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When David and Julie Bland's house burned down in 2017, they wanted to replicate the character and authenticity of their grand old Queenslander in their next home.
But faced with the ever-increasing cost of materials and lengthy delays for trades, they turned their back on a rebuild and instead chose to relocate a pre-built home to their block.
"It took us about a year and a half to find a suitable replacement, something that had a bit of a wow factor to it," David says.
After finding their soon-to-be dream home, residing on a block in inner-city Brisbane, it was cut into large pieces, loaded onto a couple of trucks and transported to their block in Boonah, about 80 kilometres south-west of Brisbane, in the middle of the night.
"It's a rigmarole to get it organised," David says.
"[But] at four o'clock in the morning, the two halves arrive, and they ... just loosely put it in place.
David says that after a well-earnt rest, the crew returned to join the house together, in a "fascinating" process.
The pair estimate their second-hand home cost less than half of what it would have to rebuild using new materials, and even accounting for the delay in finding the house, it took considerably less time than building from scratch.
The Blands aren't alone in looking to already-constructed homes, but could this be a model solution for those struggling with the challenges and uncertainty plaguing the construction industry?
Costs to consider
Queensland business owner John Wright buys and sells houses destined for demolition — often from property developers — and relocates them for customers who want a pre-built home.
He said he had seen a spike in demand from buyers in recent years.
"It's been the busiest I've ever been in my life," he says.
"And even now ... as interest rates go up, we've still seen a huge demand.
"There's a lot of reasons why, but there's definitely construction time frames and also cost."
Mr Wright said while the price of pre-built houses varied considerably depending on size and style, they were generally more affordable than people expected.
"[They're] affordable housing, it's generally cheaper then going through a builder," he says.
Mr Wright says a three-bedroom house in good condition could be purchased, moved and stumped for about $100,000 to $120,000.
But there are other costs to keep in mind such as service connections, and fees for permits needed by your local council to move the house on site.
Old homes but new codes
Mr Wright says anyone considering purchasing a pre-built home should check that the property meets current building codes and regulations.
That can be a particular challenge with older homes, as Rafaele and Rosemary discovered.
The couple bought an old Queenslander, 'Dorothy', privately and had it trucked from Ipswich to their eco-village in northern NSW.
But when inspected against modern building standards, the home required additional work — and therefore funds — to bring it up to code.
"We've had about $70,000 worth of variations," Rosemary told ABC TV's Restoration Australia.
"Some of them because of problems that have been found, such as rotting bearers underneath the floorboards, and a problem with the fact that she's an old house and she's got to comply now with modern structural codes."
Like Rosemary and Rafaele, David and Julie Bland were inspired to save an existing home that might otherwise have been destined for landfill.
"We're quite appalled by the number of houses that get demolished," Julie says.
"Beautiful, strong houses that could live for another 100 years at least.
"For us, that's a big factor."
Not a silver bullet for housing crisis
One barrier to buying a pre-built home is the need to have a lot of expendable cash, as borrowing can be more challenging for home removal projects.
And then, you'll need enough cash to secure the land for the house in the first place.
House removals are also more popular in some states — like Queensland and WA — than others, where common styles of homes may not be suitable for the relocation process.
So, depending on the locations of your land and your would-be dream home, transportation costs could be prohibitive to your plans.
The Housing Industry Association says those reasons, and the relatively small quantity of homes fit to be moved, mean it's not a silver bullet for many of the challenges facing those wanting to build.
"It's unlikely to be a mainstream solution to the issues that we've had with access to building materials," Geordan Murray, the executive director of industry policy, said.
"It isn't practical for every type of dwelling. For example, one of the most common construction methods is brick veneer homes built on a concrete slab, [and] obviously that type of dwelling can't really be picked up and relocated somewhere else.
"In terms of addressing the overall housing supply problem, it's unlikely to have a material impact, it's just that the numbers are too small.
"But with that said, every additional house that we are able to build does provide some additional stock."
Mr Murray also noted that while using a pre-built house might ease the demand for building materials, it was unlikely to do the same for in-demand trades and labourers.
"In most circumstances where a home is relocated, it's likely that nearly all of the plumbing [will need] to be replaced as well," Mr Murray said.
"So it's unlikely to remove the requirement for plumbing trades.
"Similarly for electrical trades, particularly an older home. [It] is likely to need re-wiring to meet contemporary standards."
Even though it may not be a quick fix to the industry's woes, Mr Murray said it was great to see people thinking of ways to reuse buildings, rather than ripping them down.
"Demolishing a house does create a lot of waste so making better use of recycled building materials is something that industry's improving on and as we move further towards a circular economy that's going to become a bigger issue," he said.