Buyer's Guide · Terminology
These four terms get thrown around like they mean the same thing. Legally, they don't. Here's what each one actually describes — and why the label matters less than the certification behind it.
"Granny flat", "kit home", "tiny home" and "container home" describe four completely different things — a use, a delivery method, a size and style, and a building material — and popular usage has mashed them into interchangeable marketing words. That's how someone ends up buying what they thought was a "council-approved tiny home" and discovering it's actually an uncertified caravan.
Granny flat describes a use, not a building type: a secondary, self-contained dwelling on the same title as an existing house — for a parent, adult child, or tenant. In Queensland it can be built as a standalone structure or attached, and its size is limited under most council planning schemes. It says nothing about how it was built.
Kit home describes a delivery method: the components — frame, cladding, roofing — are supplied to your site for you or a hired builder to assemble. Quality and compliance depend entirely on that on-site build. A kit home can be certified NCC Class 1A if it's engineered and constructed to that standard, but the certification isn't automatic just because it's a "kit" — someone still has to build it correctly and get it assessed.
Tiny home describes a size and a style, usually under 50 square metres and often built on a trailer chassis for mobility. That mobility is the catch: a tiny home on wheels is typically registered as a caravan — a vehicle, not a building — which means it generally can't be approved under the National Construction Code as a permanent dwelling, regardless of how well it's finished inside.
Container home describes a building material: a structure built from or around a shipping container. Like a kit home, a container home can in principle be engineered to Class 1A — but the structural, insulation and waterproofing upgrades required to get a steel shipping container to residential standard usually cost more than the container-home concept was meant to save. See our container homes guide for the full breakdown.
None of these four labels tell you whether a structure can be council-approved, insured as residential property, or financed by a bank. Only one thing does that: whether it's certified NCC Class 1A — the same classification as a standard house. A "granny flat" that isn't Class 1A certified is legally no different from an unapproved shed. A "tiny home" that is Class 1A certified is a real, insurable, financeable dwelling, whatever size it is.
The Label
The Certification
The Forge 12 is built to the tiny-home footprint (12.0m × 3.5m) that people search for, works perfectly as a granny flat, isn't a kit — it arrives factory-complete — and isn't a container home. What it is: an NCC Class 1A certified permanent dwelling, from $149,000, delivered across Queensland. Whichever term brought you here, that's the classification that actually matters.
FAQ
A granny flat describes a use — a secondary dwelling on a residential block, usually for family or rental. A tiny home describes a size and style, often built on a trailer chassis and registered as a caravan. A structure can be both, neither, or one without the other — what matters legally is whether it's certified as a permanent dwelling, not what it's called.
No. A kit home is supplied as components for you or a builder to assemble on site, with construction quality depending on that assembly. A modular home is built complete in a factory under quality-controlled conditions and delivered as a finished structure, then connected to services on site.
Generally no. A tiny home on wheels is classified as a caravan — a vehicle, not a building — so it can't be approved under the National Construction Code as a permanent dwelling. Councils vary on how long a caravan may be lawfully occupied on a property.
Only a structure certified as NCC Class 1A. That classification — not the marketing name attached to it — is what banks and insurers actually check before they'll treat a small dwelling as real property.
On display in Rockhampton — delivered across Queensland
Walk through the Forge 12 and view the actual NCC Class 1A certification documentation for yourself.