'Compliance is not a postcode' Australian led offshore manufacturing proposes another delivery lane for housing

Australia’s housing shortage has sharpened the focus on expanding modular manufacturing capacity. While much of the discussion has centred on building more factories locally, Terry Gordon believes there is room for another approach. (main image: Concept render of a repeatable townhouse development illustrating the type of medium-density housing Modular Construction Masters plans to manufacture in Vietnam for the Australian market.)

During a recent visit to Melbourne, Built Offsite sat down with the Ho Chi Minh City-based founder of Modular Construction Masters, who was in Australia meeting prospective investors as part of a capital raising campaign to establish an Australian-managed modular manufacturing operation in Vietnam.

The venture proposes to combine Australian design, engineering, compliance and project management with offshore manufacturing, supplying volumetric modules to the Australian market.

Rather than viewing offshore production as a competitor to local manufacturers, Gordon sees it as another delivery pathway capable of supporting housing supply.

“We’re conditioning ourselves as an export business. We want to be completely Australian managed, Australian designs, Australian compliance and Australian project managed, and then export that to Australia.”

Gordon’s path into modular construction began well before entering the commercial building sector. After serving 14 years in the Royal Australian Air Force, he worked on military accommodation projects in Afghanistan before delivering similar camp infrastructure in Papua New Guinea. Those experiences exposed him to prefabricated buildings designed for rapid deployment and harsh operating environments.

Following three years as Business Development Manager at TLC Modular, Gordon established Modular Construction Masters in late 2024, initially providing advisory and project delivery services before turning his attention to manufacturing.

Manufacturing with a different mindset
Having visited manufacturing facilities throughout Asia, Gordon believes many modular factories continue to operate much like conventional construction sites brought indoors.

His ambition is to adopt manufacturing principles more commonly associated with the automotive and aerospace sectors, where production flows through dedicated workstations rather than trades continually working around a stationary product.

“What I’d really like to bring is some disciplined manufacturing mentality, taking from the aeronautical and automobile assembly line process.”

The proposed production system would move each module through 22 dedicated manufacturing stages, from structural framing through to internal fit-out and export preparation.

Vietnam, Gordon argues, also offers advantages beyond labour availability. Being closer to many of the suppliers that already service the global construction industry shortens procurement lead times while complementing the parallel nature of modular manufacturing.

Rather than presenting offshore production as a solution to Australia’s housing shortage, he describes it as an additional source of capacity.

“What we are doing is creating a new delivery lane available as an option to the Australian market.”

A second delivery lane for housing
The business is targeting repeatable building typologies where manufacturing scale can deliver the greatest efficiencies.

Gordon believes opportunities are emerging through the rezoning of metropolitan suburbs, particularly where medium-density housing is replacing detached dwellings.

“Our sweet spot is in that four to six-storey level, mid-rise residential and also essential worker accommodation.”

Community housing, student accommodation and other repeatable residential developments also form part of the company’s target market.

Factory completion levels are expected to reach between 90 and 95 per cent before modules are shipped volumetrically to Australia, reducing the amount of work required on site and accelerating project delivery.

The longer-term vision is ambitious: a 30,000-square-metre manufacturing facility capable of producing around 3,000 modules each year—equivalent to approximately 3,000 hotel rooms, 1,500 apartments or 1,000 townhouses, depending on project configuration.

The Melbourne visit formed part of the company’s capital raising program, with Gordon seeking investors capable of supporting both prototype development and the establishment of the manufacturing facility.

‘Compliance is not a postcode’
Throughout the discussion, one theme surfaced repeatedly—compliance.

Gordon argues that successful offshore manufacturing ‘depends less on geography than on process, quality assurance and independent verification.

“Compliance is not a postcode — it’s a process.”

He believes Australian standards can be achieved offshore provided compliance is embedded from the earliest design stages and supported by rigorous third-party inspection throughout manufacturing.

That philosophy also shapes how he describes the business.

“We’re not exporting Vietnamese homes. We’re designing and fabricating Australian homes offshore.”

For Gordon, offshore manufacturing is not about replacing Australian capability, but expanding it.

As governments and industry continue searching for ways to increase housing supply, he believes Australian-managed offshore manufacturing can sit alongside domestic production as another option for delivering repeatable housing at scale.

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