Get It Right With Undercover Architect

Hello! This is episode 227, and let me tell you right up front that I’m going to be talking about my flagship program, HOME Method. So, if you’ve ever been curious about what’s inside HOME Method, or considering whether it’s the right program for you to get support and help as you build or renovate your home, this episode will be perfect, because I’ll be sharing info on what’s inside HOME Method, and what you’ll learn from it. If you have no idea what I’m talking about when I say “HOME Method”, but you’re planning to build or renovate your home, or you’ve already got your project planning underway, and you just wish you could get some step-by-step guidance, then stay tuned, as this may interest you. If you’re an existing HOME Method member - hello! And thank you for being here! I love love love working with the homeowners inside HOME Method, answering their questions, showing them the steps and seeing the amazing progress and result

Hello! This is the fifth and last mini-sode in our super special series titled “Home Design: 5 Steps Before You Begin”. This mini-sode is called “COMMUNICATION”.    These short and super actionable episodes will help you with the 5 steps you need to take BEFORE you begin your home design.    Be sure to download a free PDF transcript of this and the other four mini-sodes that are part of this series by heading to www.undercoverarchitect.com/5steps. You’ll also be able to access some additional resources and helpful links for your home design that I’ve included there.   Plus, I’m hosting a free live online workshop later this month. In it, I’ll be sharing the 4 factors that can make or break your project. This free workshop is a fantastic way to learn about the key things to focus on that will help you make your project a success, and the home you create one that works for you and your family.    So, if you’re listening to

Hello! This is the fourth mini-sode in our super special series titled “Home Design: 5 Steps Before You Begin”. This mini-sode is called “CONNECTION”.    These short and super actionable episodes will help you with the 5 steps you need to take BEFORE you begin your home design.    Be sure to download a free PDF transcript of this and the other four mini-sodes that are part of this series by heading to www.undercoverarchitect.com/5steps. You’ll also be able to access some additional resources and helpful links for your home design that I’ve included there.   Plus, I’m hosting a free live online workshop later this month. In it, I’ll be sharing the 4 factors that can make or break your project. This free workshop is a fantastic way to learn about the key things to focus on that will help you make your project a success, and the home you create one that works for you and your family.    So, if you’re listening to this podcas

Hello! This is the third mini-sode in our super special series titled “Home Design: 5 Steps Before You Begin”. This mini-sode is called “CONDITIONS”.    These short and super actionable episodes will help you with the 5 steps you need to take BEFORE you begin your home design.    Be sure to download a free PDF transcript of this and the other four mini-sodes that are part of this series by heading to www.undercoverarchitect.com/5steps. You’ll also be able to access some additional resources and helpful links for your home design that I’ve included there.   Plus, I’m hosting a free live online workshop later this month. In it, I’ll be sharing the 4 factors that can make or break your project. This free workshop is a fantastic way to learn about the key things to focus on that will help you make your project a success, and the home you create one that works for you and your family.    So, if you’re listening to this podcast

Hello! This is the second mini-sode in our super special series titled “Home Design: 5 Steps Before You Begin”. This mini-sode is called “COLLECT”.    These short and super actionable episodes will help you with the 5 steps you need to take BEFORE you begin your home design.    Be sure to download a free PDF transcript of this and the other four mini-sodes that are part of this series by heading to www.undercoverarchitect.com/5steps. You’ll also be able to access some additional resources and helpful links for your home design that I’ve included there.   Plus, I’m hosting a free live online workshop later this month. In it, I’ll be sharing the 4 factors that can make or break your project. This free workshop is a fantastic way to learn about the key things to focus on that will help you make your project a success, and the home you create one that works for you and your family.    So, if you’re listening to this podcast a

Hello! This is the first mini-sode in our super special series titled “Home Design: 5 Steps Before You Begin”. This mini-sode is called “CLARITY”.    These short and super actionable episodes will help you with the 5 steps you need to take BEFORE you begin your home design.    Be sure to download a free PDF transcript of this and the other four mini-sodes that are part of this series by heading to www.undercoverarchitect.com/5steps. You’ll also be able to access some additional resources and helpful links for your home design that I’ve included there.   Plus, I’m hosting a free live online workshop later this month. In it, I’ll be sharing the 4 factors that can make or break your project. This free workshop is a fantastic way to learn about the key things to focus on that will help you make your project a success, and the home you create one that works for you and your family.    So, if you’re listening to this podcast at

Hello! This is Episode 226, and in it, I’m going to be doing an update to one of Year 4’s most popular episodes and continuing our celebration of 5 years of the “Get it Right” podcast. In the last episode, I shared a reboot of the most popular episode from Year 4 of the podcast. It was from Season 11, which was called “Interior Design Basics”. And the episode was my interview with Karen Haller, who is a Colour Psychologist. It was a fantastic conversation all about how colour can enhance our lives in and beyond our homes, and our knowledge of colours, and how we respond to them, as a vehicle for creating environments that truly suit you and support you. If you haven’t listened to the reboot of that episode, it’s definitely worth checking it out. You can find it at www.undercoverarchitect.com/225 and there’s a free downloadable transcript available as well. In this episode, I’m going to be talking more about choosing colours for your home, and sharing

Hello! This is Episode 225, and in it, I’m going to be sharing one of Year 4’s most popular episodes and continuing our celebration of 5 years of the “Get it Right” podcast. This episode was from Season 11 of the podcast, which was called “Interior Design Basics”. Interior Design Basics was an incredible season where I discussed a huge range of information to know about the design and selection of the fixtures, fittings and finishes for the interior of your home. It was focussed on how to create a functional, durable, family home.  I’m passionate about the fact that styling and trends are something that can trigger ideas, but they’re not what creates timeless design or long term functionality.  And so, in Season 11, through the know-how of a great range of guests, and in sharing my own knowledge, the episodes go beyond the idea of interior styling, and into the performance, specification and detailing of your interiors so you can create a home that wil

Hello! This is Episode 224, and in it, I’m going to be doing an update to one of Year 3’s most popular episodes and continuing our celebration of 5 years of the “Get it Right” podcast. In the last episode, I shared a reboot of the most popular episode from Year 3 of the podcast. It was from Season 10, which was called “Industry Insiders”. And the episode was my conversation with Jenny Edwards and Sarah Lebner from Light House Architecture + Science. In it, we dived into some fantastic and actionable information on how to create a sustainable home in a really pragmatic and straight-forward way. If you haven’t listened to the reboot of that episode, it’s definitely worth checking it out. You can find it at www.undercoverarchitect.com/223 and there’s a free downloadable transcript available as well. Year 3 of the podcast was a varied one, where we covered a huge range of topics. It began with the tail end of Season 8 on the podcast, which is called “A S

Hello! This is Episode 223, and in it, I’m going to be sharing one of Year 3’s most popular episodes and continuing our celebration of 5 years of the “Get it Right” podcast. This episode was from Season 10 of the podcast, which was called “Industry Insiders”. Season 10 is a great season on the podcast, packed full of conversations I had with industry professionals from both Australia and the USA. If you haven’t listened to it, I’d encourage you to check it out. We had a fantastic range of guests with loads of expertise to share. This rebooted episode was Episode 4 of that Season, and it’s a conversation with Jenny Edwards and Sarah Lebner, from Light House Architecture + Science.  These incredible women are both passionate about great design, sustainable homes, and achieving both in an affordable and accessible way. And they’re both amazing in the advocacy and education work they do to assist homeowners and industry colleagues well beyond their

Hello! This is Episode 222, and in it, I’m going to be doing an update to one of Year 2’s most popular episodes and continuing our celebration of 5 years of the “Get it Right” podcast. In this episode, I’ll be giving you some seriously actionable info that will not only help you stay sane during your reno or new build project - but it will also help you be a good project manager as well.  Many homeowners, when embarking on their project journey, don’t think of themselves as a Project Manager. However, renovating and building involves so many moving parts, steps, people and processes that, as the person or people funding it all and wanting it to happen, this is what you usually are: your own Project Manager. Part of being a good project manager is having the ability to stay organised, and lay your hands on information you need in a timely manner to keep things running smoothly. And then also having enough know-how so you can confidently navigate the steps ahead, and coo

Hello! This is Episode 221, and in it, I’m going to be sharing one of Year 2’s most popular episodes and continuing our celebration of 5 years of the “Get it Right” podcast. This episode was from Season 5 of the podcast, which was called “The Mistakes Many Make”. Here at Undercover Architect - on this podcast, on the blog, on social media and definitely inside my online courses and programs, I’m often sharing the mistakes many make.  My hope is that by sharing them with you, it will enable you to avoid them altogether. Or at the very least, be much more aware when you might be heading in that direction so you can course-correct quickly. So, that’s what Season 5 was about, and this episode was clearly a favourite. It was called “The most underestimated mistake when building or renovating your home.” You can grab a full transcript of this episode as a free PDF download - which wasn’t available the first time I released it. Plus I’ve go

Hello! This is Episode 220, and in it, I’m going to be providing an update to our last episode and continuing our celebration of 5 years of the “Get it Right” podcast. Our last episode was a reboot of not only the most popular episode of Year 1 of the podcast - it’s also the most popular episode in the entire podcast’s 5 years.  If you haven’t listened to that episode, be sure you do so by heading back to Episode 219. You can find it, and its full downloadable PDF transcript by heading to www.undercoverarchitect.com/219. That episode was called “Still the most important thing to know when designing your home”. In this episode, I want to bring you some current information about the way we create homes, and how this can impact the things to know when designing your home, plus give you some ways to order your decisions.  This is the thing about designing, building and renovating.  It involves a BOATLOAD of decisions, which can be overwhelming for man

Hello! This is Episode 219, and I’m back!! Thank you for joining me again after the break we’ve had. I’m really excited to be here and spending this time with you, and looking forward to some awesome episodes that we have coming up. This episode marks the beginning of my 5th birthday celebration for the “Get it Right” podcast. Can you believe it? The podcast is 5 years old! That’s right: As of the 6th of December, 2021, the podcast has been going for 5 years. In that time, we’ve published 219 episodes (including this one), it’s been listened to in over 190 countries, and it’s been downloaded almost 1.2 Million times.  So, for the next series of episodes, we’re going to be celebrating 5 years of the podcast by rebooting some of the old favourites, and interspersing them with great updates and extra information for you.  I know it’s going to be great to revisit some of the most listened to episodes, and also do that alongside adding som

Hello! This is Episode 218, and in it, I’m going to take a slightly different direction. This is very different to the episode I had originally planned for Episode 218. I was going to share a list of checklists every renovation or new build project needs - and don’t worry - I’ll still mention them so you have the info, so stay tuned for that in this episode. However, there’s a few things that have come up the past week that I want to share with you. Largely because I think it may actually be more relevant and more helpful to your project journey than me telling you about checklists.  However, this info is just a bit harder for me to talk about, because I’m going to get personal. It always feels a bit indulgent to spend this time with you talking about my own learnings and experience. But let’s give it a try, shall we?  Because time and time again, when I do, I get feedback that it’s helpful. And having worked with homeowners for over 25 years, I know that yo

Hello! This is Episode #217, and it’s the last of four episodes where I’ve been discussing in more detail the four phases of building or renovating your family home. In this episode, I’m talking about the Build Phase.  If you haven’t listened to the previous three episodes, I’d really encourage you to do so. In them, you’ll learn about the other three phases of any project, which are: Pre-Design Design Pre-Build … and you’ll learn the most commonly made mistakes in each of those phases. Effort and time spent in those three phases will enable you to have a smoother Build Phase overall.  So, even if you’re only listening to this because you’re about to start your Build Phase, it’s worthwhile going through those previous three episodes to ensure you’ve covered all your bases before diving into construction. Now, when you’re planning on renovating or building your future home, it’s natural to be really heavily focusse

Hello! This is Episode #216, and it’s the third of four episodes where I’ll be discussing in more detail the four phases of building or renovating your family home. In this episode, I’m talking about the Pre-Build Phase.  This is the phase between Design and Build, and for many, it’s a frustrating time of impatiently waiting for construction to start. Yet, it is the point at which so many things need to be confirmed, finalised and agreed upon, it’s important to navigate through it thoroughly and carefully. So, I’ll be sharing more about that, and the common mistakes to avoid. You'll also hear from a HOME Method member about their project experience as well, and how they found it to work with me during their renos or new build project. And I’ll be reminding you about what is currently going on with HOME Method if it’s been on your radar to jump into for your project. Remember too, you can grab a full transcript of this episode, plus info about other helpful

Hello! This is Episode #215, and it’s the second of four episodes where I’m discussing in more detail the four phases of building or renovating your family home. If you haven’t listened to the most recent episode (Ep 214) about the mistakes to avoid during your Pre-Design phase, be sure to head back and catch up on that episode.  Even if you’ve already moved through the Pre-Design phase and are in the Design phase right now, the information in that episode will help you ensure you’ve got your ducks in a row, and haven’t missed something important. In this episode, I’ll be diving into some key Design Phase mistakes I see made by homeowners. Whether you’re working with an architect or building designer, or you’ve gone straight to a building company, or you’re designing your home yourself, these Design Phase mistakes will be relevant to you. So stay tuned. Remember too, you can grab a full transcript of this episode, plus info about other helpful l

Hello! This is Episode #214, and it’s the first of four episodes where I’ll be discussing in more detail the four phases of building or renovating your family home. In this episode, I’m talking about Pre-Design, which is an essential stage to set the framework for your overall project journey, and ensure you have all your ducks in a row before you dive into designing your future home - whoever you’re working with. I’ll also be sharing some exciting news about my flagship program, the HOME Method. And, you’re going to hear from some members about their project experience as well, and how they found it to work with me during their renos or new build projects. Remember too, you can grab a full transcript of this episode, plus info about other helpful links and resources related to this topic, as a free PDF download by heading to www.undercoverarchitect.com/214. So be sure to do that so you can file that away and review this episode as needed. Now, let’s dive in! SHOW NOT

Hello! This is Episode #213, and in it, I’ll be helping you see how to review your construction drawings, and what to check as you look through them. Your construction drawings are a significant gateway to determine how you’re communicating the outcome you want on site in your renovation or new build, and the experience you want to have during that construction too.  Drawings with insufficient specifications and descriptions on them, will either mean you’ll get what the builder always does, they’ll assume a bunch of decisions on your behalf to keep construction going, or you’ll be receiving phonecalls every day. Inaccurate drawings, or poorly coordinated drawings, will mean confusion, mistakes and potentially extra spend on your behalf, as it becomes very difficult to establish what was in the contract and what wasn’t. So, to do a thorough review and know what to check prior to seeking your final price from your builder and getting the contract signed, will help you av