Say goodbye to the classic Queenslander and say hello to the new and improved prefab box builds set to become the face of Aussie real estate.
The idea of pre-fabricated homes is nothing new, even here on Build-it. Housing groups and Ministers have been talking for years about these manufactured mansions being the way forward for a housing construction sector plagued with project delays and cost hikes.
With homes being built to order offsite and carted in on the day, it’s not hard to see where they’re coming from. By doing away with weeks (or even months) of tradie work on site, prefab construction has the potential to have a freestanding home up and running 20 per cent faster than you’re everyday builder, with timelines only getting shorter as the technology hits the mainstream.
But a few major roadblocks have been holding up Australia from becoming a prefab paradise. Ambiguous regulations over the last decade have made it hard for owners and builders alike to get approvals from local councils and even more confusing over what they can and can’t fabricate offsite.
A 2022 review by the Housing Industry Association also found that inspectors struggled to sign off on work being done out of sight on the factory floor and big banks often flat-out refused to financially back modular builds, causing the supposed silver bullet to the housing crisis to lose steam right out of the gate.
That is, until now. New South Wales has just made major strides in bringing prefab construction back into the picture, announcing they would double down on the “non-traditional method” and cut through the red tape that has held up progress.
Coming as part of the state’s latest push for public housing in and around Sydney’s increasingly unaffordable suburbs, prefab social homes are being sold as the backbone for quick, affordable housing that will put a roof over thousands of Aussie families.
While the government is still locking horns with local councils, Premier Chris Minns said the trial will prove modular housing is possible at scale and would play a big part in overcoming obstacles standing in the way of wider adoption.
“There are still councils in metropolitan Sydney that won’t allow modular housing, notwithstanding the fact that we clearly have a housing crisis right across the state,” Mr Minns told reporters on Monday.
“We are pulling every lever we can to tackle the housing crisis, and today is an important milestone in our work to utilise non-traditional methods of delivering more homes, sooner rather than later.”
If successful, NSW would see a first-ever statewide minimum quality standard for prefab homes, opening up the gates for improved certification processes and funding pathways for private home sales down the track.
Member for Wollongong Paul Scully said the push for prefab in areas where housing has become unaffordable for Aussies on an average wage just “makes sense”.
“Modular and modern methods of construction are used to produce award-winning architecturally designed homes in a timely and efficient manner,” he said.
“I welcome not only the use of new and innovative methods of construction that are used the world over to trial them to build more social housing in Wollongong – it is a sensible use of new technology to try and solve a long-term housing waiting list.”
It remains to be seen how councils will push back against the prefab pressure, but Minns said going forward, every Aussie should have the choice to build a modular dwelling in their backyard.
“And if that’s being blocked by the local council, well that’s a big problem,” he added.
A national agenda
While NSW might be leading the charge, prefab construction has become a hot topic in every state and territory as the home building sector recovers from one of its worst runs in construction history.
Building ministers across the country already agreed earlier this year to put the screws to their regulators in the hopes of finally cutting through the red tape and dropping some barriers to getting the job done.
But Property Council Chief Executive Mike Zorbas warned that there was a long road ahead to beat back decades of regulatory resistance.
“Amidst rising taxes and construction, land, planning and capital costs, we are starting to see some of the stronger Planning Ministers improve their planning systems and argue for a government bias towards greater project investment and greater use of modular and prefabricated housing,” said Zorbas.
“Although challenging and requiring large-scale production, green shoots of industrialised construction can be seen around the country.
“We need to invest in innovation and establish secure demand pipelines to scale up industrialised construction.”
