The Retrofit Playbook: Cooee in Sanctuary Magazine Issue 75
Sanctuary Magazine Issue 75 features a piece on retrofitting drawn from a presentation I gave at a Sustainable Builders Alliance workshop in Melbourne earlier this year. It sits alongside contributions from Simon Clark (Sustainable Homes Melbourne) and Dylan Farquhar (Alwyn Projects), and includes a case study from my own first home in Palmerston, ACT.
The core argument is one I come back to constantly: retrofits don't offer perfect solutions. They offer choices. The biggest mistake people make is either doing nothing because they can't afford to do everything, or doing things in the wrong order and being disappointed with the results.
The order of works I outline in the article, and that underpins the Cooee Retrofit Method, is:
Home operation and shading
Draughtproofing
Ventilation and exhausts
Appliances and electrification
Insulation
Windows and larger upgrades
The case study is our own 1990s brick veneer house in Palmerston: a $9,000 retrofit that took the home from 2.9 to 5.7 NatHERS stars, cut heating and cooling energy by around 60%, and paid for itself in under five years. It's a good demonstration that meaningful improvement doesn't require a large budget or a full renovation.
If you want to go deeper on these ideas, the Cooee Retrofit Method is our practical self-guided resource for homeowners working on budgets from $500 to $250,000. Find out more here.
Looking for more?
See our full Retrofit Method, including two instructive home tours, here.