A render showing one of the homes to be built out of the pre-fabricated “Lego” parts.
Australia’s biggest builder has just finished its first two prefabricated modular homes in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
And almost everything except the slab was made in China.
Metricon has unveiled the pair of new residences in Truganina that were completed in the span of just 20 days, among the fastest ever built in Australia and about a third of the normal timeline for the builder that expects to create 4500 new residences via traditional methods nationwide this year.
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Incredibly it took just four days to build the main structure, including getting the walls and roof installed to a weatherproof and lockup standard, as well as having a fully functional bathroom.
The builds come with the bathroom in a single module, as well as a series of wall and floor panels that are put together “like Lego” on site.
Even the carpets are pre-cut and shipped in a box to go into the home.
Metricon chief executive Brad Duggan said while the materials were made in China, the buildings were still “Aussie built” in Melbourne to rigorous Australian standards — and he believed homebuyers would be open to the “amazing” results that had exceeded his expectations.
Workers on site as one of the pre-fabricated wall modules is craned into place at the Metricon build site in Truganina.
“The most important thing for us is that we don’t compromise on quality,” Mr Duggan said.
“And the tradies that worked on this project were really surprised with the quality going into the homes.
“I think we have to be open to trying and finding more productive and affordable ways to build homes. And this is a good step in that direction to see where innovation can take the market.”
While he said he did not see the builds taking over from traditional construction, the chief executive said with the nation falling short of its building targets it needed “as many guns firing as possible” to solve the housing crisis.
“We are behind already, so we are looking at this as in addition to, rather than replacing traditional builds,” Mr Duggan said.
“But it’s got a little way to go to make it fully economically viable. But built at scale, those cost overruns will quickly start to erode themselves.”
The novel build process had the home’s main structure erected in just four days.
Jeff Xu, the Melbourne man behind Signex, which established the blueprints for the modular homes that are put together at a factory in China, said while his firm had built just eight residences so far from its modules and prefabricated panels and had spent years waiting for Chinese manufacturing to develop the standard needed for Aussie homes, they were expecting to build hundreds in the year ahead.
“Our system is a hybrid system, the main build of the house is panels, and a module for the bathroom — it’s like Lego,” Mr Xu said.
“And we are now ready to scale up.”
The firm currently has another 200 residences on order, and were discussing a further 300 with developers and major builders around the country.
“This is not about one, two, three, four, this is about one, 100, 1000,” he said.
“And the residents of the homes so far have loved them.”
Jeff Xu spent years developing homes in Melbourne before turning his sights on pre-fabricated housing. Picture: Britta Campion / The Australian.
While Mr Xu said that with enough resources and the right conditions the approach could probably build 240,000 homes a year, in line with Albanese government hopes, the reality was that the approach was probably better suited to complement existing building which would make more sense in most smaller scale uses.
He added that given the cost of building the panels and modules in China, and theoretically in other Asian nations, was far cheaper than could be done in Australia that he was not expecting factories to take off at the same scale here.
“Taking over the whole building sector would be impossible, but it will be a new family member for the Australian housing market,” Mr Xu said.
“It’s giving people more choice.”
The panels take about four weeks to put together in a factory, and spend about four weeks in transit to Australia — but can then be built into a home in just over 20 days in many instances.
Metricon chief executive Brad Duggan expects there will be a demand for the modular builds in regional areas, and for large scale projects. Picture: Richard Walker.
“And it is better quality than the same price range for a (traditional) stick build at the same price,” Mr Xu said.
The Melbourne man said the majority of Australian homes were already being built with materials and fixtures sourced from across Asia, particularly China, and going down a path of prefabricated builds put together in one of the superpower’s factories was not dissimilar to the rise of electric vehicles being produced there.
The two homes were built in Stockland’s Mt Atkinson Estate in Truganina, as part of Metricon’s pilot program exploring prefabricated building as part of its pipeline for Aussie homes.
“Bringing together expertise from across the industry, this pilot provides valuable insights into how emerging construction approaches may complement traditional building methods while maintaining the quality, design and customer experience Australians expect,” said Stockland development director Jackie Kent.
Another render of a pre-fabricated home being put together in Melbourne by Metricon.
“Collaboration and innovation will play an important role in supporting future housing supply, and projects like this help build our understanding of what may be possible.”
Metricon’s social and affordable housing arm, Everyone Homes’ general manager Sam Gribble said it showed modular builds were no longer a “niche solution”.
“The opportunity is particularly compelling in regional and growth areas where labour availability can constrain housing delivery,” Mr Gribble said.
“By manufacturing much of the home in a controlled environment, we’re able to reduce weather impacts, improve quality control and significantly streamline on-site construction.”
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