An ex factory price is the price of the home at the factory door: built, finished inside, and not yet on a truck. An installed price is what it costs to live in it: the home, plus getting it onto the block, onto its footings, connected to power, water and sewer, and signed off by a certifier. In South East Queensland that second part most often lands between $59,000 and $140,000 inc GST on top of the home, and on a hard block it can cost as much as the home itself. Most makers quote ex factory. A few quote turn-key, which includes the install. This site shows every home from every maker at an installed price on an easy block, so two homes can be compared on the number that matters.
What sits between the two prices
Five buckets, from installer rates across the region. What an install covers lists what is inside each.
| Bucket | Typical range, inc GST |
|---|---|
| Certification and approvals | About $25,000 as an owner builder, about $35,000 with a licensed builder |
| Footings | $800 to $1,200 a pier, 6 to 18 piers |
| Delivery and crane | $8,000 to $38,000 |
| Plumbing and drainage | About $16,000, about $32,000 with on-site wastewater |
| Electrical | $5,000 to $9,000 |
How this site works out an installed price
Each home's price is the maker's own published price, linked to the page it was read from with the date. To that the site adds an install estimate on an easy block: flat, sewered, in Brisbane, the owner as owner builder, the truck beside the spot. The estimate takes the bottom of each bucket: $25,000 for certification, $800 a pier with the pier count worked out from the home's length in two rows, $8,000 for delivery and crane with a little more for a home over 40 m² or 4 m wide, $16,000 for plumbing, $5,000 for electrical. A home sold turn-key keeps the maker's price as the installed price. A kit shows no installed price, because a kit is a pile of parts and the labour to build it is not a known number.
That is why the smallest homes on this site show "from" about $59,000 on top of the maker's price, and why a steep, unsewered block two hours from the factory shows a bigger number in the calculator. The block decides where in the range a job lands, not the home.
Why makers quote ex factory
Because they do not know the block. Footings depend on the soil, the crane on the access, the plumbing on where the sewer is, the approvals on the council. A maker who quotes one installed number before seeing the block is guessing. The right question to a maker is what the price includes and how far they deliver; the right question to an installer is what every line of the site side costs, in writing, after a site check.
Home warranty follows the whole job
A contract only to build a home in a factory is not covered by the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme. Once a licensed builder installs it on the block, the QBCC treats the module like materials delivered to site: the premium is charged on the factory build, the transport and the install together, and the whole job is covered. That is part of why a licensed install costs more than an owner builder one, and it is a reason to ask any maker who quotes "installed" who will be the licensed builder on the contract.
See it for your block
Questions people ask next
What does ex factory mean on a modular home price?
The home at the factory door, built and finished, before transport. Footings, crane, delivery, plumbing, electrical, approvals and the certifier are all on top. In South East Queensland that install side usually adds $59,000 to $140,000 inc GST.
What does installed mean on this site?
The maker's published price plus an install estimate on an easy block: flat, sewered, in Brisbane, owner builder, truck beside the spot. It takes the bottom of each of the five install buckets. A turn-key home keeps the maker's price as the installed price.
Why do two makers' installed prices differ so much?
Usually because one quoted ex factory and the other turn-key, or because they assumed different blocks. Ask each what the price includes, who signs as the licensed builder, and how far they deliver.
- The five install buckets and the installed-price rule used on this site, read 16 October 2026
- Install cost calculator, installer rates across South East Queensland, read 16 October 2026
- QBCC, what is the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme (cover follows the licensed contractor's job), read October 2026
- QBCC, Queensland Home Warranty Scheme premium table, construction of a new residence, read 16 October 2026