Cheaper 'cookie-cutter' homes urged

ROBERT KITCHIN/The Dominion Post

OUR HOUSE: Emmanuel and Jann Andis chose a standardised plan for their new home in Porirua and moved in three months ago. They say they have already put their individual stamp on it.

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Forget the customised quarter-acre dream home – Kiwis need to embrace more standardised designs to help first homes become affordable again, building research company Branz says.

It calls in a new report for more "modularisation" of housing, rather than building one-off designs.

The recommendation is one of six in the report, which found productivity in the building industry has steadily declined over the past 20 years – falling by about 0.1 per cent a year – while other industries increased at about 0.2 per cent.

One reason for the lower productivity was an abundance of custom-designed houses, which took more time and manpower for less output, the report said.

Companies that offered standardised housing designs were more productive, and could offer houses at about 15 per cent less cost.

Modularisation, where components of buildings are built in factories then assembled on site, could also offer further savings.

In the United States, about 90 per cent of new houses were built by builders or developers and then sold, compared with 10 per cent here, Branz chief Pieter Burghout said. Instead, Kiwis preferred to design and build their own houses.

More "cookie-cutter" designs, by which companies offered standard blueprints, could be cheaper, and built more efficiently, he said.

Savings could be made in consent costs, where one consent was issued for a blueprint, and materials, where companies could buy in bulk instead of smaller, one-off orders.

Building more affordable houses would help get more first-home buyers into the market, he said.

Realestate.co.nz chief executive Alistair Helm said standardisation could be embraced by New Zealanders, provided there were ways to individualise homes.

But Melling Morse Architects partner Gerald Melling said standardisation of house design was a horrible idea that would dumb down New Zealand's housing stock.

Ways had to be found to make architecture relevant to the lower end of the market, he said.

Bureaucracy had to be trimmed to make it easier to build original homes cheaply.

The Branz report also highlighted skill levels, management, and regulation and compliance costs as areas that needed addressing to improve productivity.

Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson said modularisation was one way forward, but not all housing should follow that path. Standardisation was just one way to improve productivity.

OFF-THE-PLAN DREAM HOME

Jann and Emmanuel Andis may have built their home off a standardised plan, but it still feels like their dream home.

For the Porirua couple, who both work in IT, the benefit of picking a plan from Stonewood Homes was the smoothness of the process.

The couple had built before, but none of the problems they previously encountered happened with the standardised home, Mrs Andis, 40, said. The house was exactly what they wanted. "The finish is just so superior to anything we've had before."

Custom building required a clear idea of what you wanted and any changes could mess with the design. "It's so easy to make mistakes."

Although there were other houses of the same design in their area, different choices for cladding or roofing materials meant each house reflected its owners. "They all look very different. That's where people's individuality comes in – they get to stamp their mark on it."

Their home has four bedrooms, a study, family room, lounge and dining room. Excluding the section, it cost about $291,000.

AVERAGE BUILDING COSTS

Standard basic 3-bedroom house in Wellington:$1200 a square metre. Average size: 140sqm = $168,000 building costs.

One-off three-bedroom home with some customised features, modest quality: $1400 per sqm. Average size: 160sqm = $224,000 ($196,000 at 140sqm).

Executive four-bedroom, architect-designed one-off with high-quality features/materials: $2000 per sqm. Average size 240sqm = $480,000.

Figures supplied by Branz

- © Fairfax NZ News