Your eco home makeover;Part 1

In the first of our new seven-part series, Sarah Heeringa gets advice from the experts about planning and prioritising your home renovations for maximum comfort, good health, energy-efficiency and more. Plus: Where to find advice, and a new tool to help get a good return on your investment

The expert’s guide to transforming your home, one room at a time

Expert advice: Nick Collins and Verney Ryan (Beacon Pathway), Stephne Vaughan

Welcome to Good’s special seven-part home renovation series, where we’ll go room by room
with housing, building, design and life coach experts to discover how to transform our homes
into warm, comfortable, healthy spaces that are easier on the planet and cost less to run. And
because there’s more to life than energy-efficiency, we’ll also get advice on making our homes
places of rejuvenation, creativity and hospitality.

Whether you want to cut your power bills or simply make better use of the space you’ve
got, there are many changes you can make to help your home perform better, even if you’re
renting. We all have dreams about the kind of home we might live in one day—but for now,
we’re making the most of the one we’re in.

Getting advice, making plans
and setting priorities

I caught the house renovation bug early: 15
years after Vincent and I signed our first
sale and purchase agreement, we’re onto
our fourth dilapidated do-up. Along the way
we’ve learned that the best home improvements
don’t just improve a house’s looks—they enable it
to function in a smarter way.

Whether it’s an apartment, a simple bungalow
or a grand old villa, a home works best when it’s
light-filled during the day, cosy in winter and
provides a functional mix of open and intimate
spaces. A good home also needs to be affordable,
because struggling to pay a huge mortgage or fork
out crippling amounts to keep the utilities running
will take its toll.

Even at its most basic, a home should be
warm, dry, comfortable and healthy. Research
shows that substandard housing undermines wellbeing—
but once a home’s temperature gets to
18°C there is a dramatic improvement in health.

Smart homes are easier on the environment
because they require fewer resources to run:
they’re energy-efficient, use water wisely and
they’re renovated with renewable and recyclable
materials. In turn, smart homes put fewer
demands on their inhabitants by being cheaper to
operate. A home that functions well isn’t bigger
than it needs to be because it makes the best use
of the space available. “It has organisation—and
structures to maintain that order,” says life design
coach Stephne Vaughan.

Ultimately, what makes houses perform well—
and what makes them homes—involves more
than just bricks and mortar. Our homes should be
places of rejuvenation, havens to retreat to and
relax in, and bases from where we can extend
hospitality. Homes can have personalities, they
can be both welcoming and private, and they can
say something about our values or family culture.

The furnishings, the colours on the walls—
everything we’ve chosen to have in our homes can
either inspire or depress us. Some of the things
in our homes we love, others are there for more
pragmatic reasons, or out of a sense of obligation
or inertia. Cluttered cupboards, piles of unfinished
jobs, objects you don’t like can all block your
creativity and drain your energy, says Stephne.
“Creating a more fully functioning home involves
asking if your home reflects who you are today,
how you want to live and whether you’ve created
the spaces that allow the social life, the creativity
or the family times that you want.”

No matter what your budget and even if
you’re renting, there are solutions for damp, cold,
cluttered or otherwise dysfunctional houses. Some
alterations are simple and cheap, others run into
the thousands. But if you spend your money well,
it’ll come back to you in other ways: in savings on
your power and water bills, in better health for you
and your family—and in all the other good things
that come from living in a home that nurtures and
enables you rather than drags you down.

The sustainable retrofit

It can be fundamentally satisfying to
take something dated or dilapidated
and make it better. Even though home
ownership rates have fallen in the
past decade, we’re still a nation of
enthusiastic home improvers and DIY
renovators. Unfortunately, along with
a Kiwi enthusiasm for renovating,
we’ve also inherited a tendency to opt
for the quick fix.

Of the 80,000-odd renovations that
we undertake each year, most tend to
invest in improving appearance rather
than performance, reports the NZBCSD.
It doesn’t help that traditionally we
build to the minimum specifications
set out by the Building Code—and that
getting building consents for some
changes that improve your home’s
performance, such as solar panels or a
grey water system, can be challenging.

But attitudes are slowly changing.
As we’ve come to realise that looks
aren’t everything, home renovations
are focusing less on aesthetics and
more on performance.

Before you start renovating a
particular room, it’s important to step
back and take a look at your house as
a whole, says Nick Collins of building
research group Beacon Pathway.
“New Zealand homes can and should
perform better—for the sake of our
health, our resources and our nation,”
he says. “It’s not about doing without;
it’s about being smarter and doing
more with less.”

Start by developing a plan
for improving your home’s total
performance, and you’ll avoid the
common trap of spending in an ad hoc
way for limited gains.

This ‘whole home’ approach
means your do-up will be more than
superficial, even when you make
changes incrementally, as your budget
allows. Work to a master plan, and
over time you’ll notice a gradual
improvement in the experience of
living in your home.

An expert eye

A number of independent and semiindependent
agencies offer free home
appraisal services, as well as companies
with products to sell (HRV offers a free
assessment). Taking a walk around your
home with an industry expert can help
you see your home in a new light, isolate
trouble spots, draw up a list of priorities
and develop a whole house plan.

Right House

Established in 2007 by Meridian Energy,
a Right House energy assessment
finds where your home is losing heat
or wasting energy, then suggests
prioritised solutions. Right House also
recommends, sells and installs a wide
variety of products. Good deputy editor
Sarah Heeringa tried the service: “Eric
from Right House spent at least half an
hour looking over all parts of our house,
answering my questions and offering
suggestions. It really helped me focus on
the problems requiring urgent action.”
Free consultations are followed
up with an individual report
and a post-renovation audit;
www.righthouse.co.nz

Eco Design Advisor

The free Eco Design
Advisor service is offered
by nine local councils
(Waitakere,
Auckland, North
Shore, Hamilton, Tauranga/Western
Bay of Plenty, Kapiti Coast, Wellington,
Hutt City and Queenstown), and provides
advice related to energy, water and
building materials. An initiative of
construction research consultancy
BRA NZ, the advisers are completely
independent and recommend only
product categories, not specific brands.
Good editor Annabel McAleer tried the
service: “Although we had some ideas
about what fixes our home needed, we
had no idea what order to do them in.
Fred’s advice included really sensible,
cost-effective solutions to suit our
budget, and then he helped us come
up with a two-year renovation plan.”
Two-hour consultations are free, a
general information kit is supplied, and 30
minutes’ phone advice is free for people
outside the nine council areas; www.
ecodesignadvisor.org.nz

Home Energy Advice Centre

If you’re after information related to
energy use and efficiency, you can
contact the Home Energy Advice Centre
for impartial expert advice. The
advisers can help you find the
best insulation and heating
options, as well as advice
on reducing dampness,
and on wall insulation,
double glazing and
curtains. Phone calls are
free; 0800 388 588, www.
energyadvice.org.nz

Rate your renovation

Painting rooms and knocking down walls are fun and relatively
straightforward improvements. Improving the unseen parts of your home
takes more commitment. Damp-proofing, adding decent insulation, fixing
leaky spouting or upgrading the hot water cylinder involve research to
get them right, don’t reward you with an instant payback—and seem an
altogether less sexy way to spend a limited renovating budget. Other
modifications, such as adding rainwater tanks or installing solar panels, can
seem even more costly and complex.

Investing in fundamental improvements is a particularly tough call if
you’re not sure you’ll be around to enjoy the long-term benefits. The 2006
Census showed that, on average, homeowners move every six years and
renters every two. That made sense while the property market boomed over
the past decades, and money could be made on a fairly quick turnover—
often with just a quick splash of paint in between owners. Not anymore:
the global financial crisis, rising energy costs and an unpredictable housing
market mean that staying put and making homes more cost-effective to run
will increase their value longer term.

Even so, it’s hard to know exactly which renovations will give you the
most bang for your buck—and preferably some return on your investment.
That’s why the new Homestar rating tool has been developed for New
Zealand homes by building research group Beacon Pathway, BRANZ and
the NZ Green Building Council, to be launched later this year.

Its research suggests that the quality of New Zealand houses will
steadily improve when we start putting a market value on smart homes. It
makes sense for sunny, warm, well-insulated houses to be worth more than
similar houses that lack these features—and the Homestar rating scheme
aims to change attitudes by quantifying these differences.

The Homestar rating is an independent measure that instantly gives
you something to show for your investment. There are two ways to rate
your home. First, you can follow the steps at www.homestar.org.nz, which
will give you an unofficial star rating (out of ten) and quality, independent
advice on how to improve your home—and earn more stars. When it comes
time to sell, you can have an official rating completed by an independent
assessor, which will give you a star rating that you can use to market your
home’s eco-cred.

And it works! Homes that meet sustainability standards in Portland,
USA, can apply for up to three third-party certifications (Earth Advantage,
Energy Star or LEED for Homes). In the last year, new certified homes sold
for 18 percent more than their non-certified counterparts, and existing
homes with a certification sold for 23 percent more.

Helpful websites

www.branz.co.nz Info and
resources for builders and
the DIY hard core.

consumerbuild.org.nz
Great sections on DIY,
project management,
renovating and dealing with
tradespeople.

www.ecobob.com
Inspirational eco-homes,
directory and friendly,
helpful forums.

www.ecoprojects.co.nz The
eco products and services
directory is worth buying:
it includes everyone you’ll
ever need to call. (You
can also phone the free
helpline: 0800 BBE AR C.)

www.energystar.co.nz
Advice on selecting energyefficient
appliances.

www.energywise.org.nz
EECA’s advice on energyefficiency,
including
funding. (You can also
phone: 0800 388 588.)

www.greenbuild.co.nz
Database of building
products aimed at
professionals, but great for
research.

smarterhomes.org.nz
Loads of advice, case
studies, checklists and
tools from the Department
of Building and Housing.

homesmarts.org.nz The
Home Health Check tool
can help you decide where
to start your renovation.

www.rightlight.govt.nz
Information about efficient
lighting options.

www.wanz.org.nz Advice
on selecting energyefficient
windows.