Is kitset housing a silver bullet?

It’s a great idea, which has potential to help solve at least some of our property woes, but like most things in life, there is more than one component to the story.

By now, every one of us is surely well-aware that New Zealand has a serious shortage of housing and a related housing-affordability crisis to deal with at the moment as well. In this situation, set against a background of the current global COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic uncertainty, lateral thinking has never been more necessary. Luckily, this is something that New Zealand designers and tradespeople are good at.

Call it what you will; kitset, prefabricated, or flat-pack housing is one option that has potential to help solve these interrelated problems - at least to some extent. Not surprisingly, it’s increasingly finding favour across the country, especially amongst prospective homeowners who’ve found it difficult and frustrating, trying to get onto the bottom rung of the great Kiwi housing ladder.

Various companies, including hardware giant, Bunnings Warehouse, have recently been developing a variety of kitset offerings at various price-points. While many of these packages cater to the growing trend for small and environmentally conscious homes, families in need of more space can generally still find options which will suit them.

Unfortunately, land prices in Auckland remain prohibitive, but kitset homes are increasingly popular in the provinces. Wannabe homeowners who expected to be forced to settle for a dingy do-up are finding themselves in pretty, fresh, bright houses where everything is new and built to last.

Many designs, found in mainstream kitset ranges come under the MBIE: Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s MultiProof scheme, designed to speed up the construction of new homes. Under this system, standardised designs with certain, modest variations can be pre-approved as complying with the building code. This means consent can be fast-tracked, saving up to three weeks waiting time, and in some cases this means lower consenting costs, as less work is required from the Building Consent Authority.

Unfortunately, there is another side to this seemingly hopeful story as the prospect of solving the housing crisis with kitset homes, although promising, is not as straightforward as it seems.

Along with a housing shortage, we also have a skills shortage and qualified tradespeople are in very high demand. It’s important to remember that builders alone can’t assemble these packages. Plumbers, electricians, glaziers, painters and any number of other experts are also involved.

It seems many Kiwis took last year’s extensive COVID-19 lockdowns as a time to contemplate their lives both then, now, and in the future. Home builds and renovations appear to have been high on the list for those who were saving money - in many cases unexpectedly, thanks to the indefinite suspension of most overseas travel.

As a result, tradespeople nationwide report being run off their feet and to compound the issue, massive pandemic-related backlogs in terms of imported materials mean that structural timber – especially – is in short supply, as are some types of paint.

While it’s naturally tempting to put kitset housing forward as an exclusive solution to the housing problems currently besetting us, builders who work in this field have expressed alarm at the simplistic nature of much reporting around the issue.

When an award-winning home was recently lauded by media as having been assembled in four days, tradespeople by the dozen appeared in the comments section pointing out that ‘assembled’ isn’t the same as ‘built’.

“Please remember to put this in context,” said user Abugogo2000, “This building was assembled in 4 days-not built.

“Factor in the design, time pre-fabricating this building, transport and site preparations,” the commenter continued, adding:

“This building still required builders and material, of which there is a serious shortage at the moment. I absolutely think there is a place for prefabrication, however it is not necessarily a quick and easy solution to the current housing crisis. Particularly when you factor in the scale (and isolation) of New Zealand.”

This commentary suggests that when supply chain issues are resolved - and when viewed in perspective, the kitset home proposition is definitely a promising tool in the New Zealand property supply toolbox – it’s just not the ultimate answer, at least not yet.