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Design and compliance embedded into repeatable modular housing models.
Lyv Modular is emerging as a new player in Australia’s modular housing sector, positioning itself as a start-up focused on delivering housing through a repeatable, manufacturing-led system rather than one-off projects. In conversation with Built Offsite, co-founder and chief commercial officer Enzo Guarino said the business has been deliberately developed behind the scenes, with an emphasis on process, compliance and delivery certainty. (main image: Lyv Modular’s first unfolding modular home nearing completion at the Perth display site, demonstrating the steel structural system prior to external cladding and final fit out.)
“No one really knows us yet — we’re new. We’re a start-up,” Guarino said. “Alongside finishing our first architecturally designed modular display home in Perth, we’ve been quietly building the system behind it.”
According to Guarino, the company’s approach centres on applying manufacturing discipline to housing delivery. “The big idea for us isn’t one-off modular projects, but how housing can be delivered in a more repeatable, reliable way using manufacturing thinking,” he said.
Watch a walkthrough of Lyv Modular’s unfolding home in Perth during fitout.
Manufacturing-led thinking applied to housing
Lyv Modular’s system is based on a container-sized steel module that unfolds on site to create a larger dwelling footprint. The core structure is manufactured offshore in China to Australian standards, with finishing and fit-out completed locally.
“The easiest way I describe it is this: we’re trying to approach housing the way Ford approached cars,” Guarino said. “Not to strip out design or character, but to standardise the hard stuff like structure, compliance, sequencing and logistics so homes can be delivered faster, with more certainty, and at scale.”
Guarino said the system differs from traditional volumetric modular construction by reducing the number of modules required and simplifying transport. “Unlike conventional volumetric systems where you need multiple modules to form a house, we use a single module that unfolds to around three times its transport footprint,” he said. “That significantly reduces logistics complexity.”
Leadership team brings modular and development experience
Lyv Modular is led by chief executive officer and founder Livio Tessarolo, a builder and developer with more than 20 years’ experience across residential and commercial construction. Tessarolo has overseen the development of the company’s Western Australia display home, which Lyv Modular sees as a proof point for its system rather than a showcase project.
Guarino’s background spans more than two decades in modular construction, beginning at Ausco in 2001 before moving through Coates Hire and Black Diamond Group. Reflecting on his earlier career, he said, “I’d spent years delivering modular buildings for mining, education and government, but they were rarely permanent homes. That distinction really matters.”
He said disaster response work following events such as the Lismore floods sharpened his focus on compliant housing. “We were being asked to deliver rapid accommodation, but it wasn’t proper housing,” Guarino said. “That was the lightbulb moment — how do you adapt modular systems so they’re fully compliant homes, ready when they’re needed?”
Targeting institutional housing delivery
Lyv Modular is primarily targeting governments, community housing providers, charities and developers rather than individual buyers. The company is pursuing state procurement pathways and housing programmes to support scaled delivery.
“We’re not really focused on selling one house at a time,” Guarino said. “We’re talking to governments and community housing providers about pipelines, not one-offs.”
He added that affordability is driven by process rather than specification cuts. “Affordability comes from doing the thinking once, properly — approvals, certification, detailing — and then repeating that work,” he said. “It’s not about cutting corners on design, liveability or sustainability.”
As Lyv Modular moves from its first completed home into broader delivery discussions, Guarino said the company is realistic about its role. “We know we’re only one small part of a much bigger solution,” he said. “But industrialised housing systems like this are clearly needed if supply is ever going to catch up.”
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