What is it like working with Leanhaus?

For us here at Leanhaus, 2024 was a pretty big year that saw the completion and handover of many projects. Now that they’re all settled in, we caught up with the clients of the three most recent. On an inner-city block in Perth, Ruth Haus is a carefully scaled, Passive House Certified home built by the passionate team at TrueLine. In Mosman Park, it was the modern Scandinavian Manning Haus that Saltus Built delivered to incredible quality. Then, it was the Green Street House; a European-style, Passive House Principled home by the fantastic team at APL Construction. Let’s take a look at what their owners thought about working with Leanhaus and our preferred builders.

What qualities made you decide to work with Leanhaus?

Manning Haus

He was quite clear that he likes every single square meter to have a purpose, because you’re paying for that square metre; and we’d never thought about it in that way at all. It was just the simplicity, thinking through things with purpose in mind, and really thoughtfully about the ‘why’ you would want to do it that way, in terms of how you live your life.

How would you describe your experience of working with Leanhaus?

Ruth Haus

It was our first architect experience, so we didn’t know how that journey goes. You expect to turn up and have meetings and then come back with these really awesome plans the next day. But it’s actually more about choosing different zones and we’re they’ll go. Looking back on it with hindsight, I can see how that process works, and I can see how that gets really good outcomes, because our house is full of amazing spaces and areas. There’s a different place for us to be depending on how we feel and what we want to do, and I think that comes about because of that process that Ben does.

Ruth Street Perth

Green Street

It was very good overall; we didn’t find any issues. It was quite quick, but we were also very quick in making decisions. I think it went hand in hand; the quicker we were, the quicker they were on their side. So, we were very happy with the overall experience.

Since you moved in, how have you enjoyed your home so far?

Ruth Haus

I can’t take anything away from the design, build and quality, because it is incredible, but it hasn’t been a holiday moving into a new house. You think you’re just going to move in and everything will be perfect, but you actually need to learn a lot. These are all nice problems to have, but neither of us know how the oven works, neither of us know how the microwave works, neither of us know how the stove works, neither of us know how the fans work.

It’s been a lot of work to get to a point where we’re happy to care for it in the way it deserves to be, because it is a really nice house.

Manning Haus

It’s perfect, it’s just beautiful, we couldn’t be happier. It’s the most beautiful home, and it feels like a home. Every space, and the flow, is beautiful, and the light’s lovely.

Manning Street

Green Street

It’s been a different world, we’re loving it. We’re loving the double-glazed windows more than anything else, it feels like being back in Europe in that sense.

Is there anything you can share about your experience of living in a Passive House or Passive House Principled home?

Manning Haus

I like the techie side of things. I like monitoring performance and how it’s going in terms of how each room is heating and cooling.

I think the thing with a passive house is that in summer and winter the performance is going to be a bit different. So far, we’re enjoying it, just learning the nuances of seasonal changes, really.

Green Street

The thing I love the most is not having air draughts in the house. Every other house I’ve lived in, in Australia, you get air draughts everywhere, and in this house there are no air draughts whatsoever.

Are there any design elements you’re particularly excited about?

Ruth Haus

It’s just nice to look at. It’s nice to come home to. It’s nice to walk up to.

There are a couple of spots where you sit down and go, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize that I’d see the staircase and the light well from here’. Or, when I’m sitting at the dining room table, I’m like ‘Oh that’s actually a nice spot to sit up’. There might be a nice little view or a glimpse of light and those little things that have been pleasant surprises.

Green Street

I think the layout of the house. We created the living area separate from the rest of the rooms, so it’s a very clear separation. It’s probably a very European layout, and I think Ben really knocked it out of the park.

Did anything surprise you about the design/build process, or the finished home?

Ruth Haus

I didn’t have any surprises, and I think that was because of the trust that existed between Ben, the builders and me. The builders and the architect, they work together, so they know how Ben works. They know what Ben focuses on, what he likes and vice versa. So, I think trust was a massive part of how positive this experience was for me and my wife.

The respect that existed both ways also made it pretty collaborative. At first, I didn’t really know how this process worked, so I felt like I had to solve problems, but once it got underway, I didn’t solve problems. Ben solved problems. The builder solved problems. All I had to do was make decisions.

Manning Haus

What surprised me was how hard I found it to imagine what it would look like. Ben was great at communicating whether the sizes were standard or generous, but then the build started, and you’d look at the slab and it looked so small, no matter how many times Ben might have said, ‘Don’t worry, it’ll feel bigger when it’s built’. Then the frames go up and it feels even smaller… But then they get plaster and furniture, and the space totally changes.

How did you find the experience of working with Leanhaus’ preferred builder?

Ruth Haus - TrueLine

I cannot overemphasise enough how much I love them and how incredible they were to work with. If I have a top 10 people I’d invite over to dinner, my builders would be on that list.

It’s nice when you’re on a building site and the neighbours comment on how nice they are, how considerate they are. They’ve been brilliant, just brilliant. It’s a cliche, but I often felt like they cared about this house more than I did.

Manning Haus – Saltus Built

It was just a lovely team that clearly enjoyed working with each other. They seem to really love the materials and take care of it. The site was always impeccably neat and tidy and organized, which surprised me in a positive way as I always imaged sites to be quite messy and disorganised.

Green Street - APL

They were so good in terms of their building process and communication, and they were communicating with Ben on the other side, so we didn’t have to stress about a lot of stuff. We didn’t have to get involved. And the guys at APL were fantastic, they built the house in pretty much six months.

Do you consider the project good value for money?

Ruth Haus

I think I’ve got excellent value from Ben right through to builders. Yeah, absolutely. I think I paid a premium for the builders, but I think it was worth every cent, absolutely every cent.

Manning Haus

Yeah, I do. Yes, absolutely.

Green Street

That’s an easy yes. From everybody that I talked to, building a home in six months to the standard it was built—because we were within passive house standards—and in the area we built in, I don’t think you could buy anything like that in the area with that kind of cost.

Is there anything you would have done differently, or do you have any advice for future clients?

Ruth Haus

There’s always compromises. You can have the biggest block in the world, you can have the biggest budget in the world, there will always be a compromise. They talked to me like an equal the whole time, though, so I always understood why compromises were happening.

Green Street

You get what you put in I think, that’s kind of the only feedback I have. If you’re willing to work with Ben, you can get it done very quickly. If you don’t, you’re not going to get the outcome you really want.

Would you recommend Leanhaus to your friends?

This question was mainly for our records, but the response from our clients at Manning Haus was too perfect, and it offers the perfect ending for this blog:

Yeah, absolutely. I’d build again. Obviously, we want to enjoy and live in this house, but it was kind of awesome.