Flipping mad for prefab home design

22 Nov 2018

A house that can flip to be a one or two storey home has taken out the People’s Choice award at New Zealand’s first ever competition to design prefab homes as backyard properties.

The winning SNUG home designs were announced last week after the SNUG ‘a home for my backyard’ design competition for secondary homes up to 65m2 which was run by PrefabNZ alongside Auckland Council, Holmes Farsight, NZ Green Building Council, Lifemark, NZ Institute of Architects, and Architectural Designers NZ.

Twelve finalists were chosen from the 86 designs entered into the competition. Another design was chosen through the People’s Choice award which saw 1500 members of the public vote. The ‘Flip’ design came out as the overwhelming favourite.

The six winning designs come with pre-consent approval from Auckland Council to make it easier for people in the city wanting to install a SNUG. Each team had to include design and construction professionals alongside a student or apprentice.

All SNUG homes are beautifully designed, highly sustainable, liveable, affordable and fast to assemble. Designed to be built offsite in a factory setting to ensure a quality build, they can then be craned into position or erected on site from panels. This makes it much easier than a traditional build with less noise, dust, transport and disruption right outside your home.

The SNUG homes are sized from 35–65 m2 and can be used for children as they adventure out into independent living, a safe place for extended family, or a work-space to provide an alternative to commuting. Prices will likely range from $90,000 to $190,000 before consents and site-works.

See all 12 SNUG homes, and their variations, at snughome.nz.

PrefabNZ has confirmed partners Mitre 10, Resene, GIB (Winstone Wallboards), Altus, and James Hardie to help bring SNUG showhomes to life. Talks are in progress with councils in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch to confirm a showhome site for late summer/early autumn 2019.

Published: 22 Nov 2018