A new flat-pack home in Onehunga. Photo / Dean Purcell
A new flat-pack home in Onehunga. Photo / Dean Purcell
Bunnings is expanding its range of flat-pack homes, 72 of the structures are now up throughout New Zealand and a list of 21 approved builders has been released.
A Bunnings spokesperson said demand was growing for the products, starting from $69,000 for the Clever Living Co. product, not including the land, connections to services, site works, landscaping or other costs.
"We also now have a duplex two-storey design available and are about to launch our seasonal workers' accommodation," she said.
House prices start from $69,000. Photo / Bunnings
Bunnings also released a list of 21 builders which Clever Living Co. has approved to put up the houses. They are:
• Far North, north Auckland, Whangarei: Form Built • South Auckland: CJM Construction • Waikato: Skyline Buildings • West Coromandel: Glen Armstrong Builders • East Coromandel: Van de Ven Builders • Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Whanganui: Kiwi Country Construction • Rotorua: Duncan Wills • Taupo: Home Build Taupo • Gisborne: Papworth Builders • Hastings/Hawkes Bay: Build Mac • Whanganui: Shane Stone Builders • Manawatu, Palmerston North, Fielding Kynoch Construction • Hawera: Shaun Fowlie Builders • Paraparaumu, Kapiti Coast, Otaki: Competitive Homes Kapiti • Hutt Valley, Wainuiomata, Wairarapa: BK Patterson Builders • Wellington, Porirua, Blenheim: Simply Building • Nelson: Harper Builders • Christchurch, Twizel, Southland: Trent Building Solutions • Queenstown: Queenstown Construction Group • Dunedin, Otago: HG Registered Builders
The houses come with Coloursteel roofing, Mitsubishi heat pumps, Kaboodle kitchens, Omega kitchen appliances, Stein showers, vanities and toilet suites and Sengled security cameras and lighting.
Clever Living Co. interior designs. Photo / Bunnings
Des Bickerton, Bunnings New Zealand commercial manager said the most popular product was the Angus three-bedroom, two-bathroom 96sq m place.
"It's particularly popular among retirees and first home buyers with young children," he said of that layout where the bedrooms are on the sides and the kitchen/living/dining area is in the middle.
Consumers could not necessarily buy and build one of the places, the spokeswoman said.
"People can't drive up to their local Bunnings with a trailer to buy one. Instead, this is a high-quality design and materials package. Bunnings Trade sells the design and materials packages to approved Clever Living builders which we have authorised to build our Clever Living designs," the spokeswoman said.
Inside the Onehunga home in May this year. Photo / Dean Purcell
"It's the builders themselves that provide the price to customers, with costings dependant on site, and the price comes as a complete build and design package," she said.
But one building consultant, Alan Light of A L Building Consultants in Auckland, challenged Bunnings' claim that people could not build the Bunnings houses.
"DIY is alive and well," he said. Non-licensed non-builders could put up their own Bunnings flat-packs under certain conditions including if they intend to reside there, did the building work themselves or used unpaid friends - barring developers from using the loophole.
Plans for one style of the Clever Living Co. designs. Photo / Bunnings
A clause in the law allowed for owner-builders to be exempt on restricted building work, meaning they could carry it out without being supervised by a licensed building practitioner, Light pointed out.
In May, a Bunnings spokesperson at the chain's Melbourne headquarters said the products had been built in Northland, Auckland, the Waikato, Taranaki, exported to Rarotonga, Palmerston North, Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, the Bay of Plenty, Tauranga, Wellington, Central Otago, central South Island, Otago.
Prices range up to $113,541 plus GST for the four-bedroom 106sq m not including land or services such as power, stormwater and water.
