Moncasa evolved from a meeting of several construction veterans on a new Northern NSW residential estate. The marketing manager of the estate was having difficulty finding builders as most of the blocks were steep. Traditional builders were shunning the estate because of expensive excavation, structural and OHS issues involved. The marketing manager had learnt that modular homes offered a far quicker and more cost effective solution to the problem. The modules were simply craned in and assembled like a Lego set. The end result is an immensely strong building that visually was absolutely identical to a high quality home constructed on site. The problem was that that most existing modular home manufacturers used wooden frames. Wooden frames are incapable of bearing the structural loads that affect multistorey buildings on steep sites. Several of the attendees at the meeting, including Dr Bruce Dwyer and Dan Alroy, recognised the opportunity to start a company that specialised in high quality steel framed modular homes. Moncasa was born. The focus of the company has temporarily moved away from building on steep slopes due to the long winded DA processes in NSW. Moncasa initially focused on tiny homes that did not require a DA. The company tested it construction modular construction methods by completing what is probably the most expensive and exotic steel framed tiny home yet constructed in Australia. However in spite of its much publicised popularity, the Australian tiny home market is actually quite small. The difficulty in obtaining purchase finance may partly explain this phenomenon. Those that need tiny homes most can least afford them. Dr Dwyer’s research showed that the Queensland granny flat market was set to boom after the State Government relaxed the laws on renting backyard granny flats. It became clear that an attractive granny flat could pay for itself. Negative gearing is now possible in many cases. Presently Granny flat manufacturers range from cheap crude container conversions (Councils hate them and they will not be able to comply with the new NCC 2023) to site built homes. Some of the latter are the equivalent of a small economy class house and can take a very long time to build.​ Many marvel at the low prices quoted for some granny flats, only to learn deep in the fine print of the website that the prices are for Chinese DIY flatpacks. In many cases, the final price a purchaser is likely pay is concealed behind the murky phrase “priced from only”. Almost every desirable feature is a costly optional extra. We believe that these are deceptive marketing practices.