Buying a house using the nBL assessment approach
Carlos Andres Solalinde Fleitas
University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
csolalindefl@student.unimelb.edu.au
1 Introduction
This work corresponds to Assignment 1 of the subject Sustainable Infrastructures Engineering. In this
work, the aim is to choose the best option to buy a house, based on the 4-bottom lines (Technical,
Environmental, Social and Economic). For the development of this work, some assumptions must be
made and the best options must be chosen from the list of existing properties in Appendix 1. Once the
properties to be analysed have been chosen, the metrics that will be taken into account to finally choose
the most appropriate property for the chosen situation will be determined. At the end of an analysis using
all of the above, the property that best meets the expectations will be chosen.
2 Methodology
The methodology of this work consists of first selecting the properties to be analysed. But for this, it is
necessary to make the assumption of the type of family that will live in the property. From me, I chose
a middle-class family of four members. The family is composed of a father who works in the city centre,
a mother and two children, being the mother the one in charge of taking care of the children. The family
plans to buy a house to live in.
Once the type of family has been determined, we select from the property options in Appendix 1, the
ones that we believe are most appropriate for the type of family chosen.
The properties selected were:
• Southbank.
• Caroline Springs.
• Manor Lakes.
• Frankston.
These properties were selected because, as we mentioned, this is a middle-class family, and these are
the ones that fall within the affordable price range, and are also suitable for a family to live in.
Once the properties to be analysed have been defined, we select the support metrics of the 4-bottom
lines.
The selected metrics are the following:
Economical
• Price. I consider that in relation to economics, this is the metric that best represents it. With it you
can see directly how much the purchase of each property will affect the family economically. In this
aspect, the highest score (5) is given to the lowest price, since this implies a lower economic impact
for the family. Therefore, the property with the highest cost will be given the lowest rating (1).
Technical
• Outer wall cladding. The material from which the house is made is an important factor in deciding
which house to choose. This is because a better or worse material will directly affect the sensation
of comfort inside the house, since worse materials will allow a greater passage of heat in the summer
and a greater sensation of cold in the winter. For this metric, the highest value is given to the most
resistant materials and the lowest to the weakest.
• Living Area. The space available within the home is of utmost importance for the comfort of the
family. When there are children in the family, they need space to develop their activities. Parents
also need enough space to relax, receive visitors, among other activities they can perform. Therefore,
a higher value will be given to properties with a larger area inside the house.
Buying a house using the nBL assessment approach for CVEN90043,
Copyright © 2022 Carlos Solalinde
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Social
• Distance to CBD. Considering that the father of the family must commute to work in the city centre,
a greater or lesser distance from home to his place of work will imply a greater or lesser amount of
time that he can spend with his family on a daily basis. That is why I consider this metric important
within the social aspect.
Environmental
• Annual energy consumption for heating/cooling. This metric is quite straightforward, since it
measures the energy consumption of each house, and therefore how much this would be affecting
the environment, knowing that the sources of electricity generation are usually polluting.
3 Results
Once the metrics to be evaluated for subsequent decision making were presented, their evaluations were
prepared with a scale of values corresponding to each metric, where 5 is the most optimal value and 1
is the least optimal.
The following table shows the values mentioned, which served as the basis for the elaboration of the
spider diagram to be used for the final decision making.
Option
Soutbank
Caroline Springs
Manor Lakes
Frankstone
Price
1
3.56
1.93
5
Living area
1
2.74
5
1.93
Annual energy
Outer wall cladding consumption for
heating/cooling
1
5
3
3
Distance to CBD
5
2.83
2.51
1
5
3.38
3.32
1
Table 1: Table of values for the elaboration of the spider diagram
Figure 1: Spider diagram with selected metrics for choosing a house
4 Discussion
After obtaining the results of the analysis, we must define which metrics we consider more or less
important. Personally, it seems to me that the quality of the housing materials is something extremely
important. Also, the price is too important a factor when making a decision as big as buying a house, as
it directly affects the family's finances.
Buying a house using the nBL assessment approach for CVEN90043,
Copyright © 2022 Carlos Solalinde
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Mentioning this, we can affirm that each house has its pros and cons. For example, the Soutbank property
has the advantage of being closer to the centre and having a lower energy consumption, but it has the
disadvantage of higher cost and less space. The Caroline Springs property, on the other hand, is quite
spacious, reasonably priced and with good materials but somewhat far from the centre. In the case of
the Manor Lakes property, it is the one with the best surface area but has a relatively high price. And
the Frankstone property is the cheapest, but it is the furthest from the centre and the one that consumes
the most energy, thus affecting the environment the most.
5 Conclusion
Finally, having analysed all the metrics presented above, it is decided that the most optimal option for
the family in question is the Caroline Springs property. This decision is made taking into account that it
is the property with the best quality of materials, one of the best prices and acceptable values in terms
of energy consumption and distance to the city centre. Although the other properties present very good
values in some of the metrics, the selected property is the one with the best overall balance of values.
This assignment has been very useful to put into practice what we have learned in the lectures, since we
applied the concepts of the nBL for decision making, in this case for the purchase of a house, but
knowing that this can be applied to different situations throughout our professional life.
Buying a house using the nBL assessment approach for CVEN90043,
Copyright © 2022 Carlos Solalinde
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