Are mobile modular homes the solution to our housing crisis?

The Great Australian Dream has always revolved around the idea of owning your own home on the proverbial quarter-acre block in a nice neighbourhood.

But for many Australians, the dream is being reimagined.

The country is in the midst of a housing crisis, as property prices soar faster than household incomes. This has forced many to rethink how we view home ownership.

Geoff McGinley, founder of Adapt Homes, which is a Canberra-based company that produces mobile modular homes, says we’re “living in a different time”.

“A lot of people are challenging the status quo and reworking the idea of what a house is and what they want from it,” he says.

After a 30-year career in the Australian Navy, McGinley was embarking on a new way of life when he looked into the tiny-house movement.

“I didn’t want to be tied down by home ownership, a mortgage, that kind of thing,” he says. “I wanted the freedom of a house that allowed me to live the life I was choosing to live, the way I wanted to live, even where I wanted to live.”

He tried living in a conventional tiny home but soon realised “they are tiny”, he says, laughing.

“I do love how, in a well-designed one, every corner is utilised, but I wanted something different,” McGinley explains.

So, he started thinking bigger and in 2023 built a home for himself – a “not-so-tiny home on wheels”, he prefers to think of them.

And McGinley believes they could be one solution for the new version of the home ownership dream.

Now, Adapt Homes has four designs, ranging from the 20-square-metre, one-bedroom Elsey to the 40-square-metre, two-bedroom Murray. Prices start from $119,000 “drive away”, he says. The 40-square-metre options are $179,000.

All models are built to the National Construction Code, with 2.4-metre high ceilings, a seven-star energy efficiency rating and bushfire protections. They are situated on a commercial truck trailer so they can be delivered and moved about. They can also be placed on permanent foundations.

Despite their smaller stature compared to an average home, there’s been no scrimping on inclusions. The floor plans offer open-plan living areas with floor-to-ceiling double-glazed windows and well-appointed kitchens with under-bench ovens, dishwashers and induction cooktops. The bathrooms are tiled with flushing or compost toilets and integrated laundries.

“When I was building mine I was thinking about what I wanted, I still wanted to be comfortable,” McGinley says.

“I knew I wanted big sliding windows and doors that opened right up and brought the outside in. I wanted what I could get in an apartment in the city but be able to be out in the bush somewhere or be anywhere, really.”

Construction of the mobile homes is in collaboration with Expandable Container Homes, a NSW company that specialises in modular homes, but McGinley and his team are more than willing to customise a design.

“We have people who are keen to turn them into a home office, it takes the idea of remote work to a new level,” he says. “Other customers have used them for recording studios or to provide options for intergenerational living.”

He also sees them as a solution for the generations of Australians who are being locked out of the traditional housing market.

“After building my own place and the joy that it brought me, it’s my passion now,” McGinley says.

“I want to keep improving the designs and continue to find ways to get these homes to more and more people who need them.

“I want to make home ownership affordable for people but at the same time get people thinking about the kind of life they could be living if they just rethink it a little bit.”

You can visit the Adapt Homes showroom at 7/1 Dairy Road, Fyshwick, from Monday to Friday by appointment.