BUILDERS are following in the footsteps of customers demands for environmentally and economically sustainable homes according to Mick Fabar of Orange, who met with 15 of his franchisees on Thursday.
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Mr Fabar met with his Green Homes Australia franchisees at Duntryleague for the company’s first two-day national conference.
Mr Fabar started Green Homes Australia in Orange in 2006 to meet the needs of customers in the central west who were seeking homes that were easy to keep cool during hot summers but were also comfortable during sub-zero temperatures in winter.
Since then, he has been amazed with the increased call for sustainable homes.
As a result his company, while still based in Orange, has grown to include more than 20 franchisees from Queensland, NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia.
Mr Fabar said the movement was still growing, with three more builders at Wollongong, Tamworth and Camden set to launch in January next year and there were also discussions under way with Western Australian builders interested in going green.
“We’ve got a couple of hundred houses in construction at the moment and few hundred in the design phase,” Mr Fabar said.
He said customers were looking for low-maintenance homes that relied less on artificial heating and cooling, without resorting to expensive ad-ons.
Mr Fabar said although solar panels and inside insulation were two ways of making homes more sustainable, there were many other ways to achieve efficiency.
“The problem in the building industry is the principles are not understood,” he said.
“The big thing for us is that to build a sustainable home does not cost any more money if you are with the right builder.”
More than 200 houses have been built to date.
tanya.marschke@fairfaxmedia.com.au
