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A Forever Home With A Deck Full Of Dreams & The Hum Of Bees

Deidre Hendrickson and her partner had been living in a caravan for three years. They loved their rural lifestyle but felt it was time to upgrade their accommodation. Staying on their lifestyle block was a priority, so they began exploring options for new builds, focusing on prefab, transportable and tiny homes....

Small Footprint, Big Comfort: Downsizing Done Right

Now living alone in her Miramar three-bedroom house, Marie found herself with more space than she needed in a home she had shared for years with her young family. When her daughter offered Marie the opportunity to build on her back section, Marie’s idea of downsizing to a tiny home gained traction....

From Prefab To Pure Fab: Building A Unique Airbnb In A Vineyard Paradise

Keith and Helen had firm plans for an air bnb in a special location – at the heart of their own Martinborough vineyard. When they each searched for prefab homes and transportable homes online, they found lots of options available. Two points of difference had them getting in contact with Able Spaces: 1. They could go and visit and see the homes; and 2. The big variety of choice, with a few larger options. Many of the homes they found online in other places were just one bedroom and they were a...

Government Proposal to Ease Granny Flat Regulations: What Homeowners Need to Know

In response to home affordability challenges, the NZ Government announced on 17 June 2024, a proposal to build small, standalone, self-contained houses, up to 60m2 without needing a building or resource consent, provided they meet certain criteria.Able Spaces owner, Norma McCarty, discusses the implications and advises homeowners to stay informed. She encourages them also to share their thoughts before submissions close on 15 August 2024....

Why Our Prefab Homes Are Gaining In Popularity

Prefab homes offer Kiwis many advantages over more traditional building methods, such as fast build times and improved affordability. Because they are more affordable, prefab homes also make a new build an achievable option for many people....

Fast & Easy Studio: Sustainable Solutions Made Simple

When Rob and Helana Taylor wanted a self-contained studio for their rural property, they began searching online and found Able Spaces in Trentham, Wellington. Rob compared the delivery costs with other providers of transportable homes outside Wellington and found significant savings due to Able Spaces’ reasonably close proximity to their home in Judgeford, Porirua....

Redefining Sustainable Living Options Without Compromising on Quality or Cost

Most people understand the importance of minimising carbon emissions and climate change, reducing waste and generally reducing the impacts of our way of life. All these things come under the umbrella term of ‘sustainability’.While it’s easy to make changes to household recycling, or lowering carbon transport options, buying a house is a bit more complex when it comes to working out how sustainable the different options are.Here at Able Spaces we are proud of how sustainable our prefabricat...

"Exceptional Customer Service from Start to Finish”

“Our options were restrictive. We were keen to go with a prebuilt offsite home but every house we looked at was too wide to go through the Crofton Downs Bridge. Able Spaces was the only company that could deliver a transportable home to our site in Makara, rural Wellington (between Johnsonville and Karori).”...

Turning 20 Years of Dreams into a Home, Where Others Couldn't

Linda and Justin had already tried a number of builds and kitset options, including getting as far as the consent stage on one of these attempts. Disappointingly, after 20 years, they still didn’t have their dreamed-about brand new build to call home.Not prepared to give up, their focus next shifted to prefabricated homes, though they weren’t entirely happy with that option. To Linda, prefabricated meant small and maybe too economical on the quality of products inside.Nonetheless, when a fri...

Unmatched Customisation Meets Discerning Buyers Expectations

When Katrina and Todd Wearne decided on a small home for themselves, they considered a range of tiny homes but found most of these were too small. The Wearnes were looking for a quality build, specifically they wanted a well finished house with quality fittings.They weren’t sure where to go until their bank (Westpac) recommended Able Spaces as a tiny home provider. They had also found out their neighbour was going ahead with a home from Able Spaces. The Wearnes Googled Able Spaces, liked what ...

Building Dreams One Home at a Time

Looking to create more living space on your section? Able Spaces has a quality new prefabricated home solution for you that is fully customisable, while remaining highly affordable. With full project management included from Able Spaces owner and managing director, Norma McCarty, getting that new home on your section is easier than you think....

Our Story

Norma, the owner of Able Spaces started this journey in 2017. Studying Human Resources at Massey University, her career began in the corporate world. Working as a Management Consultant, an Accounts Manager and a personal life coach, Norma wanted to move beyond a hierarchical, process driven approach to business. With the idea she wouldn’t work for someone forever, Norma eventually wanted to be her own boss. Offered the opportunity to recover a dormant demolition business in 2011 with a busines...

Renting vs. Buying Your First Home – What is Best?

As young Kiwis make their way toward independence, it can be hard to know when to move on from renting an apartment to buying a first home. That caution is certainly warranted. As recently as two years ago, rates of home ownership were bottoming out in New Zealand, hitting a 66-year nadir. But things are on the upturn again: As many as a quarter of home sales in 2018 were to first-time home buyers, rates higher than in any year since the Global Financial Crisis. No matter the state of the econom...

5 Ways to Achieve Financial Freedom When Buying Your First Home

Looking for your first home is a daunting task. Not only are you deciding where to spend a significant portion of your life and potentially raise a family, but you’re likely making the biggest financial decision you’ll ever make. Still, if you’re careful in your decision and you make responsible moves, buying your first home can be your ticket to near-complete financial freedom – from rent, utilities, a mortgage, and much more. Below, you’ll find a handful of the most responsible steps...

How to Turn a Portable Building into a Home

Portable buildings and tranportable homes make wonderful ready-made living spaces thanks to the amenities that come already installed – meaning you don’t have to put in plumbing and electricity yourself.They’re perfect as a guest house, an office, or a home unto themselves – but however you use the space, it does take some small space interior design know-how to make a portable building feel truly cozy.So whether you’re looking at portable buildings as a tiny home option...

7 benefits of living in a tiny home

By moving into a smaller home, whether it be tiny or smaller than your average New Zealand house, you’ll need to declutter and get rid of some of the stuff you may have accumulated over the years that you probably don’t actually need. That ‘stuff’ can be gifted, sold, swapped or recycled, which means someone else gets to enjoy it in its current form or upcycled. Win-win. We are such a consumer society that create so much waste, when in fact, it’s not hard to get rid of our junk that’...