How to Choose the Right Land for Your PIQUE Modular Home

Zoning, soil, bushfire ratings, powerlines and plain old truck access all decide whether your home can go where you want it – and sometimes whether it can go there at all.

Here’s what to work through before you sign anything.

Zoning and local regulations: are you allowed to build there?

Before you fall for a block, check that modular construction is permitted on it. Every council writes its own rules, and overlays for bushfire, heritage or flooding can quietly limit what you’re able to do.

Some councils want a Development Approval, some want a Building Permit, and some want both. A phone call to the local planning department early on costs you ten minutes and can save you from buying land you can’t build on.

Access: can we physically get the home to the site?

This is the one that catches people out most often, because it’s the question nobody thinks to ask until the block is already theirs.

Modular homes don’t turn up flat-packed on a ute. They arrive as large sections on a truck, and a crane usually has to get in beside them. That means the route in, and the space to work once we’re there, has to be up to it.

Rear access needs a minimum of 5 metres of clear width. If your home is going behind an existing house, that’s the number to measure. Five metres, clear the whole way through, from the street to the build site. Not five metres at the gate and three between the carport and the fence. It has to hold the full length of the run.

While you’re out there with the tape measure, look for:

• Side gates, meter boxes, air-conditioning units and downpipes narrowing the gap
• Retaining walls, garden beds or paving that can’t take the weight of a truck
• Tight corners where a long load simply can’t swing through
• Overhanging eaves, verandah posts and mature trees
• Soft or sandy ground that a loaded vehicle will sink into

If you’re short of five metres, it’s not automatically the end of the road. Fences come down and go back up, and trees can be trimmed. But it’s a cost, and it’s much better known before you buy than discovered on delivery day.

Rural and remote blocks bring a different set of questions. Narrow gravel roads, low bridges, weight limits and tight turnoffs all need checking, and some routes need a special transport permit. Nobody wants a house parked on a verge 40 kilometres from where it’s meant to be.

Powerlines: the obstacle above your head

Powerlines are the access problem most people never look up to see, and they’re worth their own section because of how the costs work.

A crane lifting a module has to clear whatever’s overhead, and there are strict exclusion zones around live lines that we can’t work inside. Overhead lines crossing the block, running along the verge, or spurring off to a neighbour’s property can all sit directly in the path.

Where they do, the lines usually need to be temporarily de-energised and dropped – taken down for the lift and reinstated afterwards. That’s arranged through Western Power, and there are three things to plan for:

1. Lead time. This is booked well in advance, not organised the week before. It’s one of the first things to lock in once your delivery date is set.
2. Cost. Charged to you, and it varies with the type of line and how much work is involved.
3. Neighbours. A drop often means power is off for nearby properties for part of the day, so they’ll need warning.

If the lines are underground, none of this applies and you can breathe easy. If you can see poles and wires anywhere near your access route or your build site, flag it early. It’s very manageable with notice and genuinely disruptive without it.

Soil quality and foundations: what’s under the surface?

WA soils vary enormously, and what’s beneath your home matters as much as the home itself.

A geotechnical survey, or a soil test, tells you whether the block will take a standard foundation or needs engineered footings. Reactive soils move with moisture and can crack a slab. Others drain poorly and cause problems that only show up years later.

Testing before you buy is far cheaper than fixing after you’ve built.

Utilities and services: what’s already connected?

The dream is a block with power, water and sewerage at the boundary. Across regional WA, that’s often not the case.

If services aren’t connected, factor in the cost of getting them there. Depending on distance and terrain, that can run from around $10,000 to well past $50,000. Some blocks are better suited to off-grid solutions instead, with solar, rainwater tanks and a septic system, each with its own setup cost and ongoing maintenance.

Check internet while you’re at it. Confirm whether NBN reaches the block, or whether Starlink is the realistic option, before you plan on working from home.

Sloping blocks: better views, bigger budget

A slope can give you a genuinely beautiful home – elevated decks, long views, a house that sits into the landscape rather than on top of it. It also adds cost.

Steeper sites often need excavation, retaining walls, or stumps and piers instead of a slab. Drainage needs proper thought, because water finding its way under your home is a problem that compounds. Slope also makes crane positioning harder, which loops back to the access question above.

Modular handles slopes well. Just go in knowing the number.

Bushfire and flood risk: know the rules before you commit

WA regulates building in bushfire-prone and flood-risk areas tightly, and compliance costs are real.

A bushfire-prone block carries a Bushfire Attack Level rating. The higher the BAL, the more fire-resistant the materials and construction methods have to be, and a high rating can add $10,000 to $50,000 or more to the build.

Flood zones bring raised footings and stormwater management. Both the DFES Bushfire Prone Areas Map and the WA floodplain mapping tools are free and online – worth ten minutes before you make an offer.

Orientation and climate: free comfort, if you plan for it

A well-oriented home is cheaper to run and nicer to live in, and it costs nothing extra to get right at the planning stage.

North-facing living areas pick up winter sun and cut heating costs. Considered window placement and cross-ventilation keep things cool through summer. Eaves, pergolas and existing trees all help manage heat.

Think about it while you’re still choosing the block, not once the plan is locked.

The short version

Before you buy, check these seven things:

• Zoning and overlays with the local council
• At least 5 metres of clear access to the rear of the property
• Whether powerlines cross the site and need to be dropped
• A soil test
• What services are connected, and what they’ll cost if they aren’t
• Bushfire and flood ratings
• Slope, and which way the block faces

Not sure how your block stacks up? Send us the address and we’ll tell you straight, including whether we can physically get a home onto it. Better to know now than after the contract’s signed.