There are huge upsides when it comes to building a house of your own. It means you can get exactly what you want and have input into every part of the new build home. Once you have chatted to a mortgage broker, or bank to see how much you can borrow, it's on to the fun step - finding a design you love. Almost 33,000 new homes were consented in the year 2018, up 5.3 percent from 2017 according to Stats NZ. This means lots of people are grabbing the bull by the horns and building a brand new home, just for them.

Even though there are many benefits to building a new home there are also a number of downsides, which can hinder the process and make the journey slightly less enjoyable.

Building a new home can take a long time. From the moment you purchase the slab of dirt in which it will be built on all the way to when the last box is unpacked and you're settled in. House builds are also very well known for going a little over budget! Once the design has been completed and signed-off from the council a build can typically take approximately 4 weeks to complete the slab pour and a further 22 - 26 weeks in construction through to practical completion. This is nearly 8 months worth of building, which is quite a long time!

There are quicker methods of course. Prefab and Transportable homes are built in a factory and delivered on site and can be quicker due to reduced weather and supply delays.

Most, if not all, home builds will take up a large portion, if not all of the budget. And with almost 8 months before your home is ready to live in it begs the question 'where will I live in the meantime?'. Many budgets don't leave additional money for accommodation during this time, which can be a huge headache at the best of times.

If you're not lucky enough to own a second home, or don't have family you can crash with (or don't want to for 8 months!) then there is an alternative option, which is low cost, and could end up being free.

'Why could a transportable tiny home be ideal as temporary living?' you may ask.

There are two main factors; one is that it is low cost to build, deliver and hook up. The flexibility in location means your new private space could be placed in a family member's section, or even on the land you've just bought! The second benefit is that it can be sold once you're done using it, returning some, if not all of the money you invested in it in the first place.

It may seem unusual to buy a transportable home when you've just sunk a small fortune into building your dream home but transportable homes come with another benefit in that their low cost makes them easy to finance. For example:

Additionally, if your section has the space you can always keep the unit on the section once you've moved in and use it as an Air BnB. This could not only help with funding the finance on the unit but once that's paid off the extra income could help pay off your new mortgage.

Living on your section while the house is being built may sound terrible (all that noise and mess) but most construction occurs during the day, while you may be at work. You'll also have peace of mind at being able to see progress at the end of each day.

Buying a transportable home as temporary accommodation while you build your dream home is a low cost way of finding alternative accommodation while you build. It also stacks up favourably to other costed forms of accommodation.

Staying in a decent hotel will cost you the same amount over an 8 month period, with the downside that you cannot recoup that money at any stage in the future. At least with a transportable home you could sell it, or rent it out to recover the cost.

If you're keen to see how a transportable home can work for you then check out our range of transportable homes here, and to understand your finance options click here.

If you're based in Auckland then the even better news is that you can rent one of our units and have it removed when you're done!