Prefab home on Mum's land allows couple to move on from group flatting

Dec 07, 2023

Both in their early 30s, Tess and Ash Wicks felt their dream of home-ownership slipping away.

The Wellington couple, who had each been flatting since they were 18, had been watching the property market for the past five years, hoping to buy.

Prices were getting "rapidly out of hand", Tess, 30, a communications adviser, says. "And now with interest rates the way they are, we were like: ‘What are we supposed to do?’

"We reckoned it wasn't viable for us to be buying a house, and also tough to find a rental that's affordable, but to a nice enough standard."

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In stepped Tess’ mum – with a plan that would work for all parties. She had owned her Brooklyn home for more than 30 years and had long intended to develop a "derelict sleep-out, more like a shed" into something liveable, Tess says.

But the site was difficult, with very little access, so it wasn't until they came across prefabricated modular units, Te Whare-Iti, by Wright Industrial, that they realised a plan for a secondary dwelling on the site just might work.

Tess's mother, Jenny Ralston, chose one of the architecturally designed homes in a 60m² configuration, and the family was able to "visit" it onsite in the company's factory in Porirua while it was being built.

Judith Wright, director of Wright Industrial, which manufactures the modular homes, says many people who think their section is inaccessible could actually have a secondary dwelling added if they went prefab.

"(With this one) previous approaches to designers and builders over many years had come to nothing, largely because the nearest vehicular access was 40m from the road, up steep public steps."

Modular homes are not necessarily tiny either.

"Despite the name ‘small house’, the building blocks of our design – the modules – can be combined into anything from a small studio unit to three or more bedrooms, including multi-generational housing, with more than one living space and kitchen area," she says.

The homes are made with cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels (from Red Stag in Rotorua), a construction method that reduces construction waste, and minimises the need for "gib, trims, paint, skirtings, and excess materials", Wright says.

Tess says she loves the fact the builds are sustainable. When she visited the factory, builders pointed to a "tiny pile – a couple of pieces of wood" that was the entirety of the waste from their house.

The construction industry is a huge contributor to landfill nationally: In some centres building waste accounts for half of landfill.

Tess and Ash Wicks moved in to their new home in November last year, after the modules were craned on to the site over a couple of days, and "stitched together" over a few weeks.

Tess says the benefits, aside from allowing her and Ash to "live together alone", include that it's intergenerational living "but with actual privacy, and space".

She says it's mutually beneficial across the generations, with her and Ash paying her mother a rent that all consider "fair and reasonable", but which is less than market rates, allowing the couple to save for their own home.

Tess and Ash, 32, an artist, love the design. "To be honest, it's probably going to be the nicest place we’re going to live in," says Tess.

"I love Brooklyn and again it's kind of a spot that Ash and I wouldn't have the luxury of being able to afford. The view is stunning. We can walk in and out of town. Lots of my friends have had to move a bit out of town."

She says they will eventually buy their own place, particularly as this one is only one bedroom, and that that will leave options for her mother, including moving in herself, and renting out her three-bedroom villa, letting it on Airbnb, or renting it out longer term to other tenants.

Tess says she "absolutely" recommends it to others looking for a housing solution.

"It hadn't occurred to me that this was something you could do. I’d heard of tiny homes, but this is more of a small house.

"It's a way of doing things really stylishly, and a potential solution so you’re not living in your parents’ house when you’re in your 30s - (you don't want to be) up in each other's faces."