Offsite manufacturing will cut $32,000 off cost of new house

Labour’s Kiwibuild programme combined with offsite manufacturing and prefabrication will knock up to $32,000 off the cost of a standard home, says Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford.

Mr Twyford was responding to a policy paper produced by BRANZ and Prefab NZ which estimates prefabrication can save about 15% of total construction cost, cutting $32,000 from a $246,000 157 sq m house. The paper says an additional $15,000 can be saved through bulk buying of building materials, taking the potential saving to $47,000.

“This report from key industry players makes it clear modern manufacturing processes will go a long way to building high quality homes at an affordable cost.

“Improving productivity in the construction industry is one of the challenges the country faces in fixing the housing crisis, and making home ownership affordable again. The analysis by Prefab NZ and BRANZ is a very helpful contribution.

“Labour’s commitment to build 100,000 affordable starter homes is a once in a generation opportunity to improve productivity in the building industry. By building on this scale we can make possible the investment in plant and technology to allow offsite manufacturing. We can grow companies who have the size and capability to move to a more manufactured style of building.

“There have been many efforts over the decades to introduce more prefabrication to Kiwi house building but because of the boom and bust cycle that plagues the industry, and the highly fragmented market made up mostly of very small building companies, these efforts have struggled to take root.

“A government-backed building programme to deliver 10,000 homes a year is the perfect opportunity to drive this change. In fact it is probably the only way to achieve this transformation.

“The Germans and Scandinavians are doing it. It is time for New Zealand home construction to embrace prefabrication and offsite manufacturing in the way we build our houses. With our Kiwibuild programme, Labour is ready to work with industry to meet the challenge.”

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