Our controlled factory environment streamlines construction by allowing simultaneous phases of building, from framing to roofing to painting. This efficiency is enhanced by eliminating weather delays, access constraints and the daily setup and pack down on site. We can operate multiple shifts, enabling around-the-clock work. Concurrent site and factory work, along with prefabricated elements from our supply chain, significantly reduce build times. Our construction team aren’t just familiar with the drawings – they helped develop them.

Building in a controlled factory environment allows us to create a “production line”, where each trade can work simultaneously, so while one module chassis is being fabricated another is being framed and another is being painted and tiled. This allows trades to overlap which is not possible in traditional construction as typically the frames for the whole house need to be completed before they can be sheeted, then painted etc. etc.

The secure factory environment allows processes, machinery and tools can be shut down at the end of each shift and resumed immediately the next day without needing to pack away tools into utes each afternoon and set up again each morning. This contributes to considerable efficiency.

There are no weather delays, so once trades are scheduled into the construction program, there are fewer disruptions. In some climates rain days can contribute to significant delays.

Site works can be completed concurrently with factory fabrication effectively halving the construction program. For example, traditionally inground plumbing works, foundations and structural steel columns need to be completed before framing can commence, however, with modular construction these can be done at the same time.

The factory can run multiple shifts up to 24 hours per day as we are in an industrial zoned area.

We work with the supply chain to deliver prefabricated building elements such as wall, roof and floor frames which further reduce our build time.

Faster build times, directly lower labour costs which are the most expensive and uncertain part of a construction project. Our architects actively manage the project budget from the first meeting, developing cost estimates based on a replicable structural system, and real time material and labour data. This accuracy allows us to provide precise cost forecasts from the initial 3D concept model, and enables our clients to make informed decisions before committing to each stage of the project.

Reduced timeframes have a direct impact on cost, as labour costs are very high in Australia. If you can deliver a project in a quarter of the time there are significant labour cost savings.

One of the most powerful benefits that modular can offer is the ability to design with cost in mind. Each of our architects is responsible for producing the initial cost estimate on every project, so they understand every material and labour cost on their project.

Traditionally, when designing to a client budget architects rely on industry price data from publications like Rawlinsons or Corelogic, or by applying square metre rates based on similar recent projects, or by requesting estimates from builders in their network. All these methods have limitations – square metre rates are inaccurate and heavily affected by the level of finish, the size of the building and the ratio of internal to external floor area. Industry benchmark data does not take into account local market forces driven by material and labour availability or quality, and in recent years costs have been so volatile that industry publications are outdated or inaccurate. Builders providing preliminary estimates at Concept Design stage generally do not have the benefit of structural engineering, glazing specifications and construction details to inform their price, so it will inevitably change once the construction documentation is complete.

Because our projects utilise a replicable structural system and consistent construction details developed in collaboration with our construction team, we know the cost of almost every element of the project, based on current costs, and can produce an accurate take-off of materials and labour from the first 3D concept model.

Site works are limited and can also be estimated with reasonable accuracy at concept stage.

This means that we can work with clients to cost-engineer a concept design before they commit to the cost of any detailed documentation or consultant fees.

Modular construction relocates 90% of the building work off-site and into a controlled environment designed to mitigate its impact, reducing noise, traffic, and pollution on site. Our installation process takes just one day, and on-site work is limited to a few weeks. Our projects touch the ground lightly, preserving local ecosystems, soil, water quality, and biodiversity.

“If you hate your neighbour don’t build modular”. As we all know, the impacts of traditional on-site construction are significant. For a typical architectural build, there is a year of noise – multiple trades arriving from 6 am and taking up all the parking on the street, delivery vehicles blocking the road, and machinery from 6:30 am. There are significant impacts on local habitats particularly in fragile ecosystems from pollution, toxic chemicals, noise, site preparation, run-off, and disruption of wildlife corridors from slab on ground construction.

We take 90% of these trades off site and coordinate them in an environment that is purpose built to handle and mitigate their impact. All chemical waste is collected and disposed of properly. Modules are installed in one day, and site work time frames are reduced to as little as a few weeks.
Our projects are generally designed to sit on columns that touch the ground lightly and minimise impact on local ecosystems. We offer a variety of concrete-free foundation systems that reduce erosion and impacts on soil and water quality and biodiversity.

The Basics:
Our houses use materials with low embodied energy and high carbon storage like renewable timber frames, rather than steel or concrete. We design to modular dimensions that minimise waste, we collect, reuse and recycle building materials, and use products made from recycled and low-toxicity materials. Every project employs sustainable design principles like solar orientation, sun shading, cross-ventilation and high-performance glazing and insulation. Our wall and roof cavities are breathable for healthy mould-free environments.

A bigger environmental impact comes from poorly built houses which need to be replaced multiple times, potentially tripling the carbon footprint. We build to the highest standards to achieve extended design life, and our projects can be relocated rather than demolished.

The biggest key to a sustainable future is in what we don’t do – to build “just enough” by making clever, agile houses that allow people to adapt as they grow by offering shared tenure models, multi-generational living, or short-term accommodation rather than continually demolishing, renovating and rebuilding.

The simple sustainability checklist for modular construction includes the use of materials with low embodied energy, waste minimisation, reduced pollution and impact on local environments, high-performance insulation, and low VOC materials and paints for a healthy environment, combined with sound ESD (ecologically sustainable design) principals like solar orientation, protection of glazing, use of cross-ventilation and thermal mass where possible. These are the basics that every graduate architect understands and employs.

What most people don’t understand is that the biggest impact on sustainability comes from building poor-quality housing with a short design life. These buildings fail and need to be replaced or substantially renovated, potentially two or three times over within the design life of a higher quality build, effectively tripling the environmental impact of the construction industry which already accounts for 37% of global emissions.

Our projects are built to the highest standards in the construction industry with structural frames designed to withstand the rigours of transportation and relocation, so they have a longer design life than traditional construction.

The other significant impact on sustainability is caused by people building more than they need to build. There is the impact of the construction itself and them the lifecycle cost to heat, cool and maintain a building, much of which may be empty most of the time.

The real key to sustainability in construction is doing more with less – making smaller, more agile houses with clever floor plans that allow the flexibility for shared tenure models, multi-generational living, and short-term accommodation, with a better connection to nature, light and air and solar orientation.

One major advantage of modular construction is that a project can be easily staged to build only the amount of house a client needs, and future stages can be added when required, preserving cash flow and carbon footprint. A modular building can also be relocated rather than demolished.

Our factory collects and controls all its waste. We store and reuse or recycle all materials and wherever possible design to minimise offcuts. We conserve water and energy.

All toxic waste, like paints or chemicals, is controlled and properly disposed of rather than being washed down drains into the stormwater system and our waterways.

We minimise the use of materials with high “embodied” carbon emissions such as steel and concrete and maximise the use of renewable timber which is a carbon store.

A centralised location reduces transport as a larger single order of materials can be made for multiple projects. Significantly reduced timeframes equate to reduced trips to work per project. As multiple projects are being delivered at the same location travel for supervisors and design team is significantly reduced.

We research and specify locally made, sustainable, low toxicity materials and low VOC paints and adhesives.

Modular construction has evolved and is now at the forefront of precision and quality. Robotic assembly and integration with digital design minimise human error and offer advances in safety and efficiency. This environment promotes collaboration between construction and design teams and advances the development of more ambitious architectural details which wouldn’t be possible in the traditional model.

Historically modular construction was reserved for fast and inexpensive buildings like site offices and mining camps (dongas) because these were identical products that could be mass-produced leveraging the efficiency of industrialised fabrication. As a result, people associated prefabrication with lower-quality construction. These days prefab boasts the highest level of precision and quality in the industry. Frames are built from digital drawings by robots which virtually eliminates human error. Environmental conditions like wind, rain, sun, and steep, uneven, and muddy sites are eliminated. Overhead gantry cranes stand frames and load and unload materials, safety protocols are maintained, timeframes are easier to control reducing stress, and a replicable construction system reduces errors.

As a result, our energy can be focused on industry research and product development. There is a forum for collaboration between the construction team and the design team resulting in the continual advancement of construction methodologies, and design performance outcomes.

And the controlled environment allows for more ambitious design details which would be too difficult to achieve in an outdoor environment, or for a builder who isn’t familiar with the architect’s construction documentation.

Working with an architect to create your dream home should be one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of your life, but we’ve all seen enough Grand Designs to know it’s usually a bit too exciting.

We believe the journey should be as joyous as the architecture. So, we have rebuilt every step to make it simpler, more efficient, more sustainable, and more beautiful.

Blok offers a single point of contact throughout the whole journey from the first phone call to the day you move in.

The traditional model can go something like this:
You find an architect you like, hope that they understand your brief (and align with it), and go into the design phase with an articulated budget.
You engage a team of consultants to get the planning and building approvals, and your architect coordinates them and documents the project for construction.

You then try to find three reputable builders who are available within the next twelve months (not so easy), go to tender, pay your architect to manage the tender process, receive three tenders that range from 50 -100% over budget, negotiate with two of the builders to value engineer the project. Spend months in redesign with your architect at a further cost. Strip all the nice-to-haves and a handful of must-haves. Retender the project to three builders. The project comes in 25% over budget. No one wants to spend this much on something they don’t love, and the project gets parked for a year or two, meanwhile, construction costs have increased. Four years after the first meeting and a lot of emotion and money spent the project started from scratch. This is a very common experience – we get a call like this every month.

If you proceed to the construction stage under the traditional model you can choose to manage the builder yourself or engage your architect as Superintendent. The first option means you will have to review and negotiate variations, extensions of time, provisional sums, liquidated damages and the defects inspections and rectifications directly with your builder and visit the site periodically to ensure that everything on the project is being built in accordance with the drawings. In the second option, your architect will do all that for you, usually at an hourly rate or retainer, and this will usually yield a better result as the architect will inspect the site and ensure that the construction details are spot on and that you’re not being charged variations for things that you shouldn’t be charged for.