How's it Actually Going? A Guide to Post-Occupancy Performance

_Learn how to tune your regenerative home’s performance after moving in, transforming the 'performance gap' into an opportunity for optimisation and connection._ You've just moved into your new regenerative home, and something feels different. The morning sun warms the concrete floor exactly where you have breakfast. Fresh air seems to flow through without you opening windows. Your energy meter runs backwards on sunny days. But you're also discovering quirks; that ventilation system makes an odd sound at night, the rainwater tank gauge shows different readings than expected, and you're not entirely sure if those native plants on the green roof are thriving or struggling. This is where the real journey begins. The promises made during design, net-positive energy, water self-sufficiency, improved wellbeing, now face the test of daily life. Studies consistently show that buildings perform 20-50% differently than predicted; not necessarily worse, just differently. Your regenerative building is like a musical instrument that needs tuning, a garden that requires tending, a relationship that deepens through attention and care. ## The Performance Gap Nobody Talks About Let's address the elephant in the room: most buildings don't perform as designed. Research from Melbourne's commercial buildings found "clear gaps between actual versus expected performance," even in Green Star rated projects. Before you panic, understand that this gap isn't failure; it's normal. Buildings are complex systems inhabited by unpredictable humans in changing climates. The question isn't whether there'll be differences, but how you'll discover and address them. Your seven-star NatHERS rated home was modelled assuming you'd heat to 20°C in winter and cool to 24°C in summer. But maybe you prefer it warmer, or you work from home when the model assumed you'd be out, or your teenager takes 30-minute showers despite the water-saving fixtures. These aren't problems to solve but patterns to understand. Your building needs to work for how you _actually_ live, not how a computer model imagined you'd live. The new Building and Plumbing Commission, which commenced on 1 July 2025, now requires more rigorous compliance checking during construction but doesn't monitor how buildings perform once occupied. That responsibility falls to you, and it's actually an opportunity. You know your building more intimately than any inspector could. You experience it through seasons, storms, and daily rhythms. This lived expertise makes you the best person to optimise its performance. ## Your Building's Vital Signs Just as you monitor your health through various indicators, your building has vital signs that reveal its wellbeing. Understanding what to track and how to interpret the data transforms you from a passive occupant to an active partner in your building's performance. **Energy flows tell stories.** Your solar inverter doesn't just show production; it reveals patterns. That afternoon dip might indicate shading from a growing tree (easily fixed with pruning) or panel degradation (requiring professional attention). The spike in grid consumption every Tuesday? That's when your teenager does six loads of laundry. These patterns, invisible in design models, become obvious through observation. Modern monitoring systems make this easier than ever. A basic energy monitor costs around $200 and shows real-time consumption, while smart meters provide hourly data accessible through your energy retailer's app. But you don't need fancy technology; a simple notebook recording weekly meter readings reveals seasonal patterns and unusual changes. One couple discovered their heat pump was running continuously due to a faulty sensor, doubling their energy use. The fix took five minutes once they identified the pattern. **Water wisdom comes through watching.** Your rainwater tank level should drop predictably based on use and rainfall. If it's falling faster, you might have a leak. If it's not filling properly despite rain, check your gutters; eucalyptus leaves are notorious for blocking first-flush diverters. The Building Regulations 2018 require rainwater tanks for new homes, but nobody teaches you how to read their rhythms. A regenerative building treating its own wastewater requires more attention. Those greywater systems need periodic checks. Are the mulch levels maintaining? Are the plants thriving? Is water pooling anywhere it shouldn't? These aren't complex technical assessments but simple observations you can make while gardening. The key is regularity; checking monthly reveals gradual changes before they become problems. **Indoor comfort speaks volumes.** That stuffiness in the back bedroom? Your ventilation system might need adjusting. The temperature variation between rooms? It could indicate air leaks or insulation gaps. These comfort issues often have simple solutions, but only if you pay attention to them. Keep a comfort diary for your first year. Note when spaces feel too hot, cold, stuffy, or draughty. Include the time, weather conditions, and what you were doing. Patterns emerge quickly. One family discovered their living room overheated on winter afternoons not from too much northern sun, but because their west-facing windows lacked proper shading. A deciduous vine solved the problem beautifully while adding habitat for small birds. ## The Art of Seasonal Tuning  _Adapting your building's performance through the seasons_ Your regenerative building was designed to work with natural cycles, but it needs your help to do so effectively. Think of it like sailing: the wind provides power, but you must adjust the sails. Each season brings different requirements, and your building has various 'sails' to adjust. **Summer strategies** start before the heat arrives. Clean your ceiling fans (dusty blades move 40% less air). Check that external blinds or awnings operate smoothly. Prune vegetation that's supposed to shade windows, but ensure you're not removing winter sun access. Test your ventilation paths by opening windows in the evening and feeling where cool air flows. You might discover that opening the laundry window creates better cross-ventilation than the bathroom one, despite what the drawings suggest. During heatwaves, your building's thermal mass needs managing. Those concrete floors and masonry walls that keep you cool work only if you let them release heat at night. If you don't open up for night cooling, that mass becomes a heat battery working against you. One homeowner programmed their automated windows to open at 2 AM when temperatures drop lowest, dramatically improving next-day comfort. **Winter wisdom** involves different adjustments. Your seven-star rated home should maintain comfort with minimal heating, but you need to work with its passive systems. Close curtains at dusk to retain heat (good curtains with pelmets can reduce heat loss by 40%). Open them on sunny winter mornings, even if you're heading out; that free solar heating accumulates in your thermal mass. Check your heat pump filters monthly in winter. Clogged filters reduce efficiency by up to 30% and strain the system. The same applies to hydronic heating; bleeding radiators of air bubbles ensures even heat distribution. These aren't complex tasks, but they're easy to forget until you wonder why your energy bills are climbing despite mild weather. **Shoulder season surprises** often catch people unprepared. Autumn and spring can be trickier than temperature extremes because conditions vary dramatically day to day. Your building might need cooling in the afternoon but heating by evening. This is where manual override becomes important. Even the smartest home automation can't anticipate whether you'll want that cool change or prefer to maintain warmth for evening guests. ## When Systems Need Professional Attention Despite your best observation and adjustment, some issues require professional expertise. Knowing when to call for help saves money and prevents minor issues from becoming major problems. The Building and Plumbing Commission oversees practitioners, but choosing the right professional for post-occupancy issues requires understanding who does what. **Performance audits** provide comprehensive health checks for your building. A professional energy audit ($500-$1,500) uses blower door tests to find air leaks, thermal cameras to identify insulation gaps, and data logging to track performance over time. If your energy use exceeds predictions by more than 20%, an audit usually pays for itself through identified savings. **NatHERS assessors** who provided your seven-star rating can also conduct post-occupancy assessments, comparing actual performance to modelled predictions. This isn't about finding fault but understanding differences. Maybe your site experiences different wind patterns than the weather station data used for modelling. Or perhaps your living patterns differ from standard assumptions. These insights inform adjustments that align your building with your life. **System commissioning** often gets skipped to save money during construction, but retrospective commissioning yields dramatic improvements. Research shows recommissioning existing buildings improves energy performance by 5-20% with paybacks under two years. Your heat recovery ventilation system might be moving air but not recovering heat efficiently. Solar panels might be underperforming due to incorrect inverter settings. These aren't failures but optimisation opportunities. **Water system validation** becomes crucial if you're treating greywater or blackwater onsite. Annual testing ensures your treatment systems meet health standards. The EPA Victoria requires quarterly testing for commercial systems but provides only guidelines for residential ones. Professional validation ($200-$400) provides peace of mind and often identifies simple improvements like adjusting detention times or adding plants to biofilters. ## Building Your Knowledge Network  _Creating support networks for ongoing success_ Living successfully with a regenerative building means acknowledging you can't know everything. The construction industry is facing a crisis, with Australian Securities and Investments Commission figures showing 3,217 firms went into administration in 2024. This means the builder who constructed your home might not be available for questions. But other knowledge sources exist, often in unexpected places. **Your design team's documentation** should include an operations manual, but if it doesn't (or if it's incomprehensible), request a walkthrough recording. Many architects now provide video guides showing how to adjust systems seasonally, reset safety switches, and maintain key components. If your architect used the ABIC contract suite, a standard form developed by the Australian Institute of Architects and Master Builders Australia, they have obligations during the defects liability period to assist with performance issues. **Online communities** offer incredible peer support. The "My Efficient Electric Home" Facebook group has over 141,000 members sharing experiences with heat pumps, solar systems, and energy monitoring. Local groups like "Sustainable Living Ararat" or "Geelong Sustainability" connect you with neighbours facing similar challenges in your climate. These communities provide real-world solutions that no manual could anticipate, like the best local suppliers for heat pump filters or which plumber actually understands rainwater systems. **Trade relationships** matter more than you might expect. That electrician who asks questions about your solar setup's unusual configuration? Keep their number. The plumber who understands your greywater system? Build a relationship. With the construction workforce facing significant shortages, good tradespeople are increasingly valuable. Regular maintenance work helps them understand your systems, making emergency calls more effective. ## The Defects Dance Victoria's defects liability period, typically 12 months for residential projects, represents your crucial window for identifying and addressing construction issues. But the current builder insolvency crisis means you need to approach this strategically. Even if your builder remains solvent, document everything meticulously. **Start your defects list immediately** upon moving in. That doesn't mean being hypercritical about every paint drip, but noting functional issues: doors that don't close properly, unusual sounds from mechanical systems, water stains suggesting leaks, or cracks beyond normal settlement. Photos with dates provide evidence if disputes arise. **The distinction between defects and maintenance matters legally.** A defect is something not built according to plans or standards, like incorrect waterproofing causing leaks. Maintenance involves expected upkeep, like cleaning gutters or replacing filters. Understanding this difference helps you communicate effectively with builders and, if necessary, the Building and Plumbing Commission. **Schedule your 11-month inspection strategically.** By this point, you've experienced most seasons and identified patterns. Walk through with your builder systematically. Don't just point out obvious issues but ask questions about anything unusual you've noticed. That odd smell when the ventilation runs? The slight vibration in the floor near the heat pump? These observations might reveal issues that would otherwise manifest after the warranty expires. **If your builder has become insolvent**, a common issue with 2,832 construction companies collapsing in the 2023-24 financial year, you're not without recourse. Domestic building insurance covers structural defects for six years and non-structural defects for two years. The Victorian Building Authority (now part of the Building and Plumbing Commission) provides dispute resolution services. Document all attempts to contact your builder and keep records of any repair quotes from other contractors. ## Learning From Your Living Patterns After your first year, patterns emerge that no design process could have predicted. You've discovered that you prefer sleeping with windows open even in winter, affecting your heating needs. Your teenagers' friends gather in the garage, making it a social space needing better ventilation. The study becomes a yoga room at dawn, requiring different lighting than anticipated. These aren't design failures but life happening. **Adaptation strategies** work better than fighting your building's design. If your passive solar design overheats the living room on winter afternoons, embrace it; move your reading chair there and reduce heating elsewhere. If the pantry stays surprisingly cool, it becomes your fermentation station. These adaptations often improve both comfort and performance. **Seasonal routines** develop naturally but benefit from conscious refinement. Create a spring checklist: clean solar panels (production can drop 25% from dust and pollen), check gutter mesh before autumn leaves, test irrigation systems before summer, and schedule heat pump servicing before winter. These routines, taking perhaps four hours annually, prevent most performance degradation. **Behaviour experiments** reveal surprising savings. Try a "no heating week" in autumn to discover your building's passive performance limits. Test different ventilation strategies during shoulder seasons. Compare energy use with different blind positions or thermostat settings. These experiments, impossible during design, optimise your specific building for your specific life. ## Sharing Your Story  _Contributing to the regenerative building movement_ Your regenerative building contributes to collective knowledge that helps others make better decisions. With planning approvals in Victoria averaging around 155 calendar days and construction costs having risen significantly since 2020, people need real-world examples of what works, what doesn't, and what they'd do differently. **Open homes** during Sustainable House Day, a national event hosted by Renew, let others experience regenerative buildings firsthand. You're not showcasing perfection but reality: the morning sun's warmth, the rainwater's softness, the unexpected bird visitors to your native garden. Visitors' questions often reveal aspects you've stopped noticing, refreshing your appreciation. **Performance sharing** helps establish realistic expectations. If your building achieves 80% of its energy generation target, that's valuable data. Maybe the remaining 20% comes from site-specific shading you couldn't have predicted. Or perhaps your family uses more hot water than modelled. This isn't failure but calibration, helping others set appropriate goals. **Problem-solving stories** provide the most value. How you solved that persistent draught, quieted the heat pump, or improved bathroom ventilation helps others facing similar challenges. Your discovery that running the dishwasher at 10 AM maximises solar self-consumption might seem obvious in hindsight but helps others optimise their patterns. --- ## Key Summary: Your Building as a Living Partner Living with your regenerative building isn't about achieving perfect performance; it's about developing an ongoing relationship that improves over time. The 20-50% performance gap between design predictions and reality isn't failure; it's a normal outcome for complex systems inhabited by unpredictable humans in changing climates. Essential monitoring takes just minutes weekly. Track your energy generation versus consumption through simple meter readings or a ~$200 monitor. Watch water tank levels for unexpected drops indicating leaks. Note comfort patterns; that Tuesday energy spike might just be laundry day, while persistent stuffiness suggests ventilation needs adjustment. These observations, recorded in a basic notebook, reveal patterns no computer model could predict. Seasonal adjustments multiply your building's passive performance. Clean solar panels before summer (dusty panels can produce up to 25% less power). Adjust blinds and ventilation seasonally; your concrete floors only provide cooling if you release their stored heat at night. Change heat pump filters monthly in winter to maintain efficiency. These simple actions, taking perhaps four hours annually, prevent most performance problems. Know when to seek professional help. If energy use exceeds predictions by more than 20%, invest in a professional audit ($500-$1,500), which typically pays for itself through identified savings. Schedule your 11-month defects inspection strategically, after experiencing all seasons. With 3,217 construction companies entering administration in 2024, document everything meticulously. Photos with dates protect you if your builder becomes insolvent. Your expertise grows through living. After a year, you understand your building's personality. Share this knowledge through Sustainable House Day open homes, online communities like "My Efficient Electric Home" (over 141,000 members), or simple conversations with neighbours. This partnership evolves continuously as technology improves, regulations change, and your needs shift. Your home was designed for yesterday's climate using standard assumptions; adaptation is natural evolution, not design failure. ## Chapter Resources [**Victorian Energy Upgrades Program →**](https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/victorian-energy-upgrades) _Victorian Government program helping households cut power bills and reduce emissions with rebates and discounts on energy-saving products. Access up to $3,600 discount on electric heating systems, $140 off induction cooktops, and save $1,700+ annually by converting from gas to electric._