NZ Welcomes First House Building Factory

New Zealand’s first factory turning out finished houses has opened in Wellington, aiming to produce up to 500 places annually. Even though this is less than the 1250 annual homes by the planned Auckland house factory, it is still an impressive feat!

Sean Murrie, Matrix Homes chief executive and director, said “People are building components of houses, then assembling them on the site. But the whole thing here is we’re turning fully finished houses with code compliance certificates.”

While this is a big leap forward as far as construction goes, it’s been speculated whether the market will be as big. Grant Florence, chief executive of Certified Builders is concerned that demand will not meet up. “They have to overcome some consumer negatives around the prefab concept because people relate it to cheap and they relate it to prefabs at schools,” he said.

At the same time, Hamilton builders specializing in house and land packages are reporting an increase in both interest and sales. People are looking for affordable solutions but are reluctant to look at prefabs that are seen as cheap and nasty.