DIY granny flats hit Kiwi market ahead of looser rules for small homes

Monday, 20 July 2026

Elsewhere Pods’ can be built over two to four days, depending on the size.

Recent law changes have turbo-boosted interest in granny flats and small dwellings - and Bunnings wants a slice of the market, launching a new DIY flatpack home studio product in New Zealand just months after a successful launch in Australia.

The Australian company is already working in concert with Australian modular home start-up Elsewhere Pods to sell prefabricated “pods” or rooms that customers assemble themselves without needing a council permit.

These make-it-yourself structures -anything from a 2.7-metre wide room, to a double-storey tiny home - are made from “timber lookalike” composite panels and aluminium frames.

Elsewhere Pods says it has sold almost 100 of its pods so far this year.

The partnership is now being launched in New Zealand, with Elsewhere Pods using a Bay of Plenty–based subsidiary to meet local demand.

The cost ranges between $31,082 for a 2.4m x 2.7m “pod” to $51,106 for the 4m option.

The company advised that DIY pods bought from Bunnings would not come with a toilet, shower, or kitchen (though buyers could add their own). However, those odering direct from Elsewhere Pods in NZ could choose a customisable unit with a bathroom and kitchen.

Karel Bietje, New Zealand GM of Operations at Elsewhere Pods, said the pods had been extremely popular since they went on sale in February.

So far more than 100 had been sold in Australia, and he expected them to fly off the shelves here too given they could be built over a weekend for the smaller option and three to four days for the 4m pod.

Inside the 4-metre Angelsea pod from Elsewhere Pods.

“We're anticipating that it's going to have the same effect. We've gone from 15 inquiries a day to over 500 inquiries a day in Australia just after the launch,” Bietje told The Post.

“Popularity increased just because of the construction regulation changes, and the housing crisis.”

The “architecturally beautiful” pods went on sale at Bunnings, online-only, today, due the size of the units, Bietje said.

Elsewhere Pods has made $6.5 million worth of sales so far this year.

“We've got a big enough factory to supply … it gets delivered to your home in a couple of weeks.”

The 4-metre Angelsea Pod from Elsewhere Pods.

The pods are manufactured in China, but engineered out of Australia, Bietje said.

In January, the coalition Government made a slew of changes to home modification with the Building and Construction (Small Stand-alone Dwellings) Amendment Act 2025, including removing the requirement for building consents for standalone units up to 70m², as long as they met certain conditions.

Those included that the structure was new, standalone and a single storey, was two metres or more away from other buildings or boundaries, and had connections to the public stormwater and wastewater network, or should have a compliant on-site water and drainage system.

Elsewhere Pods and other 'plug-and-play' cabin companies, have retooled their standard floor plans to sit exactly at or under the 70m² threshold to benefit from the change of rules.

On the back of recent changes to construction regulations, government projections suggest New Zealand could see more than 13,000 additional granny flats and backyard-style studios built over the next decade as planning reforms and housing policies encourage greater housing density and more diverse living arrangements.

Official numbers of how many more granny flats and similar structures have been built are not collected in one place, although MBIE projections show the consent-free legislation will deliver roughly 13,000 more granny flats over the next decade. Companies like HouseMe, Compac Homes, Transbuild and BUILTsmart have reported an upswing in interest since the legislation changed, and big players are getting in the action - in Australia, online giant Amazon offers “foldable” tiny houses.

Bietje described Elsewhere Pods as a high-tech Lego set which could be constructed in as little as a weekend.

He believed the pods would be “a great fit for New Zealand”.

“Kiwis have always built their own. The bach, the backyard cabin or the shed, so we are just adding the studio part and the granny flat to that mix. It's such a simplified solution that you don't need a professional person to put them together.

“You follow the the instructions and you can put it together. It's just like an architecturally designed IKEA seat.”