Does Anyone Have Experience Building a Designer Kit Home in Australia?

900dollaridoos on 06/05/2024 - 16:13

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is…

The rise in fancy kit home ads are starting to get to me. With the current housing climate, it would appear to be a no-brainer to buy land and slap on of THESE bad bois on it, particularly in a place like Tasmania, where housing prices have risen enough to be annoying but quality-location land is still at bargain prices.

FAQs quote and expected total cost of "double the kit price, plus 10%", which still seems like a good deal.

So, what are your horror stories?

Budget blow outs? Councils being council-like? Hidden costs? Horrible build quality (like seemingly all Aussie homes built in the last 10 years)??

(Please ruin my pipe dream so I can stop thinking about it)

Home & Garden

Comments

  • Duckie2hh on 06/05/2024 - 16:19
    +4

    Looks nice, let us know how it goes OP

    • 900dollaridoos on 06/05/2024 - 16:29
      +1

      I went bankrupt and a year over plan just thinking about it :(

  • pharkurnell on 06/05/2024 - 16:23
    -1

    Does it matter if the place in the link looks like shit?

    • 900dollaridoos on 06/05/2024 - 16:30
      +2

      Aesthetically or quality?

      Aesthetically I'd be quite happy to live in a place with a big ol mezzanine style interior. Don't find the exterior as ugly as the classical suburbia copy pastes. Each to their own I guess?

    • GordonD on 06/05/2024 - 19:46

      If you think that one looks like shit, there's plenty more from that company that look just as shit. And maybe one or two that don't, depending on your particular taste.

  • mskeggs on 06/05/2024 - 16:29
    +3

    If you are happy with the exact default kit, and not seeking to make customizations, and you are a tradie with lots of other tradie mates who owe you favours, it's probably a good deal.

    All the kit does is give you a precise bill of materials for that design, plans and the materials.

    You still need everything not included, like labour, council, foundations, utilities etc. and someone to manage the whole thing.

    If the full bill in a place with a skilled labour shortage like Tassie was only double and a bit the materials, I'd be surprised.

    • 900dollaridoos on 06/05/2024 - 16:31

      If the full bill in a place with a skilled labour shortage like Tassie was only double and a bit the materials, I'd be surprised.

      Yeah that's what I'm after. There's apparently so many people that are doing it/have done it but I can't find a single post-build budget breakdown.

  • Miami Mall Alien on 06/05/2024 - 16:42
    -1

    There's literally a cottage industry of YouTubers vlogging about their tiny home/kit home lifestyle on YouTube.

    Personally, to me it looks like a sexed up, WEF-approved "pod" home where you can play your part in their utopian vision of "owning nothing and being happy" by 2030 (brought to you by Carls Jr and Brawndo of course).

    Even with gigantic plots of land, unless you're planning on homesteading, permaculture and some kind of ye-olde pastoralist lifestyle, it seems utterly pointless to me.

    You can take the prison cell out of the prison and put it on a 40-acre forest plot and…. well, it's still a prison cell but with prime views.

    • 900dollaridoos on 06/05/2024 - 20:02
      +2

      Cool but I don't want a tiny home either. That one I linked is bigger than my rental and most other kits are bigger still.

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 06/05/2024 - 17:01

    Homer: Hey! Then I could follow my dream— living in the woods and keeping a journal of my thoughts.

    March 15th. I wish I brought a TV. Oh, God, how I miss TV.

  • CheapandUsed on 06/05/2024 - 17:08
    +2

    Biggest hurdle from what I have read is finance. Banks are hesitant to lend unless you go with a project builder (which ironically are the ones going bankrupt every other day).

    If you could get a loan to purchase the land and use cash to do the build it might be possible.

    The kit providers usually have a project plan for how to assemble, so you could owner build (do some or none of the work yourself - organize site insurance and warranty, capture certificates from every trade who works on it) or hand the whole project over to a licensed builder. Both options have challenges.

  • 0FoxGiven on 06/05/2024 - 18:30
    +2

    This is just the kit. If you can't build it up yourself, the cost of hiring labour to get everything done will probably end up costing you more than what a volume builder would charge you.

  • shaybisc on 06/05/2024 - 18:40
    +2

    Just playing around with the link to the Tawonga kit. Colorbond cladding, which I prefer, adds $2,444. Shiplap cedar timber cladding, $24,252. You would have to be very keen on cedar cladding.

  • GordonD on 06/05/2024 - 19:54

    Had a need to build a house on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. As you might imagine, Builders aren't thick on the ground there, and supplies of building materials have to be shipped from Australia. If you find you forgot to order something you need, you can't just drop down to the local Bunnings, you've got to order it, get it put on the next supply boat, and wait. It seemed the obvious choice was a kit home - so you knew you had everything you need - from a Perth company. Turned out the kits were from France. Which made the suitability of the styles and construction to a tropical island a bit problematic.

    • 900dollaridoos on 06/05/2024 - 20:05

      What did you end up going with? If it was a kit, can you shed some light on the costs etc?

  • Wiadro on 06/05/2024 - 20:22
    +3

    they have so many weird plans houses with no front doors.
    its like all AI generated

    • kiitos on 07/05/2024 - 07:55

      It depends how the house is oriented as to if the door is front or rear.

  • ihbh on 07/05/2024 - 07:26

    There's one as a granny flat in a median house price area of around $3m nearbyish near a golf course on Sydney's North Shore. I"ll check again to make sure when I go past it. It's an area with old houses with a new build that stood out in a positive way for a few years.

    I remember walking past the first time and stopping to look for 5 minutes thinking what an innovative build! There are a lot of barn-like structures on Grand Designs.

  • kiitos on 07/05/2024 - 08:03
    +1

    I think it looks nice.

    The devil will be in the add ons, eg an extra 7K+ for the double glazing you'd need for those windows in Tas.

    For me, if I had lots of land like that in Tassie, I'd prefer a single storey house rather than climbing stairs as I got older.

  • altomic on 07/05/2024 - 08:21

    Shipping container house

  • 2esc on 07/05/2024 - 10:15
    +1

    Kit homes have always been a good option but only if your very handy yourself with good eye for detail, organized and good finances plus a good network of tradie contacts or friends.

    Moving a existing house also use to be a good cheap option but thise houses a no longer available cheap.

    Our family second home my parents moved from Yallourn when they wanted to expand the Latrobe open cut. Their third and current house was a ex CRB house from Bairnsdale which cost $2000 35 years ago. Mind you its been extensively renovated over the years.

  • TheOtherLeft on 07/05/2024 - 14:41
    +1

    I laugh at the thought of retirees living in those tiny houses built on trailers. Yes having an 80 yr old climbing a set of stairs most would call a ladder to their "bedroom" is a brilliant idea.

    • 900dollaridoos on 07/05/2024 - 16:22

      Cool but that's not at all what this company is about. Granted the one I linked is two storey though.

  • ihbh on 12/05/2024 - 10:00
    +1

    Don't know if this is an architecturally designed build or multiple variations of your kit home. The cladding outside looks close.

    https://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/22732/112455/pxl_20240…
    https://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/22732/112456/pxl_20240…
    https://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/22732/112457/pxl_20240…

    • 900dollaridoos on 14/05/2024 - 07:35

      Oh neat, do you mind telling what state this was?

      • ihbh on 14/05/2024 - 07:41

        See my comment above.

        • Nugs on 14/05/2024 - 09:15
          +1

          huh?
          .

          • ihbh on 14/05/2024 - 10:22
            +2

            @Nugs: There's one as a granny flat in a median house price area of around $3m nearbyish near a golf course on Sydney's North Shore. I"ll check again to make sure when I go past it. It's an area with old houses with a new build that stood out in a positive way for a few years.

            I remember walking past the first time and stopping to look for 5 minutes thinking what an innovative build! There are a lot of barn-like structures on Grand Designs.

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