Kit Houses Kit Home Brands

Date Published:

26/01/2009

Thanks to TV programmes like Grand Designs, kit homes, such as the Huf Haus are more popular than ever before. But which other brands should you know about?

By Gordon Miller

Over the last couple of decades, kit homes have become a feature of our streets. Where once they were seen as alternative, nowadays they are increasingly mainstream, a type of housing whose time has come. The reasons for their popularity grew largely out of a design aesthetic and many homeowners’ desire to live in a type of house that isn’t typically British.

Inside a Huf Haus kit home

Where Do Kit Homes Come From?

Classically, the kit home originates from Germany and Scandinavia – although the Canadians and a few other nationalities might argue differently. Commonly in Nordic and Germanic countries, house construction is with wood (blonde timber that grows indigenously) and glass, which allows much desired sunlight into the otherwise long, dark days of a Scandinavian winter.

A further feature of kit homes – and the reason the name has stuck – is that the majority of the homes are prefabricated - made offsite and erected on the plot – unlike brick-built homes. Literally, the timber or glass ‘walls’ will be made to size in a factory and shipped to the house's location and joined together. The advantages are precision, a minimisation of waste and a faster build time – a home can be up in much less than two weeks.