Get It Right with Undercover Architect

Get It Right with Undercover Architect is a podcast about the stretch of a home project that comes before anything is built, and about what tends to happen when that stretch is rushed. It comes from Amelia Lee, the architect behind Undercover Architect. There are two modes. Solo episodes take a single question and turn it over carefully, often one that leaves a homeowner stuck between options that could each plausibly work. Go up a storey, or out to the rear? Renovate what is there, or knock it down and rebuild? On a vacant block, a volume builder, or a custom design with an architect or designer? The method is to name the assumption behind an option and then show where it gives way. Knocking down is a telling example. It is often assumed to be simpler or better value than a major renovation, yet site preparation, responsible disposal and landfill carry real costs that catch people off guard, and older homes can hold materials, such as hardwood frames, that cannot be replicated today. The phrase 'small renovation' gets the same scrutiny. The label tends to bring assumptions with it, and conditions in an existing home can stay invisible through planning, surfacing only once construction opens the building up and work stalls. Licences, approvals and contracts come into it too, since legal requirements are tied to what a project costs. The other mode is the guided conversation, some of them with members of Home Method, an Undercover Architect program. Across two episodes, Tanya talks about renovating her family's 100-year-old double brick home in Melbourne within its existing footprint, which turned a cold, dark, disconnected house into a warm, light-filled one. She describes spending about eight months on a design brief built around how the family wanted to live rather than how the house should look, drawing on memories such as the kitchen bench that was the hub of her childhood home. She also passed on wardrobes, mantels, windows and vanities through Marketplace to keep them out of a skip, though she admits the effort is not for everybody. Michael's new build in regional Western Australia took more than five years of planning and building, and the show has followed it across several installments. One of them is 'Lessons from a New Build: Budget, Solar Shading and Teamwork, with Michael', where the talk turns to balancing shade, sunlight, weather protection, waterproofing and cost. Jan and Landon, both 73, bring a different angle: they are planning a new home in Sydney's north on a block that has been in Landon's family for more than 70 years, and they explain how they researched and interviewed their architect. Throughout, guest stories are given room and then drawn back to lessons about preparation, collaboration and decision-making. Free PDF transcripts are offered through the Undercover Architect website.