Four months to build a four-bedroom home: what prefab trials in SA and NSW mean for your build

Three four-bedroom family homes in Adelaide's north have gone from slab to move-in ready in about four months. On the same day, nine factory-built terraces in Sydney's north-west were finished in around eight months, against the 12 to 14 months a comparable traditional build would take. If you're waiting on a builder, or about to sign with one, here's what these trials show and what they could mean for you.

Playford Alive: frames, walls and roof up in a month

The South Australian homes were built by Hickinbotham at Renewal SA's Playford Alive development, in the Eastern Precinct, as a fast-track trial. Each is a single-storey home of about 180 square metres, with four bedrooms, two bathrooms and an open-plan kitchen, living and dining area. All three were sold earlier this year through the state's HomeSeekerSA program.

The speed came from a mix of prefabricated modules and tight scheduling. The frames, external walls and roofs were all completed within a month. Trades then finished the homes using traditional methods and materials.

Two other things made a difference:

• Set floor plans. The homes come from Hickinbotham's predesigned range, with limited room for changes, so the parts can be mass-produced.
• Early site access. Renewal SA let the builder start while the surrounding civil works, including water, power, roads and paths, were still being finished.

For comparison, Hickinbotham's standard build-time guarantee is 24 weeks, or about five and a half months. Renewal SA's Peter Gatsios said that just over three months before the homes were finished, he had watched the foundations being poured. Fencing and landscaping are done, and the owners are expected to move in shortly.

A factory-built home being positioned on site. Transportable and modular homes are built in sections off site, then trucked in and placed. Photo: Louis Sohn / FEMA, public domain, resized

Schofields: nine modular terraces in eight months

In NSW, the government developer Landcom has finished nine two-storey, three-bedroom terraces at Schofields, in Sydney's north-west, using what the industry calls modern methods of construction (MMC). Large sections of each home were built in a factory, checked for quality and safety, then trucked to the site and craned into place.

The NSW Government says the homes were completed in about eight months, compared with 12 to 14 months for a traditional build of the same type. Four go on sale this month and the other five in early 2027. They're part of Landcom's Burdekin Road development, which will deliver around 140 homes, at least 30% of them affordable housing.