Questions, answered. From first look to handover.

Factory-built homes, from the 31 m² Studio to the 60 m² Two Bedroom, that you can use as a backyard home for family, a rental or a secondary dwelling. Bonsai homes are precision homes, built and fitted out indoors and delivered to your site. Each home is engineered around a main steel structure, fitted out and quality-checked indoors, then transported and installed complete. You get the consistency of building indoors instead of a build exposed to weather and site variability.

No. A kit home arrives as parts to assemble on site. Your Bonsai arrives as a complete, fitted-out home: built, finished, and inspected in the factory, then delivered and installed.

Building indoors means consistent quality, out of the weather. Your home is built while your site is prepared at the same time, and the scope and price are set out in your proposal before the build starts.

Seedling is pre-fitted with the essentials and ready to move into: kitchen, bathroom, bedroom(s), flooring, lighting and power. Blossom is everything in Seedling plus the Comfort Pack, Security Pack, and premium fit-out upgrades. Eden is everything in Blossom plus furniture and appliance packages, and full premium finishes. On the One Bedroom, Eden also includes a private sauna.

Yes. You build your home in the configurator: the model (Two Bedroom, One Bedroom, or Studio), the fit-out tier (Seedling, Blossom, or Eden), the interior style (Light, Night, or Indochine), and the cladding colour. Lysaght cladding comes on every tier and Bondor comes with Eden; cement board and weatherboard are coming soon. Add-ons like timber decking and turnkey installation are available on request.

In the way most people mean it, yes: your Bonsai is built and fitted out in our factory, then lifted onto your site by crane and installed. It is designed to achieve Class 1a, the same building class as a house, and a 7-star energy rating. Walk through one at our Gisborne display village, by appointment, to see the finish for yourself.

Prices start from the ex-factory price shown on each model's page. Starting prices exclude GST and cover the selected model and fit-out tier package. Site prep, delivery, installation, service connections, and approvals are scoped separately, and set out in your proposal before the build starts.

Yes. Our homes are designed to achieve Class 1a as a dwelling, the same building class as a house, with site and council requirements assessed per project.

Yes, a building permit, always. A planning permit often isn't needed for a second dwelling of 60 m² or less (counting roofed areas) on a lot of 300 m² or more, outside some zones and overlays. We check your site before you commit.

Every Bonsai home is designed to achieve a 7-star NatHERS energy rating. We model each design against the conditions found across most regions of Victoria, so it is set up to reach at least 7 stars in most locations. The final rating for your home depends on its orientation and site. A higher star rating means the home holds comfortable temperatures with less heating and cooling, which can mean lower running costs year-round.

Yes. The compact footprint suits tight and narrow blocks, and footings can be engineered for slope. We confirm what your specific site allows during the site assessment, before you commit.

Bonsai homes use engineered steel footings as standard, and we can use a traditional concrete slab where a site calls for it. The right system is confirmed during the site assessment.

Yes. We supply and deliver across Australia. What is possible depends on your site's access and what transport companies can do, so we confirm delivery after the site check.

Seven steps, from conversation to keys:

1. Configure
2. Site assessment
3. Proposal & confirmation
4. Factory build
5. Site preparation
6. Delivery & installation
7. Handover

See the full walkthrough on our How it works page.

About 5 months from order to keys. Your home takes 8 to 12 weeks to build, while your site is prepared at the same time. Then about 3 weeks on site for delivery, installation and connections. Design and approvals come first, and approvals vary by council. We confirm yours after the site check.

Yes. Our display village is in Gisborne, Victoria. Visit sessions are available by appointment so you can inspect layout, finishes, and quality in person.