Australian offsite constructed homes start-up inspired by U.S. Boxabl

The demand for affordable offsite constructed homes has for U.S.-based Boxabl reached feverish proportions with the company valued at US$1billion.
Their success hasn’t gone unnoticed by agile serial tech founder Michael Doubinski, and he’s launched his iteration of the Boxable success story called Penny Granny.
(main pic: Michael Doubinski, Founder, Penny Granny)

His business model is simple: to deliver a prefab, portable home direct to customers’ block of land ready to live in, rent out, or hired from $230 per week, including delivery to the customers’ property.

Doubinski is a serial entrepreneur who has been a pioneer and founder of Australian tech businesses since the late 90s. He was involved in establishing HotelsCombined, Menulog and ProductReview.com.au.

“I was really excited by the manufacturers and stylish, innovative designs I came across in my research as well as the cost savings and flexibility,” says Doubinski. “Initially, I envisioned PennyGranny as a way for pensioners to add accommodation in their own backyards without the up-front costs of building a granny flat, earn rental income and be able to stay in their own community. In fact, we’ve had a flood of enquiries since launching late last year and most of our customers have been rural landowners seeking an affordable home, extra accommodation for their kids or holiday accommodation they can rent out at a profit to supplement their income.”

Doubinski is now hoping that PennyGranny (offsite constructed homes) can offer a viable solution to take the pressure off communities throughout Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, where the business currently operates.

“According to the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) there is currently a shortfall for social housing nationally of close to 433,000 properties,” says Doubinski. “There’s also a dearth of private rental properties, so we are seeing a new era of homelessness, with working people who can afford to pay rent driven to live in tents or their cars simply because no rental homes are available. Building enough homes by conventional means in time to avert the growing crisis is simply not feasible.

“We’re hoping that PennyGranny can be an important part of the solution. With our home hire model, the only potential up-front cost is the connection to services. Anyone with land can order a PennyGranny dwelling with one to three bedrooms, live in it themselves or rent it out at a profit. Our hope is that property investors, community housing associations, local councils, state governments, caravan parks, camping grounds and even churches and farmers see the possibility to quickly provide affordable housing on available vacant land, even temporarily as we can remove the housing at any time as needed.

“For those seeking to enter the property market at an affordable level, there’s also the potential to invest in a regional block of land and add a PennyGranny to rent out and assist with paying it off. PennyGranny adds a portable dwelling to your property, rents it out, and pays you a continuous income. You bear no costs whatsoever, and we do all the work!”

As Doubinski explains, the process for PennyGranny’s (offsite constructed homes) Income model is simple: “We come to you to choose the best possible location for the portable home and select the most optimal size to maximise your revenue and the right design to be in line with the rest of your property. We then agree on a minimum contract term that best suits your situation, take care of all council requirements and deliver and install the portable prefab home on your property. Then we rent out the home only to tenants that you approve and from the moment the tenancy starts, you receive a portion of the rent that we collect each week. There is really not much for you to do, as we do all the hard work. We even take care of landscaping such as planting a hedge to create privacy or building a footpath. And should you wish to stop the arrangement, we will ‘make-good’ your property and bring it back to its original neat state free of charge.”

See: pennygranny.com.au

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