Prefabricated houses

[Melbournian]

Has anyone build a prefabricated house?
What are some people's opinions about the design and durability of the house

Has anyone also imported a prefabricated house from overseas?

 

[Ausprop]

Yep, they are great. financing them is the problem. plus they are not really competitive in most areas of australia...project home builders offer better value

 

[RumpledElf]

Building one right now - finance is painful. We can't actually get preapproval for a loan so we're having to be 'creative'.

Working out quite a bit cheaper than a brick veneer house for us, but then every dollar counts. People with a bigger budget probably wouldn't be so fussed at the difference between $110k and $140k, but we are.

 

[sports fan]

grands designs on the abc did a story on this german pre-fab builder last week..

http://www3.huf-haus.com/gb/intro.html

the huf houses are built in the factory then is assemblied together onsite with a crane in 3-4 days

 

[yadreamin]

New kid on the block l was reading about on the weekend

CreATE House
worth a look and could help in reducing the cost of remote housing

www.createhouse.com.au


l dont have any thing to do with this group, l am just impressed by their product

cheers

 

[Ausprop]

New kid on the block l was reading about on the weekend

CreATE House
worth a look and could help in reducing the cost of remote housing

www.createhouse.com.au


l dont have any thing to do with this group, l am just impressed by their product

cheers

any clues what these things cost? a lot of these sorts of things tend to come in at a similar price to just building on site (hard to beat those project builders!)

 

[lizzie]

any clues what these things cost? a lot of these sorts of things tend to come in at a similar price to just building on site (hard to beat those project builders!)

i too found the prices similar - if not dearer - but it comes down to time. they can put the house up and working in days, whereas the project builders take months.

 

[Aaron Sice]

i've designed a single module 3x1 transportable that's 83sqm and a 3x1.

one truck, hydraulic lifters and it's there. no police escorts req'd either.

my design is about the same cost as getting an old house for free, transporting and restumping.

 

[Savanna100]

Any sketches of that Aaron ?, I'd be interested in knowing more, I've got a pretty keen interest in pre-fabs.

 

[yadreamin]

any clues what these things cost? a lot of these sorts of things tend to come in at a similar price to just building on site (hard to beat those project builders!)

Na sorry Ausprop l dont know costs.
They are based in Darwin. The beauty of this product is it all get shipped to site in one container no road pilot needed, unlike other transportable homes which l imagine adds to the costs.

 

[yadreamin]

A few years back l watched someone make some serious dollars by transporting a home.
I dont know the end profit.

Bought a subdivided block in Leederville. This suburb is know for its period homes and its a trendy little area close to the city and upmarket Subiaco.
So they bought the block then went searching through little country towns and eventually discovered a period style house that could be moved and witha good reno bought it right up to scratch for this trendy area.
They picked up this country house for under 40k
Moved it
Renoed it
It looked a treat and looked like it had grown there
Then sold it.
At the time it was for approx 600k.
Not a bad little earner for thinking outside the square.
Country towns a full of these little gems.


cheers

 

[dave_olol]

I've been looking at prefab, and I have funds available to finance the building from a LOC. But was wondering whether it is easier to refinance once built and tenanted or is financing still a problem? Has any one got experience with this?

Also has any one built a prefab in suburban area or are most people only building them in rural/mining areas?

I was thinking along the lines of RumpledElf - that every dollar counts and if i can save $20-30k on the build it would be worth it. As I'm looking at the lower end of the rental market.

I was also thinking of rendering or cladding the prefab so it looks less like a prefab - does anyone think this is worth it?

Would appreciate everyones thoughts. Thanks.

 

[RumpledElf]

I wouldn't render or reclad. Check out some different prefab builders - the one we are going with has a facade option with a nicer weatherboard and lots of other decorative features. They have a kind of old-fashioned QLDer type of feel and look lovely with a cottage garden. The facade upgrade with this builder was about $5k I think, and it is well worth it. There's a new estate near here where they have done a few massive ones in that style on slabs.

Completed modern upgraded-facade transportables in this town sell *extremely* well at not much less than brick ones. The older (probably well over 15 years old) transportables that are either plain low-end boards or worse, fake brick sheets or plain unclad sheeting are the cheapest houses in this town. For good reason, they are small, have awful kitchens and bathrooms and they look horrible lol

 

[RumpledElf]

An FYI ...
This is not my photo, but it is the style of house I am building. The photo comes from a thread where some nosy fellow is documenting all the interesting new builds in the town ... gotta love country towns!

 

[Melbournian]

Building one right now - finance is painful. We can't actually get preapproval for a loan so we're having to be 'creative'.

Working out quite a bit cheaper than a brick veneer house for us, but then every dollar counts. People with a bigger budget probably wouldn't be so fussed at the difference between $110k and $140k, but we are.

Any pictures? I am thinking of getting a pre-fabricated house from china to install here. Obviously looking at saving costs.

 

[RumpledElf]

Very similar to the photo above except no carport, up higher and we haven't chosen colours yet. The floorplan on that house is the 3br on-site variant of ours, but the transportable version has exacly the same finish just on stumps, so it is higher and has steps on each door.

 

[dave_olol]

Hi RumpledElf,
That photo looks great, do you mind mentioning who your supplier is? As I be interested at looking at their designs and prices.

I've been looking at these guys (http://www.flatpackkithomes.com.au/home.php) which seem like pretty decent designs and prices. I'd be interested in your impression from the website of the guys above relative to the guys you have been using.

Having said that I'll looking at building in SEQ and I'm assuming your guys are in SA, so I'm not sure that I could use your guys but it would still be interesting to compare.
Also how long does it take from slab/stumps to lock up with your guys? The guys above reckon that it is only 5 days?
Thanks,
Dave

 

[RumpledElf]

I think this builder bought out a QLD builder, but the QLD branch doesn't get such good reviews as the original SA one. They are Rivergum Homes. They aren't the cheapest *or* the most expensive we looked at.

Not sure where 5 days comes from. We were told 9-10 months and we are at month 4 now. It is an inordinately slow process. We haven't even chosen our colours/taps/carpet yet, nor has it gone to council, where it will sit for more months waiting approval. Our subdivision to get the land to build this place took us near on 18 months but we weren't exactly rushing things ...

I'd imagine it is only a few days to put the house on site though, depending on how fast you can rouse Telstra, a plumber and your water corp. You need to prep the site first, with dolomite over compacted soil. And how your soil test comes back, they do different stumps on some soil types.

 

[Melbournian]

Does anyone know of prefabricated houses post sale prices.? Also which banks provide financing for these?

 

[Matt007]

If you want an Australian Modular or Stick Built home, check out the Smarter Small Home. It's a small lot home so only needs 300m2 or is also suited for townhouse lots. Comes in 2, 3 and 4 bed versions, double storey, and a uni accomm version.

90% less building waste
40% less carbon emissions
40% less embodied energy
85% less less building toxicity.
4-6 week construction times (region dependent)

If you'd like more information, photos etc, email me: [email protected]