The answer lies with Kerang man Anthony Sanders.

For years the retired farmer, a finalist in this year’s Bendigo Inventor Awards, made ants, dragons and spiders out of scrap metal to keep himself busy, until he was inspired to change his sculptural direction.

“We were building redback spiders made out of scrap farm material, and I made one 15 foot (4.5 metres) in diameter,” he said. “My son had a scrap metal business and it was a quick way to stop traffic.

“That’s where I came across these geodynamic domes and I decided they made a better house than spider.”

The Redback Domes are made out of a lightweight steel frame fitted with polystyrene sheets and then rendered with concrete.

Mr Sanders said they were quick and easy to put up.

“Homelessness is such a problem I thought they would be a good low-cost housing,” he said.

“For $20,000 you could get enough room for two people to live in, and there’s also room to add on if you wanted to expand or you can just join two together.”

He said he entered the inventor awards “just on a whim” and was surprised he had got this far.

 The Bendigo Advertiser will feature all the finalists in the lead-up to the awards being judged on September 2.