A question asked by many people is, do Bunnings have flat packed granny flats? 

  

The answer is no. However, Bunnings can build a lot more than you think, as they sell the parts you require for a flatpack granny flat. IN FACT: We use Bunnings to source a lot of materials for our granny flats to our clients Australia Wide.

 

I’ll show you in the article how to use Bunnings to save on building a granny flat and exactly what you need to to.

  

While Bunnings themselves don’t actually build granny flats, if you manage your project correctly, you can go shopping at Bunnings and buy everything you need from there.

  

Starting with the “Bones” of you granny flat below.

 

UPDATE: If you are looking for another budget option, see how you may be able to get a granny flat for under $20,000 here.

  

Bunnings Frame and Truss Department

 

NOTE: Something that many people do not know is that some Bunnings stores have a big frame and truss department.

 

Here, you can purchase what is the ‘skeleton’ of your granny flat – that is, your:

 

 

• Roof trusses (if you have a pitched roof), or rafters (if you have a skillion roof) – that is, basically the bits that go on the underside of your roof, whether it be tiles or Colorbond.
• Wall frames, and
• Floor trusses.

 

Bunnings is a company that is well-known throughout all of Australia, and they pride themselves on their well-established reputation.

 

They constantly keep up to date with the current, modern designs and techniques they use to pre-fabricate all of these materials needed for the skeleton of your granny flat, so you can rest assured they will be high quality.

 

They also have a Frame and Truss team who can give you:

 

• Quotations, estimations, and details for your granny flat project.
• Excellent assistance and information.
• Committed practical help at their technical support centre, such as after sales servicing.
• Help with organising a solution for delivering your materials that is OH&S compliant – that is, by using their on-site crane trucks.

 

 

If you’d like more information on how a Bunnings Frame and Truss department can assist you with your granny flat, you can:

 

• Contact your local Frame and Truss Plant. These can be found at:
  • Hallam, Victoria.
  • Unanderra, NSW, and
  • Warnervale, NSW.
• If you have a Project Manager assisting you with your build, talk to them about the needs of your granny flat and how a Bunnings store could help, or
• Call the Bunnings Customer Service Centre on 133 062. Due to the volume of work we do, we can access better pricing so feel free to get in touch with us aswell.

 

Otherwise, you can keep reading this post, and I will discuss what else Bunnings sells, and to can plan your granny flat build around using their products.

 

How to Build a Granny Flat from Bunnings – Step-by-Step, with a Shopping List

 

As well as having a frame and truss department, Bunnings also sells so many other things you need to build your granny flat.

 

Effectively, you can buy everything you need from the hardware store, to build your granny flat.

 

Below is a step-by-step guide of how you can plan this build, buying everything that you need with several trips to Bunnings along the way.

 

• See if there are any restrictions on your land – Get a copy of your Section 10.7 Certificate, if, in NSW; confirm your boundaries by doing a Land and Title Search, locate your sewerage with a Sewer Diagram from a Reece Plumbing, and find your stormwater drainage and any existing electrical work. We have a breakdown for other States as well – Near the bottom of this article.
• If you are fine to proceed – Hire a surveyor, and an engineer. They will look over your land and give you the necessary reports/plans.
• Hire a designer (either an architect or drafter) – You will be asked to make many choices for materials that you need around your granny flat. You will find that you can purchase these yourself from Bunnings, such as:
  • Floor coverings – Common choices for this are wood, tiles, or carpet.
  • Paint colours.
  • Light fixtures.
  • Bench tops.
  • Doors.
  • Bathroom materials – A shower head and frame, a vanity unit, a toilet, etc.
  • Taps, and
  • Kitchenware – Ovens and cooktops, Kaboodle kitchen cabinetry, etc.

• Book a certifier (either local Council or private) to visit.
• Lodge your application to build – Through either a Development Application (DA), or Complying Development (CDC).
• Peg your land out – This way, you will know where you are placing your granny flat.
• Order your frame – This should be done in advance, and can be ordered from Bunnings Frame and Truss department. This is an area where it is worth spending money on only the best materials, as it will aid you with your energy-efficiency.

You can read “Energy Efficient Granny Flats – Save money and the Environment” for a list of great materials to build a granny flat that is energy-efficient .

• Construct your foundationby way of either pouring a concrete slab or erecting piers – If using piers, you can take a trip to Bunnings, to purchase LVL’s to use as the bearers and joists for your granny flat.

“Bearers and Joists for Granny Flats – How to Do It Right” talks you through how to lay these.

• Lay your flooring – A standard type of flooring used is particleboard sheet flooring, but you can speak to your designer about this.
• Put the frame that you ordered up – By now, the frame that you pre-ordered should be delivered, so you can put it up, so all the walls of your granny flat are installed.
• Put your rafters or trusses in – Again, these can be purchased from Bunnings Frame and Truss department. If you have a skillion roof, you will need to fit rafters, if you have a pitched roof, you will need to fit trusses.
• Put the roof on – Typical choices for a roof material are Colorbond or tiles.
• Fit your windows – As mentioned previously, these would have been pre-ordered with your frame.
• Go back to Bunnings to purchase your sarking, and then install this – This is a wall wrap that you put on the exterior of, and underneath your windows, so it can shield against moisture, fending the water off from being able to get in through the windows.
• Organise and finalise the rough-in for your Plumber.
• Organise your Electrician to visit.
• Lay your external wall covering, and gutters, fascia and eaves – Generally, the external walls are either a brick veneer or cladding.
• Get your interior walls plastered, and insulation added into the frame.
• Have your waterproofing done in all “wet areas”.
• Have an internal joiner fit your doors, skirting and architraves – The joinery includes all rooms such as your bathroom, kitchen, etc. This can be done in whichever order you like.
• Lay down your interior flooring – This will have been chosen with your designer, and may be able to be purchased from Bunnings.
• Paint the walls, inside and out – You will have pre-selected your paint colours, but the paint, brushes and all other items you need, can be bought at Bunnings.
• Finalise fittings – Now the fun begins! You can add all the extras to the inside of your granny flat to make it functional and look lovely, such as the lighting, and a Kaboodle kitchen.
• Organise your Plumber and Electrician to come over again – This will be their last visit, where they do their fit-outs (also called finishes). For example, they will fit the toilet, taps, and light switches.
• Landscaping – An important aspect for the regulations of privacy for the granny flat, this can also just be a nice part of the build for those who find gardening enjoyable. The smallest amount of landscaping can make a huge difference to your granny flat, as it is a feature point.

So, you’ll want to ensure its aesthetically pleasant, by including things that you can purchase again at Bunnings, such as:

• A walkway, using pavers.
• Garden structures, such as gates or fences.
• Water features, or
• Garden furniture.

 

If you want to know more about any of these procedures, such as what parts you can do yourself, feel free to read “How to Build a Granny Flat Step-By-Step – The Ultimate Guide“.

 

What Could Potentially Be Used as a Granny Flat?

 

There are still things that you can purchase from Bunnings that you could potentially convert into a granny flat, such as this shed.

 

You will have to make some changes, so your local Council will approve it for use as a “habitable area”. The changes include making alterations such as:

 

• Floor Drains – If putting in a bathroom, this room requires floor-drains cut-in for waste-water, and piped to your current system. You can do this by concrete-sawing the slab so the necessary plumbing can be installed, or laying an elevated concrete floor.
• Waterproofing – Any “wet areas” (i.e., a bathroom and laundry) must be tiled, fitted, and waterproofed and certified by an accredited Waterproofer who confirms there are no leaks, so you gain your Waterproofing Certificate.
• Electricity – You will need a professional electrician to come and perform the electrical work, so the shed turned granny flat has electricity. They will also need to come back and hard-wire a smoke alarm.
• The Completion – These are all the things to make your granny flat both functional and look lovely. Again, all of this can be purchased from Bunnings, such as floor coverings, lighting, and painting.

 

*Please note – This shed has ceilings that are over the required 2.4m high (EXCEPT for the bathroom, which can be 2.1m). If not, these would have to be amended. This shed is also already termite-proofed and has windows. If not, these necessary amendments would have to be made. 

 

“Converting a Granny Flat Into a Garage” has more information on how to convert a shed into a granny flat, feel free to read this.

 

New Zealand and Bunnings Flat Pack Granny Flats

 

It is actually possible to purchase a flatpack granny flat at some Bunnings stores. These are built off-site and then delivered to the property on which they are going to be built.

 

However, so far, this is only in New Zealand, particularly in the Tasman District (which is located in the northwest of the South Island of New Zealand).

 

To give you an indication, at the time of writing, a pre-fabricated flat pack was selling, in Australian dollars, exclusive of GST, from roughly:

 

• $60 300 for two-bedrooms, or
• $99 264 for four-bedrooms.

 

They also have a three-bedroom, two bathroom option available, which has been their most popular.

 

They are called the Clever Living Co range, and their full list of inclusions can be seen here.

 

Not listed are the exclusions, which are floor coverings, and on-site services such as power, sewerage, stormwater, and water.

 

More than 50 of these were sold in the first 12 months they first became available.

 

Demand only continued to increase, with a builder in Christchurch getting at least two queries about these flat packs every week. They are an affordable and quick option, with a three-bedroom flat pack able to be finished on-site in only six to eight weeks.

 

Bunnings is currently saying they have no intention to sell this range in their Australian stores, due to the different regulations between states and local Councils, which can be seen in the below posts:

 

• ACT.
• TAS.
• SA.
• WA.
• QLD, and
• Victoria.

 

Whereas in New Zealand, all Councils will give approval to build these flat pack designs within two weeks (ten working days), as they are built with multi-proof certification.

 

Pictures of the flat packs, inside and out, can be seen in this article I found.

 

Other Hardware Stores

 

Of course, Bunnings is not your only option for a hardware store in Australia. You have several other stores from which you can purchase building materials, or go to and compare prices.

 

There is Bunnings well-known price match policy – that is, if you find a competitor of theirs is selling the same product, but at a lesser price, they can lower that by 10%. So, it may be worthwhile to check these stores for some of your items, especially your more expensive ones, to see if they are on sale.

 

• Mitre 10.
• Northshore Timber and Hardware.
• Home Hardware.
• Thrifty Link.
• Stratco.
• NHS.

 

These are just to name a few. I’m sure you know more, that you also have a local favourite of your own.

 

Conclusion 

 

This post has a lot of the information that I wish I knew before I built my granny flat.

 

You can see the in my costs that I was quoted, and paid, $14, 861.00 for the frame of my granny flat.

 

This was from a massive factory on the Central Coast in NSW, close to where I live, that builds everything for home projects and granny flats. For this price, I got the frame, the roof, the trusses, and the rafters.

 

After I finished building, I got a quote for the same materials from Bunnings. This quote was much cheaper, only $10, 000 – so, if I had bought from Bunnings, I would have saved $4861.00.

 

So, if you’re ready to take several trips to Bunnings, see how you can build your own granny flat and save yourself a lot of money.