Ararat Kit Homes Aim For Gold At Beijing Olympics
The Age
Friday March 1, 2002
A kit home builder in Ararat has been invited to show his wares at a building conference in Beijing.
RAL Homes managing director Reiny Loeliger has even been touted as a potential supplier for the Olympic village by Chinese business executives.
Mr Loeliger, who says he started his kit homes business in 1989 with a dream of providing affordable housing for everyone, is now on the threshold of exporting to one of the largest markets in the world.
Ararat Rural City Council chief executive officer Bill Braithwaite says that when he travelled to China last year to strengthen economic ties, he showed his Chinese contacts what Ararat's businesses had to offer. ``That (RAL Homes) was the one that stood out," Mr Braithwaite says.
Austrade has now invited Mr Loeliger to show his wares at the seventh China International Exhibition for Building Materials, Building Systems, Construction and Architecture in April, with Australian government officials hoping to boost his profile in China.
Mr Loeliger makes prefabricated, environmentally friendly homes that can be sold in kit form, and bolted together within a week by anyone with a basic knowledge of carpentry.
Mr Loeliger estimates he sells one a month to Australian buyers, with 100 projects completed. He has a staff of eight, and a claimed turnover of up to $750,000.
Setting up a kit home for a nuclear family costs about $80,000, including connections and services. That's about $60,000 less than building a house the conventional way.
Some kit-home businesses from the 1970s were notorious for poor quality and hidden construction costs, but Master Builders Association of Victoria area manager David McMath has nothing but praise for RAL Homes.
``It's a brilliant product," he says. ``It would be ideal for an Olympic village."
Everything can be supplied on a single truck or shipping container, and assembled on a slab or timber platform.
Other striking and unusual features of RAL homes that attracted Chinese executives are their spaciousness and energy efficiency.
With curved roofs and walls blending into an arch much like the interior of a cathedral, the inside of an RAL home has light pouring in from large windows, and is refreshingly cool on a hot day.
The basic design consists of semicircular arches made from eight prefabricated plywood panels bolted together and covered with three layers of insulation.
The arches can be fitted together infinitely. This means clients can construct the shape and design of their house according to their taste, or extend it later if the owner wants to make it larger.
Every home can achieve a five-star energy rating, even with a timber floor.
Mr Loeliger says all the components of his homes can be dismantled and recycled.
He has also designed an air-conditioner that uses a fan to drive hot air through a cooling underground tunnel.
``It is air-conditioning with cheap energy," Mr Loeliger says. ``It only takes 40 watts to drive the fan but it ... costs $2500 to do this installation. With a beautiful air-conditioner it would cost $1500 but it uses 30 times as much power," he says.
The homes are strong and can withstand wind speeds of up to 200 kmh.
Mr Loeliger's next step, he says, is to find an agent in China or Hong Kong.
Mr Braithwaite says he will also continue to boost RAL Homes' profile in China and market its Olympic potential. He is seeking funding to help Mr Loeliger to attend the Beijing conference.
``It will be an opportunity for Victoria," he says.
© 2002 The Age
