Beaten at auction six times to buy their first home together in Canberra and appalled at the tiny blocks on offer at the land releases, Jemma Carter and Shane Johnston were fed up with the whole ACT house-buying scenario.
Ideally, they were seeking an older "fixer-upper" or ex-"govvie" on an established block in the Belconnen area but just couldn't land one at their budget, while the huge cost of new ACT land-and-house packages left them stone cold.
"At one of the auctions we were beaten by a lousy thousand dollars; it was so frustrating," Ms Carter said.
"So when the opportunity came along we thought, stuff it, let's move a little bit out of town and build our own house, and do it all ourselves."
"I mean, how hard could it be, right?"
Reflecting on that crucial decision now, standing within the upright steel frames of their new "do-it-yourself" kit home just outside Gundaroo, and some 25 minutes from the ACT border, the couple laughed as one, and headed back to the assembly project.
After much research, they had decided on a PAAL modular-style steel kit home. It's a Belgian concept which was exported into western Sydney way back in 1970 and works on a system of pre-assembled steel modular sections screwed together.
It can either be assembled by an owner-builder, the owner can manage the tradespeople and so some of the labour, or it can all be subcontracted out to a builder.
Provided, of course, anyone in the ACT or southern NSW can even find a reputable, licensed builder offering a project start date inside 2023. Most builders simply laugh like drains at the prospect.
So the eco-friendly couple decided they would jump in feet first, and construct as much as they physically could, using the savings to fund items like a huge water storage tank, 16kW off-grid power set-up with battery, and a worm-farm septic system.
They spent $146,000 on a kit with a surprising amount of inclusions such as wall and ceiling batts, plasterboard, a kitchen kit, built-ins, tiles, and even undercoat.
"I have a mate who is a sparky [electrician] who works in the mines as a FIFO [fly-in, fly-out] so when he's on days off, he comes over and does my electrical," Mr Johnston said.
"And I have another mate who is a plumber and gas-fitter. But the rest of it I'm doing with Jemma, and Jemma's dad, and mates who drop by to give me a hand.
"I'm on long service leave so I have set myself three months to get as much done as I can, 10 or 11 hours a day, seven days a week."
After the concrete slab went down and cured, it has taken only three weeks at that intensive level of effort to have all the wall frames and roof trusses up. The roof is next - within the next week or so - so they can collect rainwater, then the cladding and internals.
Demand for owner-builder licences in the ACT and NSW has skyrocketed since the COVID pandemic inflated established house prices, pumped up building material costs by between 30-40 per cent, and to make matters worse, lit a fuse under bank interest rates.
The warning on the ACT government site confirmed "the Construction Licensing team is currently experiencing a high volume of applications".
PAAL distributor for southern NSW and the ACT Michael Christie has been selling the kits for more than 30 years and says he has seen these increased demand cycles for the modular self-built homes three times in the past, each time triggered by a confluence of factors, most particularly a sharp rise in interest rates.
"People can build from a kit in all different kinds of ways," he said.
"Many choose to save by being the owner-manager and managing the build, bringing in the tradespeople as needed and doing whatever parts of the project they feel confident with, even if that's the painting, or putting up the plasterboard sheets.
"It all saves money because after all, labour these days adds a minimum of 40 per cent to the cost of any building project, and often times a lot more.
"It's great to see young people willing to jump in and have a crack at it."
The approvals processes were frustratingly slow for the couple, including six months to get their development application and a further five months to obtain a construction certificate.
Like project builders, kit home companies have a series of standard designs which can altered to suit the customer needs. The Gundaroo couple added a verandah all the way around their house and an al fresco dining area out the back.
Jemma Carter and Shane Johnston are already enjoying the satisfaction of their own, significant efforts producing a tangible reward with each page turned in the 40mm-thick detailed instruction book.
"I was a little nervous at first but once we committed to the project, I was just so keen to hook in and get started," Mr Johnston said.
And their tips for anyone contemplating following their example?
"Do your research first and bring heaps of motivation," Mr Johnston said.
"And buy yourself some quality power tools right from the get-go."
