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aspirational national competition to design an affordable house and building system that re ects their technology-soaked lives.
It must be a ordable, nanceable, desir- able and sustainable. Then make the winning designs available to the market in an open- source format for a subscription fee.
Engage a community of young emerging builders that want to run their own busi- ness to build the winning designs. Bundle up the tools and apps to drive the project management and supply of materials to the lowest cost due to the scale and aggregated purchasing power of this community.
Put the digital tools in the hands of the newly engaged young tech-savvy home- builder and owner to collaboratively reduce margins on margins through the current building supply chain.
How costs would shrink
A ordability is not a focus in the current market. I was recently visiting building sites 40 km from Auckland’s CBD and saw tradi- tional spec 220 m2 houses on 650 m2 of land asking $1 million. The land cost was around $370,000, house cost $400,000 and the developer’s margin $230,000. The oppor- tunity to change this model is substantial.
Building at scale might take up to $50,000 o the house cost. Remove the small spec developer and take off another $100,000 to $200,000. The home is now $150,000– $250,000 less. Land availability remains a problem, but with rezoning and new supply coming to the market, that will hopefully be addressed.
The portfolio of competition-winning designs would expand each year, and winning plans would take prize money and sell for a subscription, much like Xero sells accounting software.
Use scale to minimise costs
This service would include as much multi- consenting and engineering scale as possible. The current process is bogged down in red tape and costly delays. Technology could be used to unclog this.
A community of tech-savvy builders could minimise time and materials wastage by the use of standardisation. Most New Zealand designs are bespoke and require made-to- measure roo ng, windows, kitchens and so on. The cost di erence is like comparing o -the-rack suits versus made to measure.
Very few builders construct even six builds a year. If this new community could roll out a 1,000 or more builds, the scale and repeti- tion would drive costs down and engage young new homeowners.
Improve quality and productivity
The legacy of leaky buildings and the boom-bust cycle are in serious danger of being repeated with stories of big quality issues emerging in the Christchurch rebuild and Auckland boom. The incentives to cut corners are high, with little consequence to the o enders and ongoing reputational damage to the industry.
An e cient low-cost open-source design would allow more controlled o -site manu- facture and increased productivity. Factory
building would allow the use of unskilled labour in a controlled environment to help overcome the large shortage of on-site building skills.
Harness technology
Building inspectors could use technology to de-risk the build quality issues and allow the homeowner to track the source of materials and maintenance requirements.
Today, a mechanic plugs a computer into a car to service it. Technology is emerging to make this possible in the home, which is a much bigger investment. Rust is eliminated from cars with better design and high-quality materials factory-assembled at scale. Leaky, out-of-spec homes could be eliminated in the same manner.
A way forward
Running a national competition needs some leadership and sponsorship to kick start. A bank could own the idea and use it to drive new customers and lending. It could be a circuit breaker to our ongoing a ordability problems.
Owning your own home has always been part of our way of life, and technology can help us solve some of the a ordability and quality issues that are currently plaguing the market. New Zealand could lead the world, as a ordability is a problem in popular cities worldwide.
Note John Beveridge is a business owner, advisor and director with 20 years’ experience in the New Zealand building materials markets. Contact John at [email protected].
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