What is the end game of building ?

What is the end game of building ?

From Mindful Builder by Matthew Carland and Hamish White

June 7, 2026 · 53 min · Episode 120

About this episode

The episode discusses the implications of building quality and moisture management in Australian housing, featuring insights from guest Jesse Clark.

“Do we want 1.2 million crappy houses?” That’s the question Jesse Clark (pro clima) drops early in this episode, and it pretty much sets the tone. We talk about Australian housing supply, building quality, and why “more homes” is not the win if we’re locking in mould risk, discomfort, and expensive fixes for decades. If you care about better homes, healthier homes, and what the future of construction should actually look like, this one’s for you. Jesse’s whole approach is simple and repeatable building systems. We look at practical building science for real sites: the building envelope, airtightness, membranes, wraps, and the kind of construction details that can be done consistently across projects without relying on luck or one superstar tradie. A big focus is moisture management and ventilation, because moisture safety is the foundation of durable homes. We get into vapour-permeable assemblies, how leaky buildings happen, and why mould in Australian homes is often the outcome of small decisions made early. We also touch on the debate around energy efficiency and building codes (NCC), and how chasing energy targets without understanding moisture can create unintended…

People in this episode

Hosts: Matthew Carland, Hamish White

Guest: Jesse Clark

Topics covered

  • Australian housing supply
  • building quality
  • moisture management
  • ventilation
  • energy efficiency
  • sustainable building

Keywords

  • building science
  • high performance homes
  • passive house principles
  • indoor air quality
  • condensation control

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: pro clima

Places: Australia

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