Catch by Installers Saved Consent

Plans and reality don't always match, and when they don't, the build pays for it. A builder handed us plans showing 90mm wall framing throughout the home, and we completed the H1 report on that basis.

Then our EnergySmart installers arrived on site and saw the walls had been built at 140mm framing. That gap matters - a change in framing depth shifts the insulation product that fits and the H1 numbers the report is built on, so the installers flagged it to the Hone team straight away rather than carrying on. We contacted the architect directly and worked out that the framing had changed after the H1 report was completed, and nobody had told us.

We pulled updated plans from the architect, reran the report, and delivered a new H1 report within 24 hours, which the builder took to council for consent. The result was a build that moved forward with barely a dent in its timeline or budget.

Here's the lesson: a report is only as accurate as the plans it's built on, and it takes people on the ground who know what they're looking at - talking to the people who run the numbers - to catch a mismatch before it stops a consent cold.