Guest Names
Waco Tao
Episode Number
№2
Waco Tao was born and raised in Shanghai and came to Australia in 1989 as a 24-year-old entrepreneur.
Growing up during the final years of China’s Cultural Revolution, his childhood included an extraordinary contrast. Behind the high fence and black door of his family home, his father quietly hosted gatherings filled with Western music, art and culture at a time when much of it was still restricted.
After leaving a successful career in hospitality in China, Waco began again in Australia. In 1993 he founded Models Inc, creating intricate architectural models for architects and property developers. He has described that business as his “university”, teaching him the relationship between design, materials, engineering and precision.
He later moved into international supply chains between China and Australia before founding PowerHouse Homes in 2009, beginning a mission that has occupied him for more than 15 years: finding a faster, more affordable and more sustainable way to build homes.
His approach applies manufacturing principles more commonly associated with the automotive industry to housing, with major components produced in controlled factory environments before being assembled on site.
Today, Waco is Founder and CEO of PowerHouse Homes and Founder and Executive Chair of Prefab Council Australia, advocating for prefabrication and modern methods of construction as Australia confronts housing shortages, rising building costs, labour constraints and poor construction productivity.
He has become a prominent industry voice arguing for national standards and a shift from building homes one project at a time toward industrialised housing production at scale.
From a childhood in Shanghai to architectural model making, international supply chains and an ambition to fundamentally rethink the way Australians build and afford their homes, Waco Tao’s story is ultimately about seeing a system that no longer works well enough and spending decades trying to build a better one.
