Passive House Builders

Build With Integrity. Live Better.

The Zimmermann Oz are Passive House builders creating high-performance homes for how you live now — and for the long term.

Our homes aren’t just designed to look good — they’re designed to work. Every line, junction, and material is considered. Every decision is made to support comfort, air quality, and long-term performance.

We follow Passive House principles using airtightness, insulation, ventilation, and material choices to create homes that stay comfortable year-round, with less energy and cleaner air.

Whether you’re building in Melbourne or Brisbane, our approach is tailored to your climate, your site, and your lifestyle. With over 15 years of experience and certified Passive House expertise, we build homes that perform quietly, consistently, and exactly as intended.

If you care about how your home feels, functions and lasts — we build for that.

Why Passive House?

A home should feel good to live in, every day, in every season. Passive House is a performance standard that makes that possible.

It’s a certified building method, backed by building science and proven around the world.
By setting measurable performance targets, it reduces energy demand while enhancing the way people live, yielding tangible results in comfort, air quality, and efficiency.

At TZO, we apply Passive House principles to every build - because when a home performs well, life inside it does too.

Passive House buildings are carefully designed to:

  • Maintain stable indoor temperatures all year

  • Deliver constant filtered air with low noise and no draughts

  • Minimise energy use for heating and cooling — up to 90% less than standard builds

How? Through five key principles:

  • Airtight construction to prevent heat loss and air leakage

  • High-performance insulation for year-round thermal control

  • Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (HRV) for fresh, clean air

  • Thermal bridge-free detailing to prevent cold spots and condensation

  • Smart window placement and solar control tuned to your site and climate

Whether certified or built to Passive House standards, the outcome is the same: a home that feels calm, costs less to run, and performs well long into the future.

Our Services

  • New home builds

    We specialise in certified Passive House new builds — architecturally considered, energy-efficient homes that bring comfort, performance, and design integrity together.

    Our homes are not just efficient — they’re beautiful, too. We believe in cohesive, considered design from the big picture to the smallest detail — from building orientation through to tapware, tiling, and internal finishes. Every element is selected to support both liveability and longevity.

  • TZO Homes

    For clients seeking a streamlined pathway to building, we offer a curated range of TZO-exclusive Passive House home designs — crafted for energy efficiency, tailored to your site, and designed to perform for the long term.

  • Renovations

    We also deliver major renovations and Passive House upgrades for clients looking to elevate the comfort, performance, or design of their existing home.

Built for the Long Term

Every Zimmermann Oz home reflects our belief in clarity, performance, and lasting quality.

We build with care. From the first slab to the last internal finish, our process is deliberate, measured, and driven by Passive House discipline.

Good homes don’t just happen. They’re built with intention, precision, and trust.

Every home we build is backed by a 20-year structural warranty — a testament to our precision, process, and commitment to quality.

How We Build

We understand — this is your home. It should feel right from the beginning and continue to deliver comfort and confidence for years to come.

At Zimmermann Oz, we manage the entire process. From initial consultation to handover, our team guides every stage, so you’re never left juggling designers, estimators, or trades. We handle it all with clarity and care.

You’ll receive a detailed, fixed-price quote, a clear scope of works, and a black-and-white walk- through — so you know exactly what’s included. We also offer the option of a full 3D walk-through of your home design, so you can visualise the space with confidence before the build begins.

Our homes are grounded in Passive House principles and shaped by German-informed building discipline. We focus on craft, thermal performance, and long-term durability — from insulation and airtightness to window placement and internal finishes.

We’re committed to quality, not just at handover, but for the life of the home. Every build comes with a 20-year structural warranty, because craftsmanship should last.

Where We Build

With offices in both Melbourne and Brisbane, we build homes that respond to the climate and conditions of your region.

In Victoria, our Passive House builds are designed to retain warmth in winter while staying cool through dry summer heat. In Queensland, our approach prioritises solar management, air quality, and passive cooling — using shading, ventilation, and material choices suited to subtropical conditions.

We design homes that make sense for where you live.

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The Passivhaus Principle

 

  • Passive housing is an energy efficient standard that seeks to optimise heating and cooling through various construction materials, methods and building design. Passive house builds can reduce energy consumption by 90%.

    It originated in Europe in the mid 1980s when low energy design had become a legal requirement for new buildings in Sweden and Denmark.

    Dr Feist, known as the father of the Passive house movement, developed scientific foundations of the standard by quantifying energy losses in a building.

    With his work with Bo Adamson, they came up with several fundamental components of buildings that would result in greater thermal efficiencies in buildings.

    Click here to read more about Australia’s new energy efficient standard.

  • Passive house builds use insulation of around 90-400mm thickness which helps minimize cold bridging and protects from thermal stress.

  • Often caused by leaky fabric and openings in places such as bathroom fans, airtightness refers to the cold draughts from these openings which would cause occupant discomfort. The passive standard seeks to avoid these cold draughts to save energy and improves occupant comfort.

    This requires particular design and care from the construction team. We work with architects and designers to ensure building design is considered draught-free construction.

  • In passive house builds double or triple glazing are almost totally draught free. These high quality windows and doors eliminate risk of condensation and mould growth and ensure airtightness of the building.

    Installation is imperative to the airtightness of buildings which is why we take care in the installation process.

  • A well designed, installed and commissioned heat recovery ventilation saves around 90% of heat in stale air extracted from bathrooms and kitchens.

    It also improves indoor air quality in urban locations and reduces airborne particulates which can cause adverse health effects.

 

Contact us.

Let’s Build Better
Homes that feel right, perform well, and stand the test of time.