What is a Kitset Home?
A kitset home is a flatpack delivery of the materials needed to build the home with the help of your Licensed Building Practitioner from the ground up per the plans you have purchased and received building consent to construct. There are no specific rules as to what should be included in your kitset, therefore it is important you familiarise yourself with the inclusions or specifications to understand exactly what you are getting in your kit and what extras you will need to buy.
Kitset homes are incredibly popular, especially with us DYI New Zealander’s, as they give people the chance to get more involved with the building of their own home without having to become a fully qualified Licensed Building Practitioner in order to receive a final building consent for their home. This ability to take on some of the building and construction tasks can save time and costs on the final project, making this the preferred option for those on a tight budget or seeking a higher return on their investment.
Of course, you still need the support and guidance of a Licensed Building Practitioner to build your home. This is not only important for the final consent process but also to ensure your home is constructed accurately and securely.
The other advantage with a kitset home is the fact that there are significant savings on the cost of materials (compared to sourcing and buying your own) as well as reduced waste on-site as everything is specifically sized, measured and supplied to the exact dimensions for your home.
Prepare Your Land
Before you receive delivery of your kitset, you will need to submit the working drawings with your site plan for consent with your local council plus ensure the section is prepared and landscaped to the specifications of your home. Ubuilt kitset homes do not include a floor so you will need to decide whether you require a timber, concrete or some other type of floor for you home and ensure this is completed before you receive Stage One delivery of your kitset home.
Start With the Externals
We always supply our kitset homes in two stages because we know that there is really no value but significant risk with supplying your complete kitset home all in one go. Once you have your building consent and your site prepared with the floor down, you actually only need the external materials to construct the frame, windows, roof and cladding of your home.
Our stage One delivery (approx. 20 working days from time of ordering) will allow you to construct your home to be lockable before we supply stage two which is the internal materials.
Stage One of building your kitset home should be a reasonably straight forward process involving just you and your Licensed Building Practitioner as you work together to get the frame up, roof on, windows & exterior doors installed and exterior cladding secure before you action delivery of Stage Two.
Follow With the Internals
Once your kitset home is weather-tight and able to be locked, this is when we recommend you move on to (what we call) Stage Two – allow 20 working days for this delivery.
Stage Two is when you receive your second flatpack delivery which is all the internal materials for completing the build of your home. This is where you need to be clear on what is included in your kitset home.
Kitset Home Specifications
We believe that many of our home owners prefer to perhaps spend a little more (or less) on their kitchen or laundry, or exterior accessories such as a garage or decking. For this reason, we don’t include any of these in our kitset home which gives you a lot more room to move in terms of how much budget you want to invest in these finishing touches.
The internal materials included in our kitset homes are interior doors, Gib®, insulation, complete bathroom, laundry tub and a Rheem 180L hot water cylinder.
Stage Two is when you will need to enlist the services of a registered plumber and electrician to undertake this work per New Zealand building code legislation. However, other sub-trades services such as soft furnishing suppliers, kitchen installer, flooring supplier, etc, are really up to you in terms of your time, budget and skills as to how much you do yourself.
Ready to Build Your First Kitset Home
So you have some land and you are considering purchasing a kitset home. The first thing you need to do is make a deposit to receive the working drawings to the home plan to submit with your site plan to your local council for a building consent.
From there you are only a matter a of weeks away from moving in! Good luck!