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Costs & planning

From Modular Living Australia — the independent knowledge base Last updated: 27 Oct 2026

Costs & planning
Contemporary home with open sliding doors
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The advertised base price of an off-site home is rarely the final invoice. A realistic budget adds soil testing, engineering, site works, transport, crane hire, service connections and approval costs on top of the factory build — and several of those are highly site-specific, which is why two identical designs on different blocks can differ by tens of thousands of dollars.

Approval is the other half of the picture. Whether your project needs a full development application or qualifies for a faster complying-development pathway determines both the timeline and a meaningful part of the cost, and the answer depends on your state, your council and your particular site.

Guides in this category collect published Australian price guidance and planning parameters, with every figure attributed and dated.

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Figures relating to this category are published with full attribution on the overview page and in individual guides. See Editorial policy for how sources are handled.

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