I have a love-hate relationship with solar. It’s not the perfect product; it comes with its environmental flaws, especially related to the manufacturing process, which involves mining and processing raw materials like silicon, silver, and rare earth metals. Additionally, many solar panels are manufactured in countries with less stringent environmental regulations. The upfront investment at…
At Lou Projects, like most other small businesses and builders, we find ourselves amid an ever-evolving landscape of construction regulations. From updates in the National Construction Code (NCC 2022) to new sustainability measures, changes in Work Health & Safety regulations, and taxation reforms; each reform intention is good in theory, but it continues to burden…
At Lou Projects, we use the term ‘healthy home’ quite a lot. So what do we mean when we say our homes are healthy? The Importance of a Mould-Free Home To us, a healthy home is primarily a mould-free home. Many people are unaware of how dangerous mould can be to their health, with even…
Climate change. A touchy subject I know… some think it’s the end of humanity, and some think it’s a hoax. I’d rather take a more practical approach. Instead of fixating solely on reducing carbon emissions, which can be complex and uncertain, we should focus on tangible actions. The focus in our industry specifically, should be…
We believe the current model for finding the right builder is broken. When designing your home, you’re told you should shop around for 3-4 builders, send them some documents, and hopefully they all quote the same thing? You get the quotes back and you’re expected to understand all the jargon – and that’s if it’s…
Here it is. Burnout. I’ve done it again, I’ve burnt myself out. Leading up to this, I had spent a lot of time setting up boundaries, because I’ve had my fair share of burnout moments, as I’m sure a lot of us have. However, over the last 18 months, I’ve been all about growth in…
As we say goodbye to the past year, let’s pause for a moment to reflect on the highs, lows, and the valuable lessons we’ve picked up along the way in 2023. In this article, we’ll share our thoughts on what we’ve learned, celebrate a few achievements, and explore what the upcoming year has in store…
This is inspired by a recent post we saw from Carland Constructions talking about what it means to be a sustainable builder. We’ve spoken about what sustainability means to us in a previous post, and we agree with the key point raised by Carland Constructions here – the main focus should be building a house…
Proper ventilation is a crucial aspect of maintaining a healthy and functional home. Ventilation should allow dry, fresh air to enter your home while getting rid of moist, stale air – which builds up in your home from bodies, cooking, showers etc. To achieve effective ventilation inside your home, the use of a ‘Heat Recovery…
Here at Lou Projects we specialise in building energy efficient, sustainable, functional and comfortable homes. We’d like to thank the Master Builders Association for recognising this, and awarding us the winner of the ‘Energy Efficiency and Environmental Sustainability’ category in the 2023 Newcastle Excellence in Building Awards. The award winning project was Ahara House. The…