- 3 months ago
Grand Designs Australia S12E01
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00:00Where do you turn when sky-high property prices have locked you out of buying a house? Do you
00:17give up on the dream of having a home of your own? Or do you dare to throw convention out the window
00:23and bravely try something out of the ordinary, financially and architecturally? Of course,
00:29being a pioneer is an exciting adventure, but the road to the promised land is fraught with danger.
00:35That's if you get there at all.
00:59If music be the food of love, then Matt Ellis and Kate Tucker have been feeding their relationship
01:14the right stuff ever since they met in a Melbourne pub 15 years ago.
01:19I was playing a gig and I saw these two guys dancing, like literally idiots, like maniacs,
01:27and my cellist, Rachel, was like, oh, I wonder what he's like if that's the way he dances.
01:36And I was like, oh, I don't know, let's go talk to him and find out.
01:40We met through musical connection, is what Kate's saying.
01:45They moved in together, got married, had two children, Llewellyn and Imogen, and alongside
01:51their day jobs, Kate's an urban planner and Matt's a software engineer, started a band.
01:58Gigs in Kate's home state of Tasmania followed, and during trips to the Apple Isle to perform,
02:09plans for a tree change took root.
02:13We'd always come down to the Signet Folk Festival, and every time we came we were like, this is
02:19where we want to end up.
02:20Yeah, we always imagined running away to the country somewhere.
02:23Signet is a, yeah, just a beautiful, vibrant community, there's just a really fantastic
02:29sort of set of people doing interesting things.
02:32Chilled out Signet is only 40 minutes from Hobart, not a world away from bustling Melbourne,
02:39where sky-high property prices stopped Matt and Kate getting a foot or even a toe on the
02:45ladder.
02:46We really hated our experience of trying to own.
02:52Everywhere we tried to buy, it was investors that were outbidding us, so we couldn't afford
02:58to live where we wanted to live, where our community was, where all our friends were.
03:02And that was really disappointing and disheartening, so we decided we need some certainty and we need
03:08some stability, but we want to have the space and also the lifestyle that I grew up with in
03:16the city.
03:17Has he?
03:19And space they found.
03:2116,000 square metres of it, on the edge of Signet for $330,000.
03:27And to make things cheaper, they went 50-50 with their bandmate Chris, who just happens
03:33to be Matt's dad.
03:35So, we're planning to build two family houses, one for Dad, one for us.
03:52And these houses are Earthship-inspired houses.
03:55When someone says Earthships, I think of these charmingly offbeat, off-the-wall, off-grid,
04:06energy-efficient homes made of natural and upcycled materials, like car tyres and bottles.
04:13They sprung up in America's New Mexico desert in the 1970s as a response to the energy crisis,
04:20and kind of looked like they grew organically on site.
04:24Now, Kate and Matt want to build their own version in Tasmania.
04:28Our vision in building this really is to have something beautiful and family-friendly
04:34and comfortable, while minimising the amount of materials going into it that, you know,
04:39are costly for the environment, but also, you know, reduce the reliance on fossil fuels
04:45to create something unique and something long-lasting for our children and our family.
04:51That's a fantastically fascinating concept, but why have you come to it?
04:58I mean, why an Earthship?
05:00Is it cheaper than a normal house?
05:02The short answer is no, it's not really cheaper, no.
05:05Generally, the benchmark is about the same as a typical custom-built house,
05:11but the idea is that the quality is much better in terms of the energy efficiency,
05:17the sustainability of that product.
05:20The cost to live in it are going to be significantly less,
05:23because we're relying on the sun and we'll even harvest rainwater,
05:28so we won't have to pay for water supply either.
05:30There are lots of ways that one could be sustainable.
05:33Why Earthship over any of the other options?
05:37We really appreciated the fact that this style of building came about organically
05:41through using whatever you could, being resourceful, recycling things, upcycling.
05:47It makes you have your fingerprint on the building itself.
05:51I think of tyres, I think of tin cans, curved and adobe sort of edged geometries
05:58and that sort of very funky 60s, 70s kind of recycled look, or is it something different?
06:04We've gone for more square, rectangle.
06:09Yeah.
06:10We wanted to see if it was possible to take all of the beautiful aspects of those buildings
06:15and the energy and architectural features and, yeah, just modernise them a little bit.
06:21Forgoing the unique hallmarks of those pioneering Earthships is a gamble.
06:27But Matt and Kate's contemporary experiment will lean heavily on tried and tested Earthship mechanics
06:33to make it a self-sufficient green machine.
06:36Buried in the foundations will be a system of Earth tubes.
06:40These pipes draw air into the house through soil that's a consistent temperature,
06:45which means the Earthship won't be too hot or too cold, but just right.
06:50Monolithic rammed Earth walls made from local soil will become thermal batteries,
06:55which store heat from the sun and keep the Earthship warm during those bitter Tassie winters.
07:01The floor plan is modest, with two bedrooms and a multipurpose kitchen, dining and living area.
07:07What makes these spaces unique is the handmade cob walls, made from local clay and straw,
07:14and recycled bottled walls, which will filter sunlight to create a kaleidoscope of colour inside the Earthship.
07:21A north-facing sunroom doubles as a greenhouse, which will be fed with recycled greywater
07:27and should produce an abundance of fruit and vegetables.
07:31A large solar system and two 15,000-litre rainwater tanks bolster the building's self-sufficiency further
07:39and keep energy bills right down.
07:42This is not the freeform style seen in the American desert.
07:45Rather, a sleek, modern home fused with traditional Earthship principles.
07:51But it's hugely ambitious for novice owner builder Matt,
07:54who wants to build this and an identical one next door for his dad in a meagre 15 months.
08:02Do you have building experience?
08:04No, no building experience.
08:06OK, so first time for you both?
08:07Yeah.
08:08Does that make you nervous, though?
08:09I mean, it's a pretty involved scale of bill you're talking about here.
08:12Yeah, I'm pretty nervous.
08:14What could possibly go wrong?
08:16How much are you intending to spend?
08:18$600,000 each.
08:20That's the current estimate and budget.
08:23So we've got, yeah, about $1.2 million combined.
08:26You've got day jobs, right?
08:27Yeah, we both work full-time.
08:29So...
08:30So it's 15 months of weekends.
08:32Or 15 months of getting up at 5am.
08:36And to up the stakes to astronomical levels,
08:40Matt and Kate don't plan to stop at two Earthships.
08:43If they nail those, they'll invite people to buy a plot at cost
08:47and forego making a profit on the land
08:50to create a co-owned Earthship community.
08:54The people who move here and build here
08:56will want to be here for the long term
08:59and create that community.
09:00People collaborating on building, gardening,
09:03just, you know, hanging out together.
09:05And hopefully it'll be a model that others can say,
09:08ah, OK, you can fit within the rules
09:10and do something different and do something collaborative
09:13and you don't need a developer involved
09:16to do it all for you and take all the margins.
09:24I just hope they're not underestimating
09:26how much risk is involved,
09:28because I'm seeing lots.
09:30So watch this space,
09:32because there's ambitious endeavour
09:35and then there's insanity.
09:37And at this stage, I'm not sure which it's going to be.
09:40Matt and Kate's dream to build an Earthship village down the track
09:51could remain just that,
09:53unless they can successfully build Earthships one and two,
09:57on time and on budget,
10:00and show that they work.
10:03And that's all on Matt.
10:05Matt's going this way.
10:06We'll be learning as we go,
10:08and I think that's where the real pressure will show up,
10:10is in, you know, actually getting it right.
10:13There's quite a bit, I suppose, resting on my shoulders.
10:16As owner builder,
10:18Matt is going to manage a team of trades
10:20over the next 15 months
10:22and help on site as much as he can.
10:24He's living around the corner
10:26in a rental property with Kate, the kids,
10:28and his dad, Chris.
10:30So, in theory, he should be able to keep a close eye on things,
10:34although there's no shortage of potential distractions.
10:37Matt has a lot on his plate to do this,
10:41working a full-time job, raising a family.
10:44I've been there, done that, and I'm glad that I'm not anymore.
10:48You just have to juggle all those things,
10:50and it's part of building your character
10:52and part of realising your dreams.
10:57Or this could be the stuff of nightmares.
11:01Well, double the earthships,
11:03double the devilish detail.
11:06It's a bit of a surprise
11:08that I'd have to be down in the engineering specifications.
11:11I'd sort of assume that, you know,
11:13our builder and our concreter and other trades
11:15would really run with that stuff.
11:17It's been a mild panic, I would say,
11:20to understand whether I can learn this stuff.
11:28As a software engineer,
11:30Matt's used to computer programs, not building plans.
11:34So it's no surprise
11:35that it takes two long months of head-scratching
11:38for this keen but very green owner-builder
11:41to get his site ready for the concrete cavalry.
11:44I'm feeling exhausted about the slab press.
11:46It's just been a huge, huge effort.
11:49Lots of little details to check,
11:51and I think we're as ready as we can be.
11:53We've got a big team doing the concreting.
11:57About 35, 40 cubic metres of concrete to pour.
12:01To me, concrete and earthships make for strange bedfellows.
12:06That's because Matt's using a material
12:08with a large carbon footprint to build what's meant to be an eco-house.
12:13Concrete's not necessarily the most environmentally friendly material to choose for an earthship.
12:18And for us, it comes down to a practical and a pragmatic choice.
12:23Earthship floors traditionally would be earth.
12:27The problem with earth floors is they're not insulated.
12:30So particularly in a colder climate like Tasmania,
12:33it's very hard to keep that thermal mass in the ground.
12:36So what the recommended approach is in cooler climate earthships
12:40is you go with a slab and you insulate it.
12:42So they store a lot of heat from the sun over the night.
12:45That will help regulate the heat inside the house.
12:47So we need to sort of invest in an environmental cost up front
12:52to have the best energy efficiency and environmental performance over time.
13:00Once the concrete is done here,
13:02they'll rinse and repeat next door on Matt's dad's place,
13:06which is also scheduled to finish a year from now.
13:09And with such a dangerously ambitious deadline
13:12for not one but two earthships...
13:17..it's all hands on deck.
13:25For weeks they've been building these retaining walls
13:28from Gabion baskets and local rocks.
13:31The work is tediously backbreaking.
13:34But this DIY approach is kinder on Matt and Kate's budget.
13:38Llewellyn and Imogen have decided they want to help build the wall
13:41and it's one of the things they actually can really help with.
13:45Matt and Kate might be building a modernised earthship,
13:59but it's encouraging to see some old-fashioned earthship tech
14:03buried in these retaining walls.
14:05I'm talking about these unassuming pipes,
14:08which they hope will heat and cool their house for free.
14:13What they're doing is using a very simple PVC tube like this
14:17to create an air conditioning system
14:19which effectively uses no energy at all
14:22and makes the constant temperature of the ground
14:24the heating and cooling element.
14:26The way it works, you take a piece of PVC like this,
14:29a bit bigger, and you put this together like this
14:33and you bury it in the ground.
14:34You've got to be about three feet, about a metre at least,
14:38below ground to get the actual benefit of all this.
14:41Then you can just cover it up.
14:42I'm going to do another one right here, like this.
14:45There we go.
14:47What happens is that air comes in through these earth tubes.
14:50And when it comes into the earth here,
14:52that's where it exchanges its heat with the earth,
14:54which is constant,
14:55and then pushes a lovely consistent temperature
14:58up into the house through the tubes here.
15:00Actually, they used to have underfloor heating in Rome
15:03using very similar kinds of ideas.
15:05I love the way that Kate and Matt are bringing this ancient technology back.
15:08It's not experimental.
15:09It's tried and tested.
15:11And it does make you think,
15:13maybe we've been doing air conditioning wrong all along.
15:24It's nearly summer in Signet,
15:26and record-breaking rainfall,
15:28the highest in more than 20 years,
15:31has made a mess of Matt's site and schedule.
15:34We've just had so much rain on and off for weeks and months,
15:38it feels like,
15:39so, yeah, probably a good month or two's delay, I reckon.
15:42We've had two cancelled slab pours so far on Dad's lot.
15:47Yeah, we really had hoped to have started the rammed earth by now,
15:51but here we are, clearing drains instead.
15:54We really feel like we're, yeah, sort of stuck in the mud.
15:58And you've got to walk like this.
16:00You've got to do a duck walk.
16:02You're going to have problems
16:04when you're trying to build into the side of a hill
16:06and you get this much rain.
16:08The bottom line is
16:09we really need to get this rammed earth wall started.
16:12Matt's urgency is understandable.
16:15Alarmingly, they could run out of money
16:17to pay for materials and tradies
16:19if he doesn't get the rammed earth walls up ASAP.
16:23What we didn't realise was that we had to fund all works
16:27as we go through working capital,
16:29and we only get, you know, instalments released from our loan
16:32on valuation of completed works
16:35to free up funds for the next bits of work.
16:39We've got to really watch the cash flow.
16:43Getting the rammed earth walls built will work like an ATM
16:55and spit out much-needed cash to keep things going.
16:59So, when that incessant rain makes way for clear skies,
17:04Matt doesn't waste the break in the weather.
17:07It's been about six months of rain, hail and shine
17:10and everything in between.
17:12It's just the biggest relief possible, I think,
17:14to make it this far
17:16and to have the guys start to build our walls.
17:20For one house, the rammed earth walls
17:22should take about seven weeks to build.
17:25You know, it is a labour-intensive process.
17:28Rammed earth like this wasn't used
17:30in the earthships built in America in the 1970s.
17:33The structural walls in those pioneering homes
17:36were made from soil-filled car tyres.
17:39But Matt is doing things his way,
17:42which is brave for an earthship newbie.
17:45We wanted to go with rammed earth
17:48because we think that it's a potentially more attractive
17:50and practical approach to building an earthship.
17:53So, you've got the same properties of thermal mass
17:55and, you know, earth-building techniques,
17:57and it's a structural wall as well.
17:59Not sure if there's other earthship-inspired dwellings
18:02that have done this, but, yeah,
18:04we're pretty keen to see how it works
18:06and, you know, have that as an example for others
18:08that might be interested in this type of building.
18:10That's pretty much flat.
18:12I think Matt and Kate could be onto something
18:14with their rammed earth experiment.
18:16It's very easy to fall for its charms.
18:18And at the Art Gallery of New South Wales' new building,
18:26Nala Badu, the architects fell hard.
18:29There is rammed earth everywhere,
18:33and for good reason.
18:35Look at these colours.
18:44They are absolutely extraordinary.
18:47The whole thing is so beautiful.
18:48Pinks, light browns, beiges,
18:50and all this layering of the construction
18:53sort of just brings the whole wall to life.
18:56It feels actually silky smooth to touch.
18:59You'd think it would be rough, but it's actually sensuous.
19:01It's really the sort of thing you want to put your hand on.
19:03Of course, one of the benefits of using rammed earth
19:06is it has an incredibly low carbon footprint.
19:09Effectively, it's made just from dirt,
19:11and those materials are locally sourced
19:13and require almost no processing.
19:16Then there's the thermal mass of the wall,
19:18and what that does
19:19is it regulates the temperature inside the building,
19:22keeping it cool in summer
19:24and re-radiating the heat in winter.
19:26And, of course, it's just made from earth,
19:28which means it's fantastic for use in bushfire-prone zones.
19:32On top of that, these walls are coated
19:35with a water-repellent sealant.
19:37They could last almost indefinitely.
19:40I think it embodies everything that Matt and Kate
19:42are trying to achieve.
19:44It's their perfect material.
19:46It's daring. It's different.
19:48It's packed full of eco-credentials.
19:50It's an old technique updated for the 21st century.
19:54And I love it.
19:56But is the first section of wall in Signet a hit with Matt and Kate?
20:04You ready for the big reveal?
20:06Yeah.
20:07Wow.
20:08Looks like chocolate.
20:10That's sort of the newer section of wall.
20:13I love it.
20:15Did we nail it?
20:16Yeah.
20:17Wow.
20:18Wow.
20:19Oh, it's so beautiful.
20:20Like, it feels like it's taken ages,
20:22but we've really finally got, like, the start of a house.
20:2712 weeks later, a month more than planned,
20:40all the rammed earth walls on Kate and Matt's earthship are finished.
20:46They're now three months behind schedule,
20:49so Matt has enlisted local carpenter Zach
20:52to help him pick up the pace and make up time.
20:55Probably giving the rammed earth a little curve to shed the water.
20:58Yep.
20:59Which is a good thing.
21:00Zach will be on-site leading all of the timber
21:03and roof framing in the build.
21:05There's a lot of complexity in the window frames,
21:07which are started on today.
21:09There's also the roof structures, which are quite involved,
21:12and then a lot of custom sort of joinery elements
21:14in the building as well.
21:15So Zach will be leading all of that.
21:19Zach's highly experienced,
21:20so he's more than just a good man to have on board.
21:23He's pivotal to getting the project finished,
21:26but even he's nervous.
21:28He's never built an earthship before.
21:30The earthship design is something new to us.
21:33Just the scale of it.
21:35It's the length and the height and the weight of the materials.
21:40All right, put it down.
21:41It's pretty massive.
21:43So there's just a massive amount of work in this building.
21:48As Matt and Kate's home slowly takes shape,
21:51its straight lines and sharp angles are beginning to show.
21:56I think it will certainly upset loyalists
22:01who love the traditional, free-flowing look of earthships,
22:05like this one in the Adelaide Hills.
22:09This tiny, one-bedroom home took seven years to build
22:13and was the first earthship in Australia
22:15to get planning and building approval.
22:17Very much.
22:18This is a bit more Mediterranean than I was imagining.
22:20Yeah, yeah.
22:21A lot of people say that.
22:22It was a labour of love for earthship expert,
22:25Dr Martin Freeney.
22:27But given how this place looks,
22:29it's perhaps surprising that Martin is the architect
22:32behind Matt and Kate's modern creation.
22:35They can actually be made to look quite contemporary and beautiful,
22:39and that's what we're trying to do with Matt and Kate's project,
22:43bringing the aesthetics to a point where they're more acceptable,
22:46but also complying with Australian building codes and standards
22:50and challenges like bushfires that are very particular to Australia.
22:54I feel like Matt and Kate's project will sort of show a new direction
22:59with the aesthetics of earthships.
23:00We've had a 40, 50-year period of getting all the fundamentals right,
23:04and now we're kind of moving into the next evolution of the earthship.
23:08A bit brisk out here. Can we get inside where it's warm?
23:10Great idea.
23:11But no earthship, old or new,
23:13would be complete without some crucial components
23:16that make them self-sufficient, energy-efficient and sustainable,
23:20like the interior greenhouse that uses heat from the sun
23:24and recycled grey water to grow an abundance of food all year round.
23:29This is extraordinary.
23:31It feels, what, 10 degrees warmer?
23:33There's no heating system?
23:35Correct.
23:36And we've got palms growing in your entry foyer.
23:39Yeah, yeah, we're actually in a little sub-tropical climate
23:42and a couple of months ago I got a huge bunch of bananas
23:45that were absolutely delicious,
23:47all irrigated by the grey water coming from the shower.
23:50I mean, pinch myself remind me that we're standing in the Adelaide Hills,
23:53not in North Queensland.
23:54But what's the biggest thing holding us back from doing more of these builds,
23:59do you think, in Australia?
24:00I think it's people just not giving it a go,
24:04not imagining that it's possible.
24:06A lot of people told me you'd never get approval for an Earth ship.
24:10And I kind of believed them.
24:13And then I got sort of into it a bit and I was like,
24:16hmm, I should really get approval for this.
24:18And lo and behold, you know, it all actually was pretty easy.
24:22People have to want it, yeah?
24:23And so this is hopefully what Matt and Kate can prove.
24:32Back in Tasmania,
24:34Matt is overseeing the all-important waterproofing of his Earthship.
24:38Given the local weather, he's going heavy duty.
24:43Wow, look at that.
24:45That black goop all over our beautiful rammed Earth.
24:48This goop is basically bitumen,
24:53which is a by-product of crude oil.
24:56To me, this is an odd choice for eco-minded Matt,
24:59who's no fan of fossil fuels.
25:01But he's happily spraying it all over the back wall of his Earthship.
25:09Better than having water in the house.
25:11That does a really, really good job
25:13of filling all of the gaps in the wall,
25:15all of the little works and contours and things,
25:18and makes for a really efficient application,
25:21but also a really high-performing waterproofing product.
25:26Most rammed Earth walls built in Australia
25:28don't need additional waterproofing.
25:31But Matt's do,
25:32because it can bucket down Insignet
25:34and his Earthship will get a soaking.
25:37If these walls aren't sealed properly,
25:39long-term exposure to moisture could cause mould,
25:42mildew and the rammed Earth to weaken.
25:45Looks like it's going on well.
25:47It's sticking to the wall really nicely.
25:49This is really a really critical step of the process
25:52to get this waterproofing done.
25:54And these walls can't afford to have any water getting in.
25:57When the walls are dry,
25:59this trench will be backfilled with 200 tonnes of soil.
26:03That means any problems with the waterproof membrane
26:06will be impossible to fix.
26:08So, all Matt can do is spray and pray
26:11that his goop does the job.
26:23With winter creeping in and days shortening,
26:25they're ten months in,
26:27and the odds are stacked against them
26:28getting the Earthship finished within 15 months.
26:31Let's go.
26:32Here we go.
26:33Ready?
26:34Yeah.
26:35But they're giving it a red-hot go,
26:36making the most out of every second on sight.
26:40How is it, Zach?
26:41I'm on.
26:42We've got six trusses to go up.
26:44They're pretty bloody heavy.
26:46Get to make sure these round earth walls don't take a truss.
26:49Whoop!
26:50Whoop!
26:51Whoop!
26:52You're going to need to bring yours right around, Matt.
26:54Yep.
26:55Weighing 150 kilograms each,
26:57they could do plenty of damage in the blink of an eye.
27:00Can you see how high the trade is through the roof?
27:05A team of local tradespeople led by carpenter Zach
27:08is working quickly but methodically
27:10to get the trusses up without any catastrophic collisions.
27:14Watch that corner.
27:15Sorry, come back a bit.
27:17Sorry, come back a bit.
27:18By the day's end, all but one of the trusses are in position.
27:22We'll live with that.
27:24But the never-ending list of things to do over the coming weeks and months
27:28is weighing on Matt and Zach.
27:30It's a big project you've taken on, Matt.
27:32It's bigger than I thought.
27:36Gives me cold sweats.
27:38Yep.
27:39What started as an intrepid crusade
27:42to establish an earthship paradise in Signet
27:45has become an all-consuming slog.
27:48And as the build grinds slowly on,
27:50there's zero chance of Matt and Kate stepping away or switching off.
27:55This is the normal nightly routine.
27:57We get the kids home.
27:59We try to have a little play.
28:02We'll have dinner.
28:04Then we'll go back to work after bedtime.
28:08It's exhausting.
28:09Really long days.
28:10And we finally get a chance to relax.
28:13Maybe, like, 9.30pm at night,
28:16we might turn on the TV to watch something
28:20and then fall asleep after five minutes.
28:22This was always going to be a gruelling test
28:26of their commitment to an alternative way of life.
28:29Their passion to create homes with family, community
28:33and the environment at their heart is inspiring.
28:39But good intentions can't shield the inexperienced
28:42from the curveballs that building your own home can throw at you.
28:47We've got problems with the coverage of the membrane.
28:51This is where the water's coming through.
28:55You can see that bubbling there.
28:57Not what we want.
28:59There's holes under here that are pretty hard to detect.
29:03That means that the waterproof membrane
29:06is not going to keep the water out of the wall,
29:09which is what we need.
29:10And if it was a few dozen holes, you know, we could patch those up.
29:14But you're talking hundreds of holes in the wall.
29:19It just shakes our confidence a bit
29:21in probably the design and the overall concept.
29:24Yeah, it's just a lot of kind of uncertainty.
29:27That's pretty stressful.
29:28With Matt all at sea, you'd forgive him for drowning his sorrows.
29:43But he's seeking solace in song, not schooners.
29:47I'm singing in a local sea shanty group called the Stranded Whalers here in Signet.
30:08We sort of get together every month or two and just sing old songs of the sea
30:17and, you know, almost have some kind of a men's circle to be a safe space to come together.
30:23I guess the pressure of the build is just grinding and I need ways to unwind
30:33and be in a supportive, relaxed environment.
30:36Whether or not I talk about the build or family,
30:39it's just that I can talk about those things if I want
30:42and it's, you know, no one's judging me.
30:44Everyone's got their own things going on.
30:46And seeing the sea shanties in a big group is just a way to completely
30:50put all that aside for a minute and be part of a local group,
30:53a local community and keep that connection to where we are,
30:56not just so focused on the outcome of the build that we have.
30:59Be high! Be high!
31:07Cheers!
31:09It's now one year since Project Earthship set sail,
31:23with dreams of a 15-month voyage to its destination, a finished home.
31:28But all hope of that is sunk, despite the efforts of Zach the Carpenter.
31:34I'm pushing, I'm pushing.
31:39We haven't had to build something like this before,
31:44so it's taken us a fair bit of time to work it all out.
31:49Am I allowed to complain about architects at this point?
31:52Matt and the architect worked out this design,
31:57maybe without understanding how tricky it is and how slow it is.
32:02It's maybe time that Matt didn't expect it would take,
32:06but we're working our way through it
32:09and providing I stay healthy and get rid of this flu
32:15that sort of kept me out of action for nearly three weeks,
32:19we'll get through this.
32:22It really knocked me about.
32:31I had a week in bed, another week,
32:34trying to stay at home, trying to recover.
32:36It just seems a bit hard to get over.
32:41Yeah, I mean, there's only so much we can do if I'm not here.
32:45But in the weeks that follow, Zach's condition deteriorates.
33:01Poor old Zach is actually quite unwell
33:04and, yeah, he hasn't gotten better and he's in hospital.
33:09We don't know when he'll be back.
33:12Could be a month or two or it could be indefinite.
33:17You know, he's done an amazing job setting us up really well,
33:20but big boots to fill without Zach here, that's for sure.
33:24The upshot is I'm sort of back being hands-on
33:27in the plans side of things,
33:29the detail of what we're building
33:30and the project management has been much more intensive.
33:34So that's pretty tough timelines out the window.
33:38We should be building Dad's wall frames and roof frames by now.
33:43And because everything's taking longer, it's all costing more too.
33:46So that's a major issue really for us.
33:49Yeah, I call it the three horsemen of the apocalypse at the moment.
33:54And if work is slow on Matt's place,
33:57spare a thought for Dad Chris.
34:00Earthship number two is barely progressing at all.
34:06There hasn't been much work done on mine.
34:10We're still waiting on to complete roofing
34:13and window framing and all that stuff.
34:16Yeah, there have been some very sort of tense periods
34:19and dark moments,
34:21wondering how we're going to solve this problem,
34:23how we're going to progress to the next.
34:25But, yeah, you know, Matt's...
34:27He's stoic, if nothing else.
34:33Stoic, no doubt, and committed.
34:36But right now, he's feeling well out of his depth.
34:40The thing I'm finding most challenging, really,
34:42is just having the confidence
34:44that we're going to actually land, like, on our feet
34:47and finish this project.
34:49We might need another 100 grand.
34:51I'm not...not even sure.
34:53Part of the issue is,
34:54I haven't even got my head around that yet.
34:57To save money,
34:58Kate and Matt must attempt some major jobs
35:01on the Earthship themselves,
35:02with only a skeleton crew for support.
35:05First up, re-waterproofing the rammed Earth wall,
35:08which was leaking.
35:10I've got no idea what I'm doing with this one, really.
35:15It's just like, you know,
35:17it's one of the things that's been, you know,
35:19effectively left to us as own abilities to put together.
35:21So, yeah.
35:23Fingers crossed.
35:30He's wigging it with his own solution.
35:32A holy trinity of polystyrene boards,
35:35rubber sheeting and wishful thinking.
35:39This bit's the bit that's almost impossible to fix
35:43if you get it wrong.
35:45Once you put the backfill over the top,
35:48it's almost impossible to fix it
35:50unless you dig all the gravel out,
35:52which you don't want to have to do.
35:54It's stressful.
35:58Building a home is stressful.
36:02And not just for Matt and Kate.
36:09There's a growing reason why we're all losing sleep
36:12over the great Australian dream.
36:21I'm here at the National Gallery of Victoria
36:23to visit their annual architectural commission.
36:25This year it's by Breathe Architecture and Design,
36:27and it's called Home Truth.
36:29And this whole big sort of sculpture around us,
36:32it's actually a big question for us all in Australia here.
36:35And that question is,
36:36are our houses too big?
36:39All the research, all the data would suggest
36:41actually, yes, they are.
36:43We have the biggest, on average, new builds in the world.
36:46We are bigger than the Americans,
36:47we're twice as big as the French,
36:49three times bigger than the average British or Spanish home,
36:53and five times bigger than a home built in Hong Kong.
36:57So you might be thinking,
36:58well, hey, what's wrong with a big house?
37:00Isn't that a good idea?
37:01Isn't that something we really all aspire to?
37:03But think about it.
37:04A big house means longer to build,
37:07more expensive to build,
37:08more expensive to maintain,
37:10harder to heat and cool,
37:12less comfortable all year round because of that reason.
37:15It's less sustainable because of all of that.
37:18And on top of that,
37:19we're kind of pulling ourselves apart in these giant houses
37:22where we're not communicating with each other in a social way,
37:24which is really important for our mental health and wellbeing.
37:28And this is where Matt and Kate come in.
37:30With their Earthship down in Signet,
37:32the house is a little smaller than normal,
37:34and most of the materials, maybe not all but most, are recyclable.
37:38So they're really going hard to try and find maybe a solution
37:41to what is the next version of the Australian home.
37:45It's spring in Signet.
37:54But even though Kate and Matt have managed to get their Earthship to lock up,
37:58it's far from finished.
38:00We're months behind at the moment
38:02and not too sure how we're going to catch that up.
38:04And we only have so much time on our rental,
38:06pretty much till the end of summer or around January.
38:09So if we're not done by then, we're looking for somewhere to live.
38:13And, look, it's not a great prospect to face.
38:18The pressure to get their Earthship at least habitable
38:21before their lease runs out is rising with each passing day.
38:26So they're relying on the kindness of strangers to get a roof over their heads.
38:41I love that.
38:42Oh, look at that.
38:43Beautiful wall.
38:46Oi!
38:47That was the wind!
38:51Right up!
38:53Volunteers who want to learn how to build Earthships
38:56have descended on Signet for a seven-day workshop.
39:06In exchange for hard yakka, they're fed and watered.
39:11Essentially have a self-sufficient...
39:12..taught how to build...
39:13..doesn't need the grid...
39:17..and how to bend.
39:18Everyone feel stretched, energised.
39:22All right, let's go build.
39:26How you going?
39:27Hi, Anthony.
39:28There's so much going on here today.
39:29This is our natural building factory, if you like.
39:32We're actually building, you know, our walls inside
39:35with natural materials.
39:36And we've got our, you know, bottle station over there, bottle bricks.
39:39We've got the materials for cob,
39:41which is the sort of the muddy stuff we're putting in the walls.
39:44What you're actually doing is you're saying,
39:46yeah, come and experiment and learn on our house.
39:49Yes.
39:50There's a bit of a risk there, isn't there?
39:51Yeah, it's, it's, uh, it is, it makes me nervous.
39:54We've got finished surfaces
39:55and we've got people working around them
39:56and tracking your mud and rocks and, um, yeah.
39:59But it's gonna be okay.
40:00It's gonna be okay.
40:01It's gonna be okay.
40:02It's gonna be fine.
40:03Interestingly, they're all smiling.
40:04Well, that's kind of the vibe you get
40:05from a earth building workshop.
40:07Everybody's here to learn
40:08and everybody's here to enjoy the process.
40:11When you get your hands and your feet dirty,
40:13I mean, it's like becoming a child again.
40:16Like, you're playing in the mud and the dirt
40:18and you've got a permission to do that.
40:22That's Kate's way of telling me to make myself useful.
40:25Get in, get stuck in, get dirty, get muddy.
40:28Earth building expert Earl is teaching me
40:31how to make cob walls,
40:33which are an integral feature of earthships.
40:35And firstly, we've got clay.
40:37We're then mixing it with straw.
40:39This straw gives it a bit of tensile strength
40:41and stops it from breaking apart.
40:43Okay.
40:44So we try and get local sand as well.
40:45Yeah.
40:46And those are our three ingredients.
40:47Mix with a bit of water.
40:48Right.
40:49Makes a sticky ball.
40:50Yeah.
40:51A nice, strong, sticky ball.
40:52Alright, here we go.
40:53So, we'll get there.
40:55We're just gonna throw it down.
40:58Just like that.
40:59Okay.
41:00Now what we're gonna do is
41:01we're gonna squash our thumbs there.
41:02Right, so push it into the wall.
41:03We're connecting our ball to the rest of the wall.
41:05We've got a really dense material with cob
41:08and the beauty of that is that
41:10it's gonna absorb all the sun
41:12out of these big beautiful windows
41:13and it's gonna store it in the wall.
41:15So this is our thermal battery.
41:16So this then re-radiates the heat at night?
41:18Absolutely, yes.
41:21I'm about to put in some more bottle bricks
41:24into these bottle panels along here.
41:26It's just a little glass brick
41:28made from two matching bottles.
41:30We cut the end off each bottle,
41:32clean them,
41:33and then we carefully tape around
41:35and that's the thickness of our wall
41:36and that makes a bottle brick.
41:38And then you look out into the sky
41:42and the light and the sun
41:43and you get beautiful filtered light
41:45coming through the top of our walls.
41:47We're currently going through the last two hours of power
41:57where we try to get as much done as possible
42:00because it's just about to end
42:02and so right now the intensity is quite high
42:05because everyone's like,
42:06oh, we've only got this much time
42:07and we've got to do as much as we can.
42:09It's been an absolute chaotic, wonderful, fun, crazy, productive experience.
42:16Tomorrow we have to go back to our real world
42:19which is going to be hard.
42:22Thank you all so much for an amazing week.
42:37It's unbelievable that you would come from all around Australia
42:40and put this amazing energy into our beautiful home.
42:43Hopefully we can finish the house
42:45and we'll get you back to have a big giant party.
42:49Yay!
42:53Thank you so much.
43:02As the volunteers leave,
43:03the enormity of what's left for Matt and Kate to do hits home.
43:10We had 16 people helping us to get this far.
43:13Now it's just going to be us.
43:15And it's going to be slower.
43:17It's going to be a big job.
43:20We just have to take it step by step.
43:22We just have to do it in small manageable chunks
43:25until we get to the end.
43:27I think...
43:29Don't even know where the end is at the moment.
43:32It seems never-ending really.
43:33Like, yeah, I just...
43:35I feel like I don't know how much longer there is
43:37and there's so many things to do.
43:42Matt and Kate have been beaten into submission
43:44by this gruelling project.
43:47And don't even mention Matt's dad's place next door,
43:50which is languishing far behind.
43:53All these delays and problems
43:55make me wonder if they'll ever realise their dream
43:57of building a community of Earthships here.
44:00I fear that ship might have well and truly sailed.
44:19Matt and Kate had no way of knowing
44:22how high they'd set the bar for themselves.
44:25They'd never built anything before.
44:29Using 50-year-old concepts
44:31to create a sleek, modern Earthship,
44:33well, to them, it seemed doable.
44:37They paid for that naivety physically,
44:39mentally and financially.
44:42But I've got to know,
44:46did the house beat them?
44:51Hey, it's finished.
44:56No hobbit holes here.
44:58This looks great.
44:59Sharp, crisp, clean.
45:02I think they've done it.
45:03Guys!
45:11You have finished!
45:12Hi, Anthony.
45:13Great to see you.
45:14You've tamed the mountain, I think, here.
45:16I have never seen an Earthship look as good as this.
45:21Bravo!
45:23You must be feeling so good right now.
45:25I thought we weren't going to make it, Anthony,
45:27but, yeah, look what we did.
45:29Hand on heart,
45:30I thought maybe a little bit of a hobbit hole going on here.
45:32No.
45:33That couldn't be more different.
45:34No.
45:35This is brilliant.
45:36And these stairs are very impressive.
45:38Yeah, we thought these stairs would be a really nice seating area
45:42that people can watch a performance.
45:44Yeah, and you'll be standing where the band is
45:45and we'll be singing into the beautiful rammed Earth.
45:48View behind us?
45:49Yeah.
45:50Stage.
45:51Okay.
45:52One thing I do have to ask,
45:53how is Zach your builder?
45:55It turned out he actually had a parasite
45:58and it got really bad.
46:00He was in hospital for weeks and weeks.
46:02But he's recovered.
46:04He's really good now.
46:06Great.
46:07Well, it feels amazing right here.
46:09What does it feel like inside?
46:10Would you like to come in and have a look?
46:12You know it.
46:13Please come on in.
46:17Traditional Earthships are all handmade curves
46:20and improvised shapes.
46:23This is pure spaceship.
46:26Straight lines.
46:27Sleek geometry.
46:30Cutting edges.
46:32Light years away from those original designs.
46:38But step inside.
46:40Oh, this is spectacular.
46:42Look at this.
46:43And you're brought right back to planet Earth.
46:46This is what it is all about, really.
46:49You know, capturing all this beautiful sunshine.
46:52It looks great, but it feels so lovely just standing here.
46:56The temperature.
46:57This is our heater, this entire space.
47:00It's the most important space in the house
47:02and in an Earthship design.
47:04It's that, in particular, that thermal battery
47:06where you can bring the warmth in when it's sunny in winter.
47:10And you've got these double glazing on the outside
47:12and on the inside.
47:13Yeah.
47:14And we managed this space to be our heating
47:16and our cooling for the whole house.
47:17This is brilliant.
47:18And so, I mean, in the summer,
47:19we open up a few of the windows here
47:21and that kind of helps to ventilate things.
47:22And you've got your top lights up here.
47:24And then, of course, you're planting along here.
47:26And what have we got? Herbs and...
47:27Yes, this is our herb garden,
47:29which is adjacent to the kitchen
47:31so that it's accessible for cooking.
47:33And we've got mint next to the bar
47:36because that's...
47:37Very important.
47:38For the evening cocktails.
47:39Yeah.
47:40Yes.
47:41I can see the bottle bricks up there
47:42and the headers there above the door.
47:44That's a great little touch in those cob walls.
47:46I worked so hard on those cob walls.
47:47You did.
47:48Well done.
47:49Thank you very much.
47:50They came up a treat.
47:51That's really that Earthship style
47:52that, you know, we wanted to honour
47:53and do as much as we could.
47:54Yeah.
47:55So this is a beautiful earth wall.
47:56These bottle bricks are all recycled bottles.
47:58Lots of parties to get those generated.
48:00Especially the blue ones.
48:01And they make a beautiful, you know,
48:03DIY stained glass effect.
48:05And it's heating up
48:06and I can feel it heating up
48:07and I'm actually starting to get a perspire a little bit here.
48:10Can we get into the living room
48:11and have a look at the Ram Earth in particular?
48:13Yeah, please do.
48:14Another magic room.
48:18Look at these trusses.
48:19I mean, I know you worked super hard on getting them
48:21and they are doing this fantastic job
48:24of getting the height in here
48:25and the space you want in the main public room.
48:27And then the timber of the trusses brought through to the kitchen.
48:30Yeah.
48:31Nice.
48:32Yeah.
48:33That's Matt's baby kitchen.
48:35He designed the kitchen himself.
48:38Better for the hindsight, I wouldn't have done it.
48:40Like it was too much work.
48:41Obviously, yeah.
48:42It was another mini project on top of the project.
48:45So, yeah, it was hard.
48:46But I started, I had to finish.
48:49I think, again, standing here,
48:51the thing that impresses me the most of all
48:53is just this feeling of the room.
48:55It's hard to put into words,
48:57but the heat is a soft, everywhere, kind of gentle heat.
49:01The house feels like it's breathing, and it kind of is.
49:09Warm air is being gently drawn into the house
49:12through those earth tubes.
49:14Between that and the sunroom,
49:16right now it's 25 degrees in here,
49:19and it's all free.
49:21I mean, just to sort of say it out loud,
49:23there is no heating and cooling in here
49:26other than the earthship itself.
49:28So, no radiators, no fireplaces.
49:32We chose to not have a fireplace
49:35or a wood fire in this house,
49:39and that is unheard of in Tasmania.
49:41Everybody has a fire.
49:42But, I mean, you had a mission here
49:45to tell the world that you could do it differently,
49:47or you could do an old technique in a new way
49:50and benefit from that.
49:51I mean, I'm standing in the success of that story.
49:54Do you feel that?
49:55Yes.
49:56Yeah.
49:57We feel like we're in a really modern, lovely home.
50:00Yeah.
50:01But it is ancient technology,
50:02but it's also the earthship technology
50:04that was created.
50:05Yeah.
50:06And we've made it our own.
50:08This is amazing.
50:09Where to next?
50:10Would you like to see my favourite room in the house?
50:12Yes, I would.
50:13Well, come this way.
50:15Would you like to try a tomato on the way?
50:18Thanks for the offer.
50:19How you pick a favourite here is beyond me.
50:22Each room connects to the hallway and the view.
50:30The kids' big double bedroom.
50:35The bathrooms, all furnished in a mix of old and renewed.
50:39An apple box here, a reclaimed chair there.
50:48And then, there's this.
50:51The main bedroom, yeah?
50:52Yeah.
50:53This is very generous.
50:55This is enormous, actually.
50:57Why is this your favourite room?
50:59Well, this is a room that's full of our personality.
51:02It's got all of the things that make us, us.
51:07It's got the sleeping area, the study area,
51:10the music playing area and the reading nook.
51:14And, like, rather than create a different room for each,
51:17we wanted it to all be incorporated into one.
51:19We need our own play space as well.
51:21Yeah.
51:22The kids have one and we have our own
51:23and occasionally we'll go into each other's
51:25and we'll see, yeah, and share that play.
51:27Yeah.
51:28Yeah.
51:29This is one opportunity to see
51:30that beautiful round-earth wall, you know,
51:32behind the bed there.
51:33It's a real fixture in the room.
51:34A fixture in the house, actually.
51:35But it also reminds me,
51:36you've had some real issues with the waterproofing here
51:38and you then did your second go at that
51:41with the polystyrene.
51:43Did it work?
51:44Tell me it worked.
51:45It worked.
51:46Great.
51:47Perfect.
51:48Well, there's nothing stuffy, nothing dark,
51:49nothing damp about any of this.
51:51It's exactly the opposite of all of those things
51:54and, you know, I think it's a marvellous,
51:55marvellous feeling space above all.
51:57It's a marvellous feeling space.
51:59It feels like a warm hug.
52:02Yeah.
52:03It's very, yeah, it's so peaceful.
52:04Like a warm hug.
52:05You can have that.
52:08Come here.
52:11Perfect.
52:13It is a warm hug.
52:17Made all the warmer by having toiled so hard
52:20to drag their crazy, ambitious vision into reality.
52:25When you sort of think about this whole place,
52:28what does it mean to you right now?
52:30I think it's home.
52:33Yeah, we've made our home.
52:35Like, we've finally got our home that we wanted.
52:38Yeah.
52:39That's a big deal.
52:40Home and community, I think.
52:43Like, the community started at the start of this build
52:46and it was the end point, but it's how we stood it up,
52:49you know, with all the people that have been involved
52:51and what we're working towards.
52:53That's...
52:54This is the first step.
52:55So is the future plan still to build more homes?
52:58Yeah.
52:59Yeah.
53:00Definitely.
53:01We've got approval for three more.
53:02Are you sure?
53:03Well, we might not actually build them ourselves.
53:06Right.
53:07But we have approval for three more houses down the hill.
53:10I can see your dad's place isn't finished.
53:13When's that likely to be completed?
53:16We're hoping in the next six months.
53:19By Christmas?
53:20By Christmas.
53:21This Christmas?
53:22Do you have the energy for it?
53:23It's probably the bigger question.
53:24Yeah.
53:25You can come back and have a look in six months.
53:26Come have Christmas.
53:27I'll come and check it out.
53:28Don't worry.
53:29So just to talk about time then.
53:31You gave yourself 15 months to do this project.
53:37Hang on, hang on.
53:38It's gone quite a bit longer than that, I think.
53:39Where are we at?
53:40I think about 35, almost three years.
53:46Waterproofing and Zach, our carpenter, getting very sick.
53:50They were big delays.
53:51They were four months each, I think, at least.
53:52Okay.
53:53It's a long time, isn't it?
53:54It is a long time.
53:55It's a long time to be building a house.
53:57When you're building it, mostly you're building it yourself.
53:59Yeah.
54:00And what about the costs then?
54:02$600,000 is what you told me when we first met.
54:04That was the vision.
54:05Yeah.
54:06Yeah, I think, I don't know the exact number.
54:09It's somewhere around $880,000 for this house.
54:13Okay.
54:14Which I think is about...
54:15That's much better than I was anticipating actually.
54:16Almost 50% more.
54:17And I think that building costs have gone up 40% since we started building.
54:23I think you've got a bargain.
54:24I know.
54:25You probably don't feel that way, but it sounds like pretty good value to me.
54:28Yeah.
54:29Well, congratulations again.
54:30It's an amazing outcome.
54:31You're going to have so many happy years here and the house is ready for you.
54:33Yeah.
54:35Beautiful.
54:36Yeah.
54:38Thanks, Anthony.
54:39Hey, Dad.
54:40Hey, Dad.
54:41Nice house.
54:42This might going to be as good as this.
54:51Ah, no, but it will be faster.
54:54How you'll be?
54:55How you'll be?
54:56Come on.
54:57This journey began as a quest to afford their own home, but it's become so much more.
55:16Matt and Kate have blazed a trail, and not just towards affordability.
55:21They've shown 50-year-old eco-technology can be repurposed perfectly in a contemporary home.
55:30And in doing so, they've built more than a house.
55:34They've created a community.
55:44So many people here have put so much into this, and we are so lucky and relieved to be here.
55:51Cheers.
55:52Cheers.
56:00For a couple of self-described folk-singing bohemians, Kate and Matt have shown they're made of some pretty tough stuff.
56:08They've stared down seemingly insurmountable challenges to create a home that literally radiates goodness.
56:15They're pioneers, architects of possibility, shining a light for others to follow in their footsteps.
56:22Here's cheers to that.
56:24ohh
56:30on
56:35Oh
56:37yeah
56:39so
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