Anyone who has seen Grand Designs knows that building a new home from scratch can be an expensive and time-consuming process. With so many variables and things that can go wrong, a lifelong dream can easily turn into a stressful and expensive nightmare.
But EasyBuild, a 100% New Zealand-owned and operated business selling modular homes, wants to prove that it doesn’t have to be that way. The company sells flatpack standalone and multi-unit homes that can be constructed in half the time of a traditional build and at a lower cost, making it easier than ever for Kiwis to get into a brand new home, or complete housing development and investment projects faster.
With more than 25 different designs to choose from, the company can pump out three houses a week from its factory in Upper Hutt. The homes are then flat packed, put in a container and sent off to sites around the country, where clients with building or DIY expertise can either put them together themselves or, as is recommended, have them assembled by one of the trained teams of licensed professionals the company works with throughout the country.
EasyBuild Co-founder and Director Mike Fox describes the homes as being "the Ikea of the building industry" and says modular housing has the potential to play a major role in easing New Zealand's housing crisis, especially given recent RMA changes and council regulations now allowing for greater housing density in urban areas.
"They can be built twice as fast as a conventional home, you can use semi-skilled people to erect them, and they're energy-efficient and affordable," he says.
Fox says modular housing offers a much-needed alternative to our traditional way of construction, which focuses on building "bespoke" homes on site.
"We need to be able to give the consumer a choice," he says.
"You can buy a good-value house that is pre-consented and pre-designed. You can make some tweaks to it, you can get it quickly and you can save a bunch of money. Or you go for the traditional method [where] you wait a long time to get your house, you pay a lot more and it's put together piecemeal on site."
Fox compares EasyBuild homes to a Toyota Corolla - a high-quality product, produced in a highly efficient way that doesn't cost the earth.
"The reason that we can do things affordably and quickly is because we are doing lots of the same thing. We use the same methodology all the time, which enables us to get economies of scale - and that is where the traditional industry falls down."
Fox says the construction method the company uses is similar to what exists in Scandinavia but has been adapted for local conditions and "turned into a New Zealand system". And although he likens the homes to giant Ikea kit sets, Fox also points out they differ from other kit-set houses, where essentially you are just sold a "big pile of materials and you put it together".
"What we've done is taken the prefabrication that we do in the factory to a high level, so that when the walls come out they have the windows installed, they have the insulation already in them, and everything's already pre-cut - so you're basically assembling a big Meccano set."
Modular housing also has environmental benefits, with total build waste reduced by up to two-thirds of that of a conventional build due to the fact the houses are largely made in the factory.
Once on site, a trained team will generally have the homes watertight within seven to ten days, with the construction period taking around 12 weeks in total. All house designs also have MultiProof approval from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, making the consenting process much quicker and easier than that of a conventional build, with Fox estimating it normally takes half the time to cut through the red tape and gain consent.
And because the houses range in size from one-bedroom, 38-square-metre homes to four-bedroom 176-square-metre homes, and there are standalone, duplex and multi-unit options, EasyBuild’s modular homes are suitable for all types of people and styles of living.
Fox says they are particularly popular with existing homeowners looking to unlock more value from their land by subdividing their property or building a minor dwelling to rent out to tenants or tourists. They’re also popular with clients who have multigenerational living requirements, and for larger scale development projects in medium density housing areas.
And while he is aware modular housing won't appeal to people who want a unique, bespoke house, Fox firmly believes that by giving people more choice as to what sort of home they can build, the concept can play a role in getting more Kiwis into warm, affordable housing sooner.
"We're not all things to all people. We are about providing really robust, high-quality, energy-efficient, affordable homes that can be built quickly and will stand the test of time."
Article created in partnership with EasyBuild.
