All eyes on sustainable houses

GARDENERS, architects, and homeowners are coming together to celebrate all things eco-friendly.

The Bendigo Sustainability Group’s Sustainable House Day schedule is set, with a range of workshops and talks to provide information for online viewers.

The day includes interviews with Passiv Haus builders, the team behind Gravel Hill Community Garden, tiny house builders, and a couple who built their own off grid eco-house.

Tom Kimber and partner Libby were renting in Woodend when they first started to try and buy their own property.

When all houses appeared out of budget, they ended up buying land in Metcalf.

“It was just all very expensive and just with where we were with work, we didn’t qualify for a mortgage, but we had the deposit saved up,” Mr Kimber said.

“We decided to jump on and secure the land and work out financing to build the house later.”

With the house located away from an electricity source, the couple were faced with a dilemma; pay $50,000 to connect power, or go off the grid.

“Back in the day that would‘ve been a major stumbling block in terms of the capability of the off grid, but it just isn’t an issue now,” Mr Kimber said.

Mr Kimber said building from scratch allowed them to work with a north-oriented house built with double-insulated walls, UPVC double-glazed windows, a gable roof and Colourbond cladding.

Solar panels give 97 per cent of the house’s power, with the remaining three per cent coming from a generator.

Mr Kimber said the total build costs were about $380,000 and could’ve been reduced further.

He said simple decisions make building a thermally-well performing house easier, and eco-houses are becoming a real option for new home buyers.

“I see people having massive gas bills every quarter and it’s just unnecessary,” he said. “We can run electric houses off of off-grid solar systems, it’s really viable.”

Tom and Libby Kimber are just one of the presenters included in the Bendigo Sustainable House Day set for 24 October. For tickets head to bsg.org.au.