Answers to some FAQ about the evolution to Light House ArchiScience in 2025

Jenny here. While the announcement came as a surprise to many of you, I assure you it was based on very careful thought and, of course, data analysis, over a period of months. Hopefully this post will answer some questions and ease some concerns.

Q. What!?
As outlined in the announcement two weeks ago, I will be running a residential design business until the end of the year. After that, Light House the business (Jigsaw Housing Pty Ltd) will be continuing in a different form into next year and hopefully well beyond. This is not the first evolution of Jigsaw/Scinergy/Light House (read my bio for a little insight into that story). I had a life and career before Light House Architecture & Science and intend to have one after. I never planned to own and run any architecture business let alone Canberra’s largest residential architecture practice. I am a scientist, not an architect [if I had a dollar for every time I’d said that over the last 15 years?!].

I am not afraid of change and I am prepared to make difficult decisions. Trust me, this has not been an easy decision. I love my design team. If I thought I could sustain the current business model in a healthy, satisfying and positively impactful way for the whole team during such challenging times, I would. Too many things have changed over the last five years, however, and it would be foolish, and irresponsible as the team leader and company director, to ignore that.

Q. Are you retiring?
(chuckle - small business owners will understand) No, I am not retiring. I have much more to contribute to sustainable housing in Australia. I intend to be using the Light House office space at the Fyshwick markets as a hub from which I can create positive change for a while yet.

Q. But WHY and why tell us now? As the sole owner and director of a small/medium sized business, I wear many hats. I am the finance, HR and communications manager as well as the lead scientist and managing director.

I pride myself on being an ethical business person, a team player, very good with numbers (I love data!) and an open and clear communicator. I have given everybody six months’ notice (staff and clients) for those reasons – it is not something that I am required to do.

We are a solvent and busy business. I have simply decided to change direction to increase industry impact in ways that are meaningful to me and ways that will better support my health and the health of my staff. I will be no help to anyone, any house, or any industry, if I am dead.

Please don’t confuse Light House with a volume construction business that is trading insolvent or going bankrupt – I am a very different business owner and Light House is a very different business to the construction businesses you may have read about over the last year or so. I know and manage the expenses of my business in great detail and they are nothing like that of a construction business (I have co-owned and directed a construction business in the past and I understand construction well).

I am making the call to evolve Light House because of my personal concerns about where the housing/construction industry and economy are headed. I have three adult children (and many young professional staff) and I wonder where they will live in the future. As my personal energy reserves get lower, I want to be focusing my efforts on solutions that help people like them and others without housing security.

Q. How can Light House continue designing homes after such an announcement?
The well-developed and refined Light House systems and processes, and our deliverables, have not changed. They will not change until 2025.

Our hive mind and integrated design and science approach is still very much in action and it still differentiates us from other residential design firms across the ACT.

We are still a team. Every member of the Light House team understands why I am doing this. Our relationships are strong — our respect and care for each other and our projects is unchanged. There is no denying that we are sad that the business model will have to change next year (in response to so much change around us) but we are also a bunch of smart, kind and sensible people. The Light House team/family (present and past staff and clients) will always be strong (be warned, I intend to stay in touch and keep collecting data across the coming years)!

Questions current or upcoming clients might have in relation to their project and the remainder of 2024

Q. Will there be the same opportunities to evolve the design, as there would have been if we had been commencing a year ago? 

A. Exactly the same opportunity. Our processes and approach have not changed. We will be clear with you about which stages we can complete before the end of the year. Noting we are dependent on clients engaging in the process. Often project delays are due to busy clients not being available to contribute to or complete design stages (an increasing issue over recent years). In order to deliver great homes, the team must include our clients.

Q. Will we still be assigned a lead and a collaborating designer and have access to the ‘hive mind’ approach?

A. Yes. I still have a large and talented design team. Most residential architecture practices in Canberra have one or two designers (and no science team or dedicated business manager).

All of my team love the Light House philosophy and approach and they want to see their projects completed. Similar professional opportunities are not readily available to them elsewhere in Canberra – some are going to move OS or interstate next year now that they know we will be wrapping up the architecture side of the business. Others are based in Canberra and may leave architecture but still do design work on the side. They are all totally understanding of my decisions. We are still a healthy and happy team.

The Light House team only included six staff on the design team from 2015 to 2019. During these years we finessed our already well developed systems and processes and were able to grow the team (several staff joined and several left to start their own businesses) but Light House continued without any noticeable change. I will definitely have an experienced team of designers of more than six people with me until the end of the year. Plus my science and admin team. That makes 10 of us.

Q. What about the “Light House builders”?
There is no such thing as a Light House builder. All of the builders who successfully tender on, and go on to construct, Light House projects, also build projects for non-Light House clients. They are colleagues with whom we have respectful, professional relationships (and I consider them all friends). They are disappointed but understand why I am restructuring the business.

We can’t, and never could, control builder availability or the speed with which they can complete your project. We still have a very healthy relationship with a variety of builders. We are still going to tender 2-3 times per month so we still have good info about likely costs in the current market.

The builders who have worked with us before are still very keen to collaborate with our clients. They will be building Light Houses well into 2026, possibly beyond if some of our existing plans get reused.

Q. How on Earth do we manage the build process without Light House Architecture & Science?

The builder builds your home based on the 30+ pages of A3 drawings and 25+ pages of A4 written specification that we prepare throughout the design process. We build, and test, your project with great care and attention to detail on our computers and on paper, so that the builder can then physically construct it just as intended.

The comprehensive documentation set (drawings and specification) captures all of the details about the design of your home. The builders prepare their comprehensive costing for the tender, based on all of this information. The drawings and specification then become part of your construction contract with the builder. When you sign the contract you and the builder will be signing every single page of the drawings and specification.

The builders who tender on our projects know the standard that Light House expects and know to follow our architectural documentation which includes all of the energy efficiency related details. The Light House science team can still come to test at the end of construction (just ask us to prepare a fee proposal). If any concerns come up during build, from you or the builder, you can still contact us (remember, Light House will still be here). But we want to assure you that you really don’t need our architecture team involved — construction project management expertise is what you are paying the builder for.

The fact that our projects (200+) have been constructed so successfully by so many different builders (15+) is a testament to our design process and the quality of the builders we collaborate with.

Q. What if something unexpected happens? [You mean: what if I blow a fuse even better than last time ie. have another significant stroke?]

My staff know that if (touch wood) anything did happen to me that they are to provide our clients with the DWG files of our documentation so that you could have drawings completed by somebody else. Believe me this not my intention. Each project becomes a Light House baby and we want to see each one through to at least the end of stages outlined for your timeline for 2024.

Q. Can we access Light House science services during construction beyond 2024?

EER certification for building approval? Air leakage testing? Thermal imaging?

As outlined in the announcement post, the Light House science team will continue and is likely to expand its service offerings, so yes, all of our modelling, certification and testing services will still be available during construction.

Q. But if we can’t do stage 4 (interior design) with you how will the house be, or work as, a Light House!?

The vast majority of the unique and powerful Light House value-add happens in Stages 1-3. That’s when we nail the space efficiency, thermal efficiency, functionality of the layout and feasibility of the proposed structural changes. We have massive collective experience in optimising this. Our design stage 3 documentation will have the footprint of all of the planned storage. The architecture team are always designing with the storage in mind (from the very beginning). There will be general conversations about it from the first design stage. For example, see the concept design presented last Thursday – every darker shade represents a storage element. As the architects design they are imagining each of these. They have already mentally mapped out the location of all of the key kitchen elements which make our kitchens work so well. They have visualised and tested in their minds what will work in the entryway, laundry, each bedroom, the office or multi-purpose room. As they present the concept design (and in subsequent stages) they will describe what they had in mind for them to you. For example, the pop-out window seat shown on the other side of the dining table in Thursday’s concept design will function as dining seating, a window nook and as storage (in the form of bench seating with drawers below or a liftable top). You will not miss out on storage in a Light House I promise.

Interior designers outside of Light House are very experienced at this too. There are also several experienced joiners around Canberra who have worked on Light House projects (they build the kitchens, laundry and bathrooms cabinets, bedroom wardrobes … all the joinery in our plans). They know the Light House standards.

The Light House science team will still advise on heating, cooling and efficient electrical hot water heating and cooking.

Q. Are you about to die?
Nobody really knows the answer to that hey?! But, no, I certainly hope not — depends on whether one of the hoons that does burnouts and speeds past the Fyshwick markets hits me one day!

For now (and for a long while yet I intend) I am alive and busy. See my Instagram post from Friday as proof of that – six site visits, a media interview and two client meetings.

Q. What next?

The current model will operate until the end of the year. It is going to be another productive and excellent six months.

FINALLY

Repurposing and retrofitting has to play a much bigger role in the future of Australian housing.

Encourage your kids to go into the trades. We need kind, smart people who can build stuff.

Cheers,

Jenny