What buyers and builders tell me
I am asking the same thing in two places: a survey on this site that anyone can answer, and an open thread on Reddit asking what people look for in a home. This page is what has come back so far, and the survey figures update as new responses land.
It is a small sample and I read it as direction rather than statistics. The method notes at the bottom say exactly what was asked, when, and of how many people.
15 survey responses so far (11 finished): 9 bought a home, 4 built or are building their own, and the rest work in property. Figures below are computed from responses up to 2026-09-01.
Who told them which way it faces
The survey asks people who have bought a home whether they knew which way it faced before they made an offer, and who told them: the listing, the agent, or their own checking.
8 of the 9 buyers knew which way the home faced before making an offer, and every one of them worked it out themselves.
The survey also asks what buyers checked or paid for before signing. How much light the home gets sits on that list beside the pest and building inspection.
6 of the 9 buyers checked how much light the home gets before they signed.
Did it change what they paid
The next question asks whether which way the home faces changed what they were willing to pay: more, less, walking away, or not a factor at all.
Which way it faced changed what 4 of the 9 buyers were willing to pay.
Would they use a winter sun filter
Buyers are asked whether they would have used a property search that shows only homes whose living areas get winter sun.
Of the 9 buyers asked, 5 said yes, 4 said maybe, and nobody said no.
The people answering this bought established homes, which Dudils does not list. The demand is for the check itself, on any home, not only on a new plan.
Living with the result
Two questions ask what it is like afterwards: which rooms are darker or colder than the owner would like, and how the heating and cooling bills compare with what they expected.
7 of the 9 buyers named at least one room darker or colder than they would like, and 2 said most of the house. 3 of the 9 pay higher heating and cooling bills than they expected.
What people think other people look for
Everyone gets the same question: what do you think people are looking for when they buy or build a home, pick up to three. Which way it faces is one of eleven options, listed sixth and never explained.
Only 1 of the 12 picked which way it faces.
When the private check and the public guess pull apart like this, orientation is being treated as a personal judgement rather than something the market prices. That gap is what Dudils is built for.
Block first, or plan first
People who have built or are building are asked which came first, the block or the plan, and how they know a plan will actually fit.
All 4 of the people who have built or are building chose the block first, then went looking for a plan.
“I measured it against the block myself”
One respondent, asked how they know their plan will fit their block
What 34 people said, unprompted
The other half of this page is one open question I posted to two Reddit communities, r/AusFinance and r/AusPropertyChat: what are you looking for in a home? Thirty four people answered in their own words, with no options to pick from, and I coded every comment by hand into the themes below.
Storage. The most named want, from bathroom drawers to a spot for the vacuum.
Natural light and aspect. Living areas facing north, eaves sized for winter sun and summer shade, and one commenter whose dream house is a passive house.
Insulation and thermal comfort. Double glazing as standard, energy ratings shown on listings, and houses that hold their temperature without big bills.
Layout, flow and adaptability. Rooms that do double duty, a bedroom and bathroom on the ground floor for ageing in place, and no wasted hallways.
Build quality and materials. A smaller house built well over a bigger one built badly.
Cross ventilation. Windows across from each other, and airflow that cools the house without a machine.
Smaller done well over bigger. Character and proportion over floor area, though this was the one point the thread argued about.
Nothing in either thread prompted anyone about orientation, so light and aspect tying with storage at the top of a free text question is the strongest outside signal in either dataset.
What I am doing about it
Every plan on Dudils is reviewed by me so its living areas can face north, and the search starts from the block rather than the brochure. See which plans fit your block, or add your own answers to the survey.
Method and caveats
- The survey opened on 26 August 2026 and stays open. Every question can be skipped, so each figure on this page names how many people answered that question, not how many took the survey.
- It is a small, self selected sample, recruited through my own channels. Read it as direction, not statistics.
- The Reddit threads ran in late August 2026. The theme counts are my own hand coding of thirty four comments across the two, and most comments carried no visible vote counts, so every commenter counts once.
- Survey answers are anonymous unless a respondent chooses to leave an email, and nothing on this page can identify anyone.