We Just Won FOUR Awards for Our Home (I’m Still Pinching Myself)

Exciting news…

Our home here in Wagga Wagga, built by the brilliant Jamie Carroll Constructions, has won FOUR awards at the 2026 HIA Riverina Housing Awards.

Four. I still can’t quite believe it.

• Riverina Home of the Year
• Custom Built Home of the Year
• Custom Built Home $750,000 to $1 million
• GreenSmart Sustainable Home

We are absolutely thrilled. Genuinely, properly thrilled.

Why this one means so much

If you have followed along with this build at all, you will know it was never just about building a house. This project was always about two things at once: creating somewhere beautiful to live, and proving to myself that you could push hard on energy efficiency and sustainability without giving up an inch of style or comfort.

That is a lot to try and hold onto at the same time. There were moments during the build where it felt easier to just pick one and let the other slide a bit. Easier to default to the standard spec because it was quicker, or to skip a conversation about airtightness because everyone on site was already stretched. We didn’t, and this is exactly why those awards feel so good. Riverina Home of the Year tells me the design and the finished home stand up on their own merits. GreenSmart Sustainable Home tells me the performance side of things did too. Getting both, for the same house, is the whole point proven in one afternoon.

A quick reminder of what we were chasing

For anyone new here, this home ended up with an 8.3 star NatHERS rating, which is a long way above the standard most new homes are built to. That did not happen by accident. It came from decisions we made right back at the floor plan stage, things like orientating the main living areas north and shaping the home around two courtyards so light and air could move through it properly.

Thank you

To Jamie Carroll Constructions, thank you for genuinely partnering with me on this rather than just building to a plan. There were a lot of conversations on site that a lot of builders would not have had the patience for, and the house is better for every single one of them.

You can see our wins alongside the rest of the 2026 HIA Riverina Award winners on the HIA website.

If you want the full story of how we got here, from the floor plan decisions right through to what it actually costs to run, I have put everything into my ebook.

x Katrina