Nice and Easy Does it
Holiday homes come in all shapes and sizes and a number of modular options have sprung up in recent years offering a funky and flexible alternative for owners of waterfront property.
In years gone by, simple houses from group housing companies were often used as baches. They were cheap, effective and suited the plain, easy living ethos of life by the water. Or a galvanized garage with basic services was used as a first stage to a grander holiday home plan – and sometimes never went beyond this. 
Today, many of those companies are still designing ranges specifically for use as baches. McRaeway Homes, Initial Homes, Lockwood Group, Leisure Com and Keith Hay Homes all have designs either suitable or specifically created for the beach.
Some come in kitset form and cost as little as $35,000 (excluding GST, freight and construction). Architex director André Hodgskin says that with coastal land being the star performer in the recent property boom, buyers may use most of their funds securing the land and have little immediately left over for building a new bach or improving the existing one. 
There are several solutions, one of which is building in stages as further funds are built up, using a flexible product, says Hodgskin. There are the various designer modular baches now available. At the forefront of these was the innovative Bachkit, originally designed by Hodgskin but owned, marketed and further developed by Christchurch-based Replica Architects since 2001.
The Bachkit has areas separated by sliding panels and glass doors that retract into wall cavities, as well as large decks. It’s modular so can be built to different stages with prices ranging from $120,000 up to around $400,000 for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom option, excluding the provision of services such as waste treatment, electricity and water.
Bachkit can be adapted to any flat site as there are openings on all sides for the sun and the floor plan can be flipped depending on which way the house is facing.
Security is taken care of by the giant aluminum shutters that wrap around the entire house. Bachkit offers a range of options including a solar kit, solar plumbing and wind generator.
Currently Bachkit is also being developed for Australia and Pacific Island markets. Architex’s André Hodgskin has designed the iPAD kitset bach. It can be used as a temporary structure, then be easily removed and relocated, or become a secondary structure on the site.
But best of all, says Hodgskin, the basic iPAD can be used, then added on to, to result in as large a bach as is desired. The iPAD is designed to cover a range of options: it could be a one-bedroom holiday home, secondary dwelling, granny flat, office or studio. It can be grouped as a series of pavilions. A single iPAD totals 50m2 with decks of 55m2 and sells for $125,000 plus GST, freight and installation.
Various external cladding and colour options are available. Another option is the Eurobach where various functions such as living, sleeping and ablution facilities are separated into independent modules. Each module can be bought independently so you can start small and expand as needed.
The difference with the Eurobach is that it’s built of square steel tubes that are flat-packed then sent on-site. These can be put together by someone with no building experience, a rivet gun and a bit of common sense. Any type of cladding can be used for an individual look.
A 140m2 kitset costs around $140,000. One of the more unusual kitset bach ideas of recent times is the work of Wellington architects William Giesen and Cecile Bonnifait of Atelier Workshop.
Using a shipping container as the base, the Port-a-bach has dropdown and pop-out sides, designer interiors, costs $80,000, comes with council consents and can be lifted into place from the back of a truck with a hydraulic lifting arm. It comfortably sleeps two adults and two children and comes with concrete footings. Fabric and canvas screens are used to create flexible indoor and outdoor spaces.
Holiday homes come in all shapes and sizes and a number of modular options have sprung up in recent years offering a funky and flexible alternative for owners of waterfront property.
WEBSITES
bachkit.co.nz
ipad.net.nz
eurobach.co.nz
port-a-bach.com
