Providing staff with comfortable farm housing leads to a happier workforce and a more efficient farm. To help you find the best farm housing solution, we’ve put together all the things you’ll need to consider when choosing farm accommodation so that you can make the most informed decision.
Minimising safety issues
When building a new house on your farm, you’ll need to consider a whole host of safety concerns, adding to the many farm safety risks you already have to manage.
Safety considerations for a farm build:
- All building hazards must be managed effectively.
- All farm hazards should be kept to a minimum and not interfere with the build.
- Existing farm buildings or work areas must be safe for everyone using them.
- All health and safety compliance must be submitted and approved.
The more people, materials and movement on your farm the greater the risks so it’s important that you choose a building partner that understands and reduces these risks.
Ways building can disrupt your farm
An onsite build can have a significant impact on a working farm, and often leads to delays and unforeseen challenges for farmers and builders alike.
Potential disruptions:
- More daily traffic on busy access roads.
- Factoring the build into farm processes, i.e. avoiding the building site when shifting animals.
- Providing enough facilities for everyone on-site, i.e. toilets or a smoko shed.
- Frequent deliveries.
- Providing adequate access for heavy vehicles like trucks and cranes.
Fortunately, a prefabricated farmhouse can cut down on these concerns by condensing the onsite time to a number of days. The only time the build team will be onsite is when they deliver the finished product and complete any last-minute touch-ups and connections.
Healthy Homes requirements
Farm worker housing needs to be compliant with the Healthy Homes legal standards, which means they need to be dry, warm and healthy.
Healthy Homes standards cover:
For many existing homes in New Zealand, it can take a significant amount of work to get them up to new regulations, which is why investing in a quality new farmhouse will end up saving time and money in the long run. This is especially important for farmers who need to focus their energy on running the farm itself.
A hassle-free building process
Building can be a stressful and intimidating process, especially when it’s on top of managing a working farm full-time. When planning a build, you’ll need to be prepared for delays, unforeseen weather conditions, construction waste and general build decisions. Most home builds require you to make a whole hoard of decisions along the way, and each one requires your full attention. As a farmer, you won’t have that kind of time to offer, meaning either your farm or your build will bear the costs. Fortunately, choosing an off-site building process can largely eliminate these interruptions and streamline the project.
With a prefab home, your farm can operate unhindered throughout the majority of the build. Tradies are only on-site for a short time when the farmhouse gets delivered. This will lessen the load of health and safety paperwork and reduce the risk of incidents.
Benefits of prefab farm accommodation:
- Reduce responsibility on your shoulders.
- Limit any back-and-forth between you and builders.
- Cut down travel time for tradies, reducing costs.
- Eliminate weather delays.
- Avoid construction waste left on your farm.
- Could eliminate the need for planning consent.
With Genius Homes, you can choose a house plan from our range and leave the rest to us. We'll deliver a quality farmhouse with everything up to the standards of your local district, on-time and budget.
Retaining good farm workers
Besides all the logistical benefits of a prefab farm home, providing decent staff accommodation can be a strategic step to attract good staff, and retain them for longer. Your farm will reap the rewards if you can encourage staff loyalty, and you’ll avoid the process of hiring new staff for longer. Replacing a permanent staff member can cost you up to three times their salary, so it’s in your best interest to keep them around as long as possible.
Fortunately, by offering a warm, comfortable farm home for them to live in onsite, you are taking care of one of their main priorities. This will give you an edge over other job offers and lead them to choose you first.
If you help to take care of your worker’s health, comfort and travel costs, they’ll be more effective when working for you, and safer. If you can ensure their housing is close to work, meets Healthy Homes standards and makes them feel relaxed in their downtime, then you’ll be sure to notice the impact it has on their work performance.
Prefab staff accommodation from Genius Homes
Genius Homes has a diverse selection of options for farm accommodation ranging from 1 bedroom self-contained units to a large 4 bedroom manager’s home. Depending on the size of your farm and how many workers you have, you’ll be able to find a practical option for you.
The Staff Quarters is 72 sqm and includes twin cabins with ensuites and a communal kitchen area. We also offer the Staff Quarters Twin which has two completely self-contained units in one building.
The Kiwi is a modern 1 bedroom self-contained unit with a kitchen, bathroom and 5.5 sqm deck. The floor plan is 29.64 sqm which means you don’t have to worry about planning consent.
Whether you choose a prefabricated home, an onsite build or an existing home, your farm and finances will feel the effects. If you want to reduce stress, limit delays and attract the best possible staff, then a prefab farmhouse is a wise choice.
To find out more about building our off-site build process and quality house plans designed specifically for staff accommodation, download our Farm Homes brochure.
