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Home / Projects / Australian builder programme
BUILDER PROGRAMME, AUSTRALIA - QUOTED 2025
An Australian builder, eleven rooms, one container.
Eleven rooms cut to one 2,700mm ceiling height, on one E0 carcass, plus doors, lighting, furniture and sanitary from the same order - shipped as a single 40HQ duty-paid into Melbourne.
Residential · Australia · 2025 · Built for Australia
The brief
A builder buying a whole house, not a kitchen.
This came from a Melbourne builder ordering for a project rather than a homeowner ordering a kitchen. Eleven rooms - kitchen, walk-in pantry, laundry, home office, a downstairs bedroom, the family TV wall, master walk-in, two more bedrooms, a study and an outdoor BBQ - all at one 2,700mm ceiling height, which is what makes a builder order different from a residential one: the same carcass and the same door standard have to work in every room on the list.
What made it hard
Eleven rooms is a scheduling problem before it is a design problem.
The first order from a new builder is where the process gets tested, because every room is being judged at once and a single missed detail shows up eleven times. On this one the specification was fixed once - E0 carcass, melamine face, sintered stone to the wet runs - and then applied room by room, so nothing was re-decided between the kitchen and the study. The remaining difficulty was sequencing: eleven rooms of cabinetry, plus doors, lighting, furniture, sanitary and an outdoor structure, all landing on one site at one time.
One carcass through all eleven rooms.
European Grade E0 particleboard at 18mm, melamine faced, in every room on the list - kitchen, pantry, laundry, office, bedrooms, study and the outdoor BBQ unit. Tops on the wet runs are sintered stone. Everything was flat-packed rather than pre-assembled, which is what let eleven rooms fit into a single 40HQ instead of spilling into a second container.
- Carcass European Grade E0 particleboard, 18mm
- Face Melamine, one decor through all rooms
- Wet-run tops Sintered stone
- Ceiling height 2,700mm, all eleven rooms
- Packing Flat-packed
- Rooms kitchen, WIP, laundry, office, 3 bedrooms, TV wall, master WIC, study, BBQ
- Shipping One 40HQ, duty-paid into Melbourne
The build
What the builder sent back.
11ROOMS ON ONE ORDER
2,700mmCEILING HEIGHT
7CATEGORIES, ONE CONTAINER
2025QUOTED, MELBOURNE
Spec
What was built.
| Location | Sunbury, Victoria, Australia |
| Year | 2025 |
| Footprint | Builder project - eleven rooms |
| Ceiling height | 2,700mm on every room |
| Carcass | European Grade E0 particleboard, 18mm, melamine faced |
| Wet-run tops | Sintered stone |
| Rooms | Kitchen, WIP, laundry, home office, bedroom downstairs, family TV, master WIC, bed 2, bed 3, study, BBQ |
| Also in the order | Doors, lighting, furniture, furnishing, pergola, sanitary |
| Packing | Flat-packed, numbered to the room list |
| Shipping | One 40HQ, duty-paid into Melbourne |
| Terms | DDP - deposit on order, balance before shipment |
| Production | Scheduled by category against the deposit |
Eleven rooms on one specification sheet. Each room was checked against the ceiling height and the door swing before cutting, so nothing had to be re-made on site.
Factory to site
How the project ran.
Week 0 - Drawing review
Eleven rooms reviewed as one set, because a decision made in the kitchen had to hold in the study.
Weeks 1-4 - Specification
E0 carcass, melamine face and sintered stone fixed once, then applied room by room across the whole list.
Weeks 4-8 - Production
Cabinetry, doors, lighting and furniture produced as separate lines against the same room list.
Weeks 8-10 - Consolidation
Everything consolidated at the factory and loaded as one 40HQ rather than released in waves.
Weeks 10-12 - Duty-paid delivery
Cleared and delivered to the site address in Sunbury, Victoria, with duty and taxes settled before arrival.
Production & export
Consolidated at the factory, not on site.
A builder order spans more than cabinetry, and the value is in it arriving together. Cabinets, doors, lighting, furniture and sanitary were consolidated at the factory and loaded as one 40HQ with the cabinetry flat-packed and numbered to the room list. Duty and taxes were settled before the container landed, so the site received one delivery instead of clearing six. The Australia market page covers the compliance and delivery side in more detail.
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FAQ
This project, in plain answers.
What is different about a builder order?
Every room is judged at once, so the specification has to be fixed once and hold across the whole list. Here eleven rooms ran on one E0 carcass and one melamine decor, so nothing was re-decided between the kitchen and the study.
How do eleven rooms fit in one container?
By flat-packing. Pre-assembled units take volume that flat panels do not, and flat-packing is what let eleven rooms plus doors, lighting, furniture and sanitary travel in a single 40HQ.
What ceiling height were these cut to?
2,700mm on every room, including the walk-in pantry, the laundry and the study, so the door lines stay consistent from room to room.
What was in the order beyond cabinetry?
Doors, lighting, furniture, furnishing, a pergola and sanitary ware - consolidated at the factory and shipped with the cabinetry as one container.
How is duty handled on an Australian order?
This one shipped duty-paid into Melbourne: duty and taxes were settled before the container landed, so the site received one delivery rather than clearing separately.
Was this the builder only project?
No. The same builder placed a second project afterwards on the same specification, which is the practical test of whether a first order went well.
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