It may not be everyone's dream home, but for Tim Dakin, this converted barn in East Gippsland represents financial freedom and self-sufficiency.
Located 7 km from the small town of Briagolong, the barn is now a comfortable home. Dakin bought the property under will with his ex-wife more than two decades ago and has converted it into a fully detached residence over the past eight years.
“We literally found this property advertised at Burger Bill's Fish Shop in Brogolong and met the owners right away and decided to purchase the property that day,” Dakin said.
While working in art, Dakin never had a steady income. She says living off the grid has given her a new sense of power and control over her budget.
Off-grid homes are becoming increasingly attractive in regional Australia due to rising energy costs and the high cost of connecting a new home to the grid. Cutting costs and addressing environmental issues through more sustainable living often go hand in hand.
But the initial costs can be significant.
Dakin was offered up to $65,000 to build an off-grid system for his home. Instead, he installed a simple battery system, new solar panels and a small water pump at a cost of about $20,000. He now uses the gas generator only twice a winter, compared to once a week when he first moved.
“When I first settled in, I sat up at night with my old system and a miner's lamp, trying to read because there was no electricity and the generator wasn't running,” he says. “Now when my younger friends come over, they don't have to worry about charging all their devices at once.”
The battery system allows it to run a washing machine, electric refrigerator, microwave oven and large-screen TV. His LPG bill for his stove and hot water is about $200 a year. There is satellite internet for watching Netflix. That's all the luxury he needs.
“Sometimes I like to get an electric waffle iron,” he adds. “But I have fire.”
He has no council tax and only throws one bag in the rubbish every six months. Living off the grid has made him more aware of decisions he never questioned when he lived in the city. He avoids plastic containers and unnecessary packaging and buys fruits and vegetables from roadside stalls.
The influx of tree replacement specialists into the area during the early years of the pandemic boosted the popularity of off-grid living, said Tim Smith, architect and principal of BRD Studios.
“We saw that with Covid, where we saw a huge surge in certain areas, and then people found locations they liked,” he says. "Then they realize there's no service. Or it's too expensive to connect."
This is not a new trend: off-grid homes have been around in regional areas for decades, most driven more by cost and distance considerations than by a desire for sustainability. But Smith says the increasingly expensive nature of renewable energy technologies like solar panels has made them a more viable and convenient option.
On the south coast of New South Wales, David Griffiths built a detached log house on a 25-hectare plot of land between Bega and Merimbula.
Griffiths and his wife live in Queensland and originally bought the land as a holiday home that could only accommodate a self-contained van. They've since refined their vision: They purchased a two-bedroom, 50-square-foot house for $35,000 from a local DIY company, and are now putting the finishing touches on the kitchen, bathroom and toilet.
“It's very comfortable here, and you can always take on more projects to improve life in an off-grid environment,” he says.
The wooden frame of the house is 70 mm thick, providing excellent insulation.
“It works great,” he says. “If you keep everything closed [in summer], it will be cold all day long... [in winter] we have a little wood stove, and if you turn it on in the morning when it's cold, it will warm the room comfortably.” An hour and then it will be hot all day.
Griffiths originally planned to install a 12-volt battery system and solar panels. The site also has a 240-volt inverter system, which is more than adequate, Griffith says, and capable of powering “several refrigerators.”
“It's nice to have...it really makes life easier,” he says. “In fact, electricity is only needed for light. So you can supply 12 volts without any problem.
The robustness of these systems remains to be tested. Rhys Stubbs, managing director of sustainable architecture firm The Sociable Weaver, says that while the company can design solar systems to account for the lifespan of products, “there aren't a lot of off-grid homes that have proven themselves over 50 years.
People like Dakini are on the brink.
For the first time in her life, 25 years after purchasing the property, she says she feels secure in the knowledge that she has a home she can afford forever. It is valid. The sign in front of Tim and Sam's house, bearing his and his son's names, says it's a safety net his son can inherit.
In addition, he says a special backup power supply would be useful in the Gippsland Hills.
“The small town of Priyagulong suffers from regular power outages,” he says. You will see it appear on your Facebook message board. I'll sit and laugh: "This is not the right place, it didn't happen."
