Holiday Park House
The Project
Years ago, Kevin Goodall and his family were offered a spot at a campground right next to two plots occupied by other members of their family. They jumped at the opportunity, staying in the 25-foot-long caravan that was set up on the property as a permanent structure.
It didn’t take long before Goodall’s family outgrew the structure and decided to sell the caravan. In its place, they decided to build something that would suit them better while maintaining the same footprint. The caravan was about 7.5 meters long. They decided to build two structures that were the same length as the caravan, and chose to build each structure 3 meters wide for cheaper and easier transport.
The two structures were built off site and transported separately to the campground and placed together. They are built of a typical timber framed construction with a plywood board and batten external cladding. They are fully insulated and contain recycled double glazed joinery. A 4 panel bi-fold door has been reused with 3 of the panels forming the front entrance and one of the panels being used as the back door. Each of the buildings is wired and plumbed separately with each structure having its own electric board (power comes in through one building, and is distributed to the next, however, if there ever were a reason to run the two buildings separately, they are equipped to do so).
One structure consists of an open kitchen/lounge/dining room. The second structure contains three rooms: one bedroom which fits a queen-sized bed, a bunk room equipped with built-in bunks, and a utility room that can also function as a bedroom. Adjacent to the utility room is a pantry/laundry area that is plumbed for a toilet and shower. At present there is no bathroom in the home, even though it has been designed to accommodate one. This is because the house is based at a campground which already has adequate bathroom facilities and having a bathroom in the house will double the cost of rent at the campground for the Goodall family.
Low Cost
Several things drove down the cost of this building: small size, simple construction, use of recycled materials, and the DIY nature of the project. Keeping each structure at 3m wide allowed the building to be towed without special permissions, which also saved costs (as well as making moving the structure easier).
The use of recycled materials was good both for cost savings and saving things from going to the rubbish tip. Goodall noted that it would have been nice to use more recycled materials, but he wasn’t able to easily do so without significantly altering his plans.
Being a DIY project saved labour costs, and the simplicity of the construction meant that it was easy for family to help on the project; one of the younger teenagers in the family was able to do quite a bit of the work, which is an illustration of the ease of construction method. Goodall believes that with this type of construction almost anyone can get involved and build a similar structure for themselves without too much trouble.
About Kevin Goodall
Goodall is currently a Licensed Building Practitioner based in Auckland. He is innovative and to the point. Goodall is interested in consulting with people to help wherever he can in their build.
Contact
If you’d like to get in contact with Kevin Goodall to work as a consultant on your project or if you have a building job that you’d be interested in him doing you can send him an email at kevingoodallbuilders@gmail.com
