Dwelling Studies offers a number of tailored services, ideal for those who are:
- Looking to enhance their home’s comfort and energy efficiency
- Wondering where to start and what to prioritise
- Thinking about building or renovating and aiming to maximise their home’s thermal performance
1. Home Energy Consultation
We offer personalised, in-home energy consultations aimed at creating resilient homes. Our aim is to work with you to enhance comfort, cut energy costs, and move towards all-electric living.
Each session runs for about two to three hours (depending on the size/complexity of your home) and includes a range of tailored assessments and advice. Here’s how it works:
- Initial Chat: a discussion to understand your energy goals and explain what the visit will involve and how we can work together.
- Walkthrough of your home: we take a close look at your home’s design, orientation as well as visible fixtures, insulation, and systems—including the roof space and under the floor.
- System Check-Up: expect an evaluation of your current heating, cooling, and hot water systems, and discussion around available options to get the best performance including possible upgrades to improve efficiency and long-term costs.
- Bill Analysis: reviewing your power and gas bills is a good way to spot trends or inefficiencies in appliances or how you are using energy. We’ll also talk about what you are paying for energy and if there are other providers who could better meet your needs – potentially saving hundreds of dollars per year.
- Future Planning: we can also discuss future-proofing your home including plans to remove and replace gas appliances, Electric Vehicle (EV) upgrades & charging, solar panels & battery storage and potential changes to your home’s layout or design.
We can advise on availability of government rebates for new or upgrading appliances.
Each home energy consultation is tailored for each individual and home and involves a detailed discussion of recommendations.
Consultations are priced depending on the size and complexity of your home. All fees are confirmed up front—no surprises.
2. Thermal Performance
Retrofitting, adapting and reuse of existing buildings is a sustainable option to enhance building performance (ie improve comfort!) and increase the resilience of your home.
Using science-based National House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) modelling software, Dwelling Studies can analyse the thermal performance of your home. This detailed, data-driven approach models your home to predict how much energy will be required to maintain it at a comfortable temperature throughout the year.
Using this as a foundation, we can identify areas to improve your home’s performance. This could include:
- Installing or adding to existing insulation
- Retrofitting windows and glazing systems
- Upgrading or installing space heating and cooling systems such as reverse cycle air conditioners
- If your scope permits, exploring more substantial building work including renovations and extensions that maximise passive design
Retrofitting existing homes is a sustainable approach that reduces environmental impact by valuing the embodied energy and resources that exist in our built environment. By carefully considering design, materials, and finishes, we can create homes that ultimately save energy, materials, waste and carbon emissions.
3. Design Services
Dwelling Studies provides design and advisory services focused on improving the thermal performance of homes across Central Victoria. The emphasis is on working with what already exists: identifying where homes are underperforming and developing clear, cost-effective strategies to improve comfort, reduce energy use and support all-electric living.
For many households, this means targeted upgrades rather than major renovations. Advice is tailored to each home and may include insulation improvements, draught sealing, glazing and shading strategies, and layout adjustments where appropriate. The goal is to prioritise the changes that will have the greatest impact, and to provide a clear pathway for implementation over time.
Dwelling Studies also supports renovation projects by working alongside other experts such as architects and builders. Thermal performance is considered early in the design process, ensuring that homes are well suited to their climate, budget and intended use. This can include concept designs, development, and iterative optimisation as plans develop.
All services are grounded in an understanding of how homes actually perform in real conditions. Building science and modelling tools are used where helpful, but the focus remains on translating this into practical, achievable outcomes. The aim is to create homes that are comfortable, efficient and resilient.
