Permanent vs Portable Granny Flats

There’s more to a granny flat than meets the eye, as granny flats can come as permanent or portable structures. Do these two types feel the same to live in? The distinction can make a world of difference when it comes to building in the first place or maintaining over the years.

Permanent granny flats are built as part of the foundations of the house, while portable granny flats by Elite Portables are built on-site using prefabricated building components that were manufactured off-site.

Learn more about these two types to see which one is right for you.

Initial Building Costs

As you can imagine, being built so differently, they often come with a vast difference in price tag as well. With such major disruption to the foundations, a permanent granny flat is much more expensive.

Not only can the construction budgets blow out, but the timeframe for the build as well. However, portable granny flats use cheaper, prefabricated materials that leverage economies of scale to bring costs down. With much faster assembly, the labour costs are lower too.

Time for Construction

Portable granny flats aren’t only cheaper to build, but faster as well. By relying on prefabricated building materials that come ready to use, the materials can be manufactured in the factory at the same time that the construction site is being prepared for building.

On the other hand, permanent granny flats have sequential steps, where the land is first cleared and levelled before building can begin. And if any bad weather rolls in, work may need to pause for a permanent granny flat, whereas there’s never bad weather inside of a factory.

Ability to Customise

There are pros and cons across the board when it comes to customising the home design of granny flats.

Cheap and quick, it can be as little as a matter of weeks for portable granny flats can go from a pile of steel on the ground to the completed building. However, any customisation steps will affect the budget and timeframe of portable granny flats. Customisation may mean less reliance on the prefabricated materials that brought down the costs in the first place.

If you have a specific home design in place, a permanence granny flat may be your better option.

Robust Home Design

Being built with much firmer foundations, a permanent granny flat will be more solid. However, the durability of a portable building comes from the quality of the build and the materials used, rather than whether or not the structure is set into the foundations. This means that, for portable granny flats that are made of durable building materials fit together securely, you have a robust construction that will last the years.

Not only will you avoid racking up maintenance costs, but modern granny flats are made as tight buildings with less energy loss than older, less energy-efficient homes.

Are Portable Granny Flats for You?

Contact Elite Portables for a portable granny flat that gives you everything you need, cheaper and sooner than you think.