and make it comfortable all year round.
and many more things.
She knows where to find me, partly because I walk past her house everyday, but also because I’m an Architect GP.
