Green with Envy Homes

06/01/2025

21/08/2024

We are honoured to be a finalist for upcoming national HIA Greensmart Awards for our recently finished Renovation/Extension project in the Geelong region.

Great work by our whole team including Jo, Jedd, Dave, Mikey & Johnny.

Inspirational design by the architects peripheralpractice.au

Thermal performace by


and our amazing tradies at






This project will soon be avalible to view at Sustainable House Day

10/07/2024

What at the end of a rainbow 🌈?
A Green with Envy home of course 😍

27/06/2024

Before & After at our Sheridan project.

This new facade gives the owners the feel of a calming bush retreat in suburbia when they arrive home.

Notable features include

- golden cypress cladding, beams & rafters from ‘windbreaker’ trees that were once thrown out🌳

- Upvc ‘low E’ double glazed windows with tilt & turn function

- Best of the best carpentry detail around the windows & eaves

Check out more about this project & more at our website

17/01/2024

07/12/2023

As a ‘Custom Home’ builder each of our homes is likely an individual design that has never been priced before.

We need to factor in the approximately 10,000 different items that are used in each house to give an accurate price.

Some of these factors include

– material selections

– labour costs

– site conditions (if your block on a steep slope, or hard to access street etc.)

– specific details required by the engineer, draftsperson/architect & energy rater

– area specific requirements (are you in a bush fire zone, termite area, high wind category area etc.)

– does the builder need to have a full-time site supervisor on your job

– what is the ‘soil classification’ of your land

– plus many more

Based on experience
of past projects we can give an estimate on what the price range may be, but a set price is not possible from the start.

An excellent building contract price should have as few optional extras or variable items (referred to as Prime Costs & Provincial Sums in contracts) as possible.

Or if you do require decisions that cannot be made before signing a contract, make sure your contract accurately has calculated a price for the works that are similar to the choice you are to make.

For example, if your contract has a ‘Provisional Sum’ of $20k for the kitchen allowance, but your kitchen tastes are more in the $50k range, this means you will have to find an extra $30k from somewhere during the build to accommodate your preference, or otherwise be left with a kitchen that that you will never be happy with.

And don’t forget on these ‘extra’ costs, you also have to pay the builder their ‘builders margin’ you agreed to on your contract, so this $30K extra is now somewhere around a $40k extra!

We also recommend being aware of builders who do advertise a $m2 rate,
as it can be a sales ploy to get you in the door, before they add on all the ‘extras’ you thought would be included.

Sometime not telling you about these extras until after you have signed your contract.

Even the exact same house built in the same city will likely vary in price. Factors such as councils, developers, planning permits, soil classification, bush fire zone & a host of other variable all need to be considered & allowed for in the price.

Thanks for reading,

Jared

Green with Envy Homes

07/12/2023

Envious yet?

30/11/2023

Recently, I have been wondering….
Why are so many of my clients & new enquiries coming from people who grew up in, or have lived in Europe for a long time?

So, I decided to ask them, as part of the learning process we initially go thru when meeting with a potential new client,
why do they want to build the types of homes we specialize in?

And the most common answer was –
that they can’t understand why in Australia, we are so willing to suffer through living in such poorly performing homes. When back home “in Europe” it is not an acceptable way to live & build.

They want their new home or extension to be more like the homes they grew up. Basically, a much more Comfortable & Healthy home than the common Australian house most are currently living in.

Freezing cold in the Winter, sweltering hot in Summers, mould growing on the plaster, open gaps throughout the house & little to no insulating properties, seems to be just part of living in a home in Australia.

They also raised concerns about the health issues of their families since living in such homes.
Constant feedback about increased hay-fever, allergies, eczema, cold & flus, recuring headaches, dry skin & asthma were of major concerns for a majority of the families.

Which in turn got me once again wondering….

Why are we in Australia willing to put up with this?

And I think it comes down to this…. We don’t know, what we don’t know.

If you grew up in a fairly typical Aussie family like me, your options really came down to putting as many clothes as possible on & sitting under a doona while freezing in the middle of winter, or maybe you would sneak the heater on before mum or dad would tell you ‘turn the bloody heater off, we ain’t millionaires’.
Then would come the scorching summer, sweating through sleepless nights with no other option than to ‘just toughen up’ (another mum & dad quote I’m sure you are probably familiar with from childhood).

Many Australians are unfortunately still building these poorly performing homes.
Why? They don’t know, what they don’t know.

So, if you are considering building a new home or extending soon, you now have all the info you need to build you & your family a better living environment than you thought was available in our great country.
Do some research on High- performance homes & builders, Passive houses & their 5 principals, Solar Passive design, & a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips on similar subjects via the internet.
Maybe even go a step further, talk to those who now live in these higher performing homes, or even see if you can stay at one thru an Airbnb (or similar) the next time you go for a weekend away to experience the difference a home like this could provide.

And then,
Once you know, what you know
It is unlikely you can go back to where you started.

Thanks so much for reading, please feel free to tell me about your thoughts on this subject.

Jared, Green with Envy Homes

We more helpful resources, FAQs & Blogs available by visiting our website
www.greenwithenvyhomes.com.au

06/11/2023

Dont just trust your builders eyes when it comes to insulation, demand they double check with a Thermal Camera.

10/08/2023

Before & After from our Inverleigh Extension/Renovation

Kitchen Area

Check out more photos on our projects page

www.greenwithenvyhomes.com.au

21/06/2023

While other builders & designers are scratching their heads at how to meet the new 7 star efficiency ratings on a new home,
at Green with Envy Homes we are smashing past those minimum requirements by revitalizing a 1⭐️ existing house into an 8⭐️ home.

Head to our website to find this project & others we have done & are currently constructing 👍🏡

www.greenwithenvyhomes.com.au

07/06/2023

Traditional Black & White.
A classic colour scheme to come home too 🏡