The ‘two religions’ of steel and timber battle it out in Ballarat, while John King keeps innovating to 8 star homes

How to build a better world podcast: John King reckons he’s found the recipe for sustainability success and profits, and it’s wrapped up in solutions that defy the crowd.

King’s business, JG King Building Group, was started 40 years ago by his father in Ballarat, about two hours west of Melbourne, and today it employs about 350 staff, providing housing for much of Victoria.

The company’s got a few things that make it a standout success, King says, but it comes with a bit of pressure from parts of the industry that think he should change its practice.

His use of steel, for instance.

Steel? In housing?

That’s pretty unusual in most parts of Australia, at least on the east coast. The pressure from the timber adherents who suggest he should come around to their way of thinking.

“We’re probably one of the few companies that builds every house with steel,” he tells the How to build a better world podcast.

 “And we certainly have a debate with the timber industry.”

But the carbon count, he says, “all comes down to where you get the timber from”.

“If you were logging timber, and it was just down the road from Ballarat, and using a mill that was local, it’d be hard to argue that you’ve got a better story than that piece of timber.

“But as you know, logging in Victoria is being frowned upon. There’s a good portion of the timber that we use for different products now comes from overseas.”

By the time you add in shipping and other transport components, the picture changes, “a lot”, he says.

“The steel we use gets mined in Australia, it gets smelted in Australia, rolled in Australia.”

And it’s very light, he adds, which is not something that springs instantly to the mind of most people in thinking about steel.

King says on a comparative size basis, it’s about a quarter of the weight.

“Two people can lift a large wall frame or a large truss; the same truss or wall frame in timber is a lot heavier.”

The thing about steel is that it doesn’t have to be very big or very thick to do the job.

Wall frames need to be rolled to a thickness of just five or seven millimetres. It can also be bent into the shape you want. When it’s locked together, “it’s as strong as a timber frame”.

The company uses a “true core” system with steel from BlueScope, and it can control the output to a fine degree, so there’s no waste. If there is waste, it goes straight back to the furnace for recycling.

You can’t do that with timber, he points out.

Besides, a third of the steel in Australia needs to have recycled content.

King says the adherents of each material are so passionate that it’s almost like the “two religions” of Apple iMac and other PCs.

We’re not surprised about the pressure, given we’ve been hearing about similar behaviour towards the adherents of alternative and even traditional materials such as bamboo and hemp seeking to reinvent themselves and go mainstream.

So, what does it feel like as a business owner working outside the box?

After such a long time, King has no intention of changing. In fact, he’s also innovating in energy performance, leaving behind the parts of the housing industry that are still complaining about the minimum energy standard being raised to 7 star NatHERS.

And at minimal additional cost. And that’s before the benefits of having next to no heating or cooling costs.

The houses the company is putting to market are at 8 star NatHERS, he says, and with a Whole of Home rating of close to 100, it means there’s little need to heat or cool the place.

One secret he’s figured out is windows. In order to meet the standard, which was assiduously opposed by the housing industry lobbies, such as the Housing Industry Association and the Master Builders Australia, many builders have resorted to reducing the size and number of windows in a house. Even to the extent of removing windows from bathrooms altogether.

That’s not okay. It’s a kind of unthinking, uncreative way to meet the rules.

“I’m a huge advocate for builders to use better windows, because that’s still the smoking gun with what we do.

“We can’t do any more with insulation. We can’t do any more with gaps and cracks. We can’t do any more with the claddings we use. If you look at the numbers, half of your energy losses [are] through your windows. Well, you’ve got to address that.

“And I don’t think making the windows smaller or removing them is improving the product for a customer,” he adds, but it turns out that is exactly what some builders and developers are doing to meet the new targets.

King, instead, innovates and investigates.

Today, he imports high quality European windows from Germany, and he’s found new materials to break the thermal bridge that allows heat to escape or enter.

These are more expensive, but as he committed to selling the product for very close to the original price, there are another few innovations he’s found.

The podcast reveals a lot more. Take a listen!