Candice Larson
These days, interested home kit buyers can choose from many different types of factory-built kit homes available. They can select from prefabricated modular homes that arrive on-site partially constructed, to those that are delivered flat packed and assembled by a small team of tradespeople.
Kit homes are just as well-constructed as custom homes, too. They have to be, because they are subject to the same high Australian Standards as all other homes are. They have to go through the building inspection process during construction in the plant and after delivery.
If you're thinking of building a new home, don't stay stuck in the past. Consider kit homes as carefully as you consider your other options. You may be surprised by what you discover.
Log kit homes are popular for many reasons, especially for people who want to get away from crowded city living and settle in a more remote area. Log homes are usually constructed from milled logs that are pre-drilled to accept the wiring for electrical connections.
Log homes are desirable because they’re made from sustainable materials and are energy efficient, thanks to the thermal mass of the logs.
For the timber framed home, the buyer chooses what he wants the home to look like, and the home builders send out a skeleton that matches those specifications. With the home’s skeleton already built, the homeowner is free to add any customizations he desires around the skeleton.
A panel home is a home where large chunks of the home are already put together. Items like wall sections and trusses are designed and made in a factor, and shipped to the builder, who just has to match them up and put them into place.
Some people even order structural insulated panels. These panels have all the insulation and wiring that the homeowner needs built in, which means that you have very little to do other than put the walls in the correct places.
As families have begun to try and care for their aging parents and grandparents for longer, granny flat kit homes have become increasingly popular as a way to have your loved ones living near you, though not with you. This often extends the period of time that elderly relatives can live autonomously, greatly improving their quality of life, as well as allowing the family to stay living in the same area together for longer.
