Hype Cycle

Earlier this year, we went down the path of a detailed cost estimate for our net zero renovation that came back >2x our budget and timeline. Cue many late night discussions about what to do at this juncture. Tear down and build new? Not economically feasible. Pare it back to a ‘lipstick’ renovation? No longer as interesting a project. OR just throw in the towel and look for something move-in ready.

In the tech world there’s an innovation curve known as the Gartner Hype Cycle. We had inflated expectations at the start of the project, and for those who shared beers with us during this second stage, we were fast hitting disillusionment. How could a deep energy retrofit of a modest post war rancher cost more than selling and buying a newer, larger, fully upgraded high-carbon equivalent?! Grrr.

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After much consideration, we made some changes to the project team and clearly communicated our desire to keep costs down. We scaled back scope and revised design strategy. Guaranteed to be more bumps along the road, but we are emerging from the trough and entering, we hope, the slope of enlightenment!