Buyer guides · 8 min
The landed-cost model: what a cabin really costs delivered
The price at the factory gate is only part of what you pay. Here is the full cost structure, from factory to first guest.
Every part, named
Landed cost has named parts: product (structure, envelope, interior, services) + packing and crates + freight per container + destination charges and duties + local scope (foundations, utilities, crane, labour) + approvals and engineering of record + contingency. A quotation that names each part can be compared line by line; one number cannot.
Freight moves more than the unit price does
Across our own families the freight line swings further than the product line. Twelve folding units load into one 40HQ; six Small 20FT expandable units fill the same box; a 40FT expandable takes the container on its own; and an apple cabin D1 or D2 is too wide for the door opening and moves as out-of-gauge cargo priced route by route. Same destination, same quantity of rooms, and the shipping line reads completely differently. Decide the format against your headcount before you compare unit prices.
Cost per square metre is the wrong unit
A resort is bought in keys, not square metres. Rooms with their own bathroom and kitchen take more container volume per key than rooms planned around a shared ablution block, so a scheme with a lower cost per square metre can still land higher per room. Ask for the figure per delivered room, on your room mix, at your port.
Where the numbers move
Movement rarely comes from the product price. It comes from the boundaries between scopes: cargo classification, crane mobilisations, inspection scheduling and container receiving. Each of these is settled by planning, not by market rates — which is why they belong in the quotation conversation from the start.
What we fix upstream
Shippability is scored before the design freezes; unload order matches install order; hold points keep work inspectable the first time; and the site-readiness checklist exists precisely so containers never wait on an unprepared slab.
The buyer's checklist
Ask for product, logistics and local scope split into separate lines, for exclusions in writing, and for the document that covers each boundary between scopes. A quotation that names every boundary is the one you can compare.
Common questions
Do you publish prices?
No — pricing is prepared per project from configuration, quantity, destination and delivery term. Published list prices for export buildings are a red flag, not a convenience.
What decides the cost of a modular cabin?
In rough order of how far each one moves the figure: the format and how it ships, the room mix and whether every room carries its own wet area, the destination with its freight and duty treatment, and the local scope — foundations, crane, utility connections and installation labour, all of which sit with the buyer. The product itself is rarely the line that changes most between two quotations.
Is modular construction cheaper than building on site?
It is not automatically cheaper per square metre, and any answer that says otherwise without seeing your site is guessing. What it does reliably change is where the cost sits: more of it is fixed at order, less of it is exposed to site weather, local labour availability and rework. On a remote or seasonal site that shift is usually worth more than the headline comparison.
How much does a glamping pod cost?
Same answer as any other format: it depends on the pod, the quantity and the port. What is worth knowing before you compare offers is that a 14 m² folding unit and a 27.5 m² expandable unit differ far more in freight per unit than in build cost, so two quotations that look close at the factory gate can be far apart on your invoice.
What is typically local scope?
Approvals, foundations, roads and crane, final utility connections, and installation labour — stated in the responsibility matrix before order.
How do we budget before a quotation?
Bring the site brief; the review returns a cost-stack skeleton for your destination so your pro-forma has named lines instead of a guess.