Mindful Builder

“If you can’t hit 0.6 ACH on a brand-new build, you probably shouldn’t be building.” Let’s stop tip-toeing around the reality of the Australian housing market. We are throwing up volume-built boxes and high-density apartments that are practically end-of-life before they’ve even seen their first winter. We sat down with Linden Thorley, architect, Passive House designer, and chair of the Australian...

“On paper, six or seven competitive builders trying to run one organisation together makes no sense.” In this episode, we sit down with Bec Kempster, the brilliant Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Sustainable Builders Alliance (SBA), to talk about the messy, necessary business of upgrading the Australian construction sector. Recording from Matt’s newly completed Grand Designs home, we strip ba...

“Money turns to water.” In this episode, we sit down with Dave from Pro Clima (Technical Innovation Engineer) to talk about the real transition from being on the tools to quoting jobs, running projects, and trying to keep cash flow under control. Dave’s story is a good one. He started as a carpenter , spent years in the trade, then went back to uni and completed a Bachelor of Applied Physics befor...

In this episode, we sit down with Jackson from Enduro Builders in Adelaide to talk high performance homes , energy efficient construction , and what it actually takes to build houses that perform year after year. We recorded inside a Passive House , and once you feel that level of comfort and stability, it’s hard to accept what “normal” housing has been getting away with. Jackson has been building...

“Do we want 1.2 million crappy houses?” That’s the question Jesse Clark (pro clima) drops early in this episode, and it pretty much sets the tone. We talk about Australian housing supply, building quality, and why “more homes” is not the win if we’re locking in mould risk, discomfort, and expensive fixes for decades. If you care about better homes, healthier homes, and what the future of construct...

We do not usually have politicians on the show, so sitting down with David Southwick , the Planning, Building, and Construction Minister for the Liberal Party’s Shadow government, made for a very different kind of conversation. Less product talk and site detail, more housing policy , building regulation , and the decisions that shape what builders can actually do on the ground. If you work in the...

“I don’t understand why people build houses like this.” If you have ever said that on site after spotting a leaky junction, a sweaty wall, or a home that is freezing in winter and cooking in summer, you are not alone. This conversation is our pushback against the shortcuts that have become normal in the Australian building industry . The whole point of More Good and Less Bad is simple. Build bette...

“As builders, you have huge overheads. Massive.” Matt said it mid-conversation and it just sat there, because it is the part people outside the construction industry rarely see. They see the finished home and the invoice. They do not see the cash flow pressure, the holding costs, the insurances, the compliance, the admin load, the delays, and how quickly one wobble in the pipeline can hit a buildi...

“Version one is better than version none.” James Brown means it in the most practical way possible for builders. A rough first system in your building business is better than no system at all. Not the perfect process. Not the spreadsheet you will build “when things slow down”. Just something written down that gets the ball rolling, so you can test it, hand it to someone else, and improve it over t...

“Legally, you can still build a house with no membrane.” That line from Villy Yordanov, Pro Clima’s Innovation Engineer, sets the tone for this conversation about what is technically allowed versus what actually leads to durable, healthy homes. We unpack the gap between building compliance in Australia and real-world building performance , particularly in weatherproofing , moisture management , an...

A German journeyman carpenter walks into our studio and within five minutes, we are thinking, hang on… have we made modern life way more complicated than it needs to be? Erik is living a tradition that feels almost impossible in 2026. He is travelling for three years and one day , working wherever he can, learning from other tradespeople, and doing it all without a mobile phone . Not as a gimmick....

Weekly Goss – April 23, 2026 Matt and Hamish are back from Adelaide to discuss the latest housing developments in Canberra, a major safety crackdown on silica dust, and the importance of representation in the trades. In This Episode: The Canberra Housing Deal: The ACT and Commonwealth governments have signed a $250 million deal to deliver 4,900 homes, with over 1,700 reserved for first-home buyers...

We sit down with Helen from Renew to unpack why the idea of a sustainable home still gets treated like a luxury, when it should really be the baseline. We talk about the shift happening across the Australian building industry , where sustainable housing , energy efficient homes , and high-performance building are becoming more mainstream. Better design decisions, not just bigger budgets, can lead...

In this episode, Hamish and Matt navigate the "geopolitical bruises" impacting the Australian construction industry in early 2026. They discuss the sharp rise in material costs driven by global tensions, the controversial shift in Victorian builder licensing, and the silver lining of surging apprenticeship numbers. The duo emphasises that while the climate is "doomy," transparent communication and...

The Australian building industry is shifting fast, and in this episode, we discuss what that really looks like on the ground. From economic pressure and labour shortages to changing technology and AI-driven disruption, this is an honest conversation about the reality of running a building business in a market that feels increasingly uncertain. If you are a builder in Australia , a construction bus...

Episode Title: The NCC Maze, Red Tape Blues, and a Win for Passive House Date: 9 April 2026 Hosts: Matt & Hamish In this second instalment of The Weekly Gossip , Matt and Hamish navigate the "grey areas" of the 2025 National Construction Code (NCC) updates and the mounting administrative burden currently squeezing the life out of small building businesses. We also look at some progressive move...

Construction technology is changing fast, and in this episode, we sit down with Vas from  C.R. Kennedy  to talk about the tools already reshaping the construction industry. From  geospatial technology  and  3D site scanning  to&nb...

This episode covers the latest updates in the Australian building industry, including new legislation, code transitions, and innovative materials. Hosts Matt and Hamish analyse recent news, government policies, and emerging technologies impacting builders and homeowners. Matt and Hamish from The Mindful Builder are launching a new, "short and sharp" weekly news segment. Capped at 10 minutes, the o...

“Sustainable design is not just lower energy bills. It is health, comfort, moisture safety, and long-term performance.” We sat down with Marcus Strang, Technical Lead in Passivhaus at HIP V. HYPE, to explore what sustainable building design really means in practice. With a PhD from the University of Queensland and deep expertise in building science, Marcus shares how Passive House design is helpin...

“Sustainable buildings focus on what's invisible, not visible” In this episode of The Mindful Builder, we sit down with Roberto Petruzzi, an Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) specialist, to unpack what building performance and energy efficiency really mean in practice. We talk about energy modelling, building science, and why the details you cannot see often matter most for comfort, durabil...

“Commercial teaches you speed and logistics. Residential teaches you people.” In this episode, we sit down with Alistair Meallin, Director at Y Projects, to talk about what it really takes to build high-quality custom homes in Australia. With over a decade in construction and a construction degree from the University of Melbourne, Alistair shares the lessons he learned on big commercial sites and...

“Architecture is not just drawings and pretty renders.” In this episode, we sit down with Roger from Borland Architecture to unpack the overlap between architecture, construction, and real estate, and why those worlds are far more connected than most people realise. This is a practical conversation about problem-solving, designing for real life, and making decisions that affect how people live eve...

“Success looks great on social media. The reality is usually messier.” In this episode, we sit down with Liam Wallis, Founder and Managing Director of HIP V. HYPE, to talk about what sustainable development really looks like behind the highlight reel. Not just pretty renders and big announcements, but pressure, responsibility, and the constant work of improving systems so each project is better th...

“I’m not just a carpenter.” That’s the energy Sam Aitken brings to this episode, and it is exactly what the construction industry needs more of. Carpentry is not a fallback job. It is craft, problem-solving, and leadership on-site. Sam is also using social media to show what pride in the trade actually looks like, without turning it into a glossy performance. We sit down with Sam to talk about his...

High-performance building is not just about premium products. It is about the system. In this episode, we sit down with Sven Maxa from Maxa Design to unpack what Passive House building really looks like behind the scenes, from airtightness targets to the practical realities of delivering high-performance homes on site. This conversation flips the usual format, with Sven taking the lead and putting...