High costs and logistical barriers can make it almost impossible to build new housing in some areas of Australia. Enter Gavin King.

In 2020, the former media executive and real estate developer established Prefabulous, a construction firm specialising in high-quality prefabricated housing. Buildings are constructed as complete modules at the company’s facility in Wagga Wagga, then trucked for installation at the site.

“Our idea is to create robust, architecturally clever homes for locations where people struggle to find builders, or want to be part of the modular prefab revolution,” Gavin says.

He cites the example of broadacre farming companies that struggle to attract skilled managers to live on-site, many with spouses or families in tow. “No-one wants to live in an outback shack. If we can provide quality housing, they’ll be better able to attract quality talent.

“We’re also talking with a mining company that’s trying to move their workforce away from FIFO into longer stays. To do that, they need to provide a higher standard of accommodation.”

Prefabulous already supplies the tourism market, including fabricating and installing boutique accommodation for the Whitton Malt House, near Griffith, and Cupitt’s Estate winery in Ulladulla.

“Our customers are very grateful when we deliver such a high-end product. They’ve never had that choice before; they’ve always had to accept whatever was available where they live,” Gavin says.

He believes Prefabulous can even help to ease Australia’s housing crisis by configuring its production line to supply affordable housing. Working with lean manufacturing experts, the company has mapped out a process to construct affordable houses at the rate of one every two days, and is lobbying the NSW Government for funding to support the upgrade.

Prefabulous has worked with the University of Wollongong and the Sustainable Buildings Research Centre to devise a ‘net zero’ product with a neutral environmental footprint. “The biggest hurdle [for most businesses] is that, yes, net zero can be achieved, but it’s unaffordable,” Gavin says. “We want to make it reachable, and that’s been a big part of our study process. Our new project, showcasing how we can do this, is currently underway at our site in Wagga.”

Gavin believes that Wagga Wagga, the town where he grew up, is the ideal springboard to grow his agile operation into a leading supplier of prefabricated housing. “We’re four-and-a-half hours’ drive to either Sydney or Melbourne, which means we can cover almost 50 per cent of Australia’s population within a day’s drive from where we manufacture.”

Along with his business partner, Tim Rose, Gavin has been a long-term NAB customer. He’s a fan of the NAB products that let him take banking on the move.

“With the footprint we service for Southern NSW, it’s rare to be behind a desk. I make payments on the run and keep an eye on banking because there’s a lot of turnover, a lot of cash flow, and it needs to be done straight away,” he says.

For NAB Business Banking Manager Colin Hill, Prefabulous is a “trouble-free” operation. “They mainly cash fund whatever they need, but Tim knows if they ever need anything we’re happy to support them,” he says.