Most of the “modular home delivery went sideways” stories you read online come down to one thing: nobody walked the site before the contract was signed. The truck shows up, the crane operator looks at the access road, and 30 minutes later you’re paying for an extra day’s hire while a smaller secondary crane gets organised.
This list takes ten minutes to run through. Do it before the deposit goes anywhere — every item below is faster to fix on paper than on delivery day.
The driveway
- Driveway width. A standard 40ft module is roughly 3.5 m wide when laid flat on the truck. Add 0.5 m clearance each side. If your driveway is narrower than 4.5 m at its tightest point, the truck can’t enter.
- Overhead clearance. Powerlines, tree branches, awnings, neighbour’s carport overhang. Tall trailers are about 4.6 m. Anything lower needs trimming or a different approach route.
- Turning radius. A semi-trailer needs a circle of about 15 m to turn into a property from a side street. Tight cul-de-sacs are the most common refused site.
- Driveway grade. Anything steeper than 1-in-7 (around 14°) and a fully laden flatbed can scrape its undercarriage. We can usually unload at the kerb instead, but it changes the crane lift complexity.
The crane pad
- Crane standing area. A 25 t crane needs roughly 5 m × 5 m of flat, firm ground within ~10 m of where the module is going to land. Lawn over rubble works; lawn over recently filled clay does not.
- Distance from crane to slab. Standard 25 t cranes have ~20 m reach. Beyond that we go to a 40 t crane (+$2,000) or 65 t (+$4,500). Measure it; don’t guess.
- Overhead obstructions from crane to slab. Trees, eaves, telephone lines, gables on existing buildings. The boom has to swing the module over the obstruction without touching it.
The pad / slab
- Soil class. If your site is reactive clay (Class M or H) you need a stiffer footing system than for sand (Class A). A geotechnical report is usually $800–$1,500 and is mandatory for Class 1a builds. Don’t skip it.
- Fall. The site needs a maximum 1-in-50 fall away from the slab for stormwater. Bring in fill or compact a level pad before delivery, not after.
- BAL rating. If your block is in a designated bushfire-prone area, the BAL assessment changes the building’s glazing, cladding and shutters. The assessor needs site access; book them when you sign.
Services
- Power, water, sewer, NBN. Confirm the mains stub or trench is within 6 m of the building footprint. Each extra 10 m of plumbing trench is roughly $400–$700 depending on substrate. We can quote these for you if you tell us the runs.
- On-grid vs off-grid. If the block doesn’t have power available, decide before contract whether you want a solar / battery system designed in or whether you’re running an external genset.
How to actually run this checklist
Open Google Maps satellite view, zoom into your block, and pace each item out using the scale ruler at the bottom-right. Then drive to the site (or send us photos and a video) for the items satellite imagery can’t resolve — overhead clearance, surface firmness, neighbour features.
If any of these come back uncertain, send us what you have. Email or call usand we’ll review it with you before the contract — it’s the cheapest insurance you can buy on a modular build.