{"podcast":{"title":"Mindful Builder","slug":"mindful-builder-6841919","podcast_index_feed_id":6841919,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/mindful-builder/","website_url":"https://mindful-builder.captivate.fm","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/00f468ee-32ce-4128-8bd8-e9350c2985bb/XizDXVIMb3hN1TASz3PU94Sv.jpg","author":"Matthew Carland and Hamish White","episode_count":141,"summary":"Join Matt from Carland Constructions and Hamish from Sanctum Homes in a podcast discussing sustainable building practices and passive house concepts. They also talk to experts from all avenues of the building industry to share their knowledge and insights on what the industry looks like today. Further to this, Matt and Hamish are building a platform through the podcast to discuss mental health issues that arise in the building industry. The industry can be quite negative at times and there is a great deal of stigma around what it means to be a \"tradie\". Matt and Hamish are here to shine a light of positivity on the industry and share relatable topics that will help you in your own building or construction business.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-28T04:19:14.694440+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/mindful-builder-6841919"},"episode":{"title":"The Hidden Danger in Every Old House","slug":"the-hidden-danger-in-every-old-house","published_at":"2026-07-05T17:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/mindful-builder-6841919/the-hidden-danger-in-every-old-house","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/mindful-builder-6841919","url":"https://mindful-builder.captivate.fm","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/3d91a58f-885c-4953-8f56-e55859c751ad.mp3","summary":"“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 Passive House Association Retrofit Committee. We take a look into why retrofitting the existing 9.5 million homes in Australia is the single biggest business opportunity for trades over the next decade. Linden walks us through the differences between a cosmetic renovation and a high-performance retrofit, detailing how his team utilises the PHPP (Passive House Planning Package) to model data and manage moisture, insulation, and ventilation risks case-by-case. We don't hold back on the real pain points of the industry either. We talk about the skyrocketing costs of business insurance, why Australian labour rates are fundamentally shifting project costs, and how to structure building contracts using provisional sums for airtightness so builders aren't crushed by unexpected site variations. Linden also breaks down his frustrations with legacy bank valuations that prioritise bloated 300-square-meter floor plans over highly efficient, smaller family homes. Finally, we hit the political wall: how heritage advisors and council planners are actively preventing energy efficiency upgrades, and the clever, practical drawing tricks CHAPTER MARKERS 00:00 – Introduction 02:08 – The Passive House Association Retrofit Committee & Playbook 04:12 – Finding the Ideal Market: How Long Does the Shift Take? 05:45 – Passive House as a Design-Agnostic Calculation Tool 07:11 – Can a House Be Great…","meta_description":"“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 ma…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4337,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/mindful-builder-6841919/episodes/the-hidden-danger-in-every-old-house/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/mindful-builder-6841919/the-hidden-danger-in-every-old-house.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}