224 McDougall Crossing is a foundation without a house.
Next week, the rest will arrive, right down to the kitchen standing in place and the chandelier glittering in the dining room.
Megabuilder Mattamy Homes is constructing a subdivision of houses in Milton, Ont., that are, for the most part, assembled on the factory floor and then transported by truck.
"The chandeliers are hanging, the tiles are grouted, the hardwood is shined up," says Ron Cauchi, president of Mattamy's Stelumar operation.
Mattamy is Ontario's largest house builder and the company's new Stelumar plant in Milton represents the first time in Canada that prefabricated houses have been turned out by a mainstream builder on such a large scale.
Anybody who purchases a new house from a builder wants two things: a sturdy structure and a predictable closing date. Legions of buyers have suffered through problems with both.
For years, Mattamy has been looking for a way to improve the quality of the houses it builds and the reliability of move-in dates by transferring some parts of the construction process to the factory floor.
"A lot of what we're doing is developmental. There's a lot of R&D," Mr. Cauchi says.
Most of the houses in the new neighbourhood, called Hawthorne Village on the Escarpment, will be built on site in the usual way.
But the subdivision near Tremaine and Derry roads will include about 1,000 factory-built homes.
The first house out of the plant was delivered on Aug. 13, Mr. Cauchi says.
The pre-made floors were set in place, walls assembled and the roof was hoisted on top. The only tasks left to do on site were to add bricks to the outside, pour concrete for the porch, lay the sod and hook up the utilities in the basement.
All of the houses that come out of the Stelumar plant are carried on a special bulked-up transport truck to a nearby plot of land with a ready foundation.
The longest distance any house will travel is about one kilometre, Mr. Cauchi says.
He expects the project to be complete in about four years, at which point the factory will be taken apart and re-erected somewhere else.
Potential buyers can choose from 28 base models and pick the countertops, tiles, cabinets and other finishes just as they would in any Mattamy house.
The prefab approach to building is not new.
Viceroy Homes of Port Hope, Ont., designs and manufactures precut, packaged custom homes. Some U.S. builders also produce modules which are later assembled.
Improvements in computer-aided design (CAD) software and the evolution of computer numerical control technology in the past few years have helped to make the Stelumar process possible, Mr. Cauchi says.
A very detailed CAD plan determines where each stud and every nail in every piece of lumber goes. The machines that nail the lumber are precise to within half a millimetre.
Builders can never achieve that kind of precision when workers are wielding the hammer on a job site, Mr. Cauchi points out.
Mattamy's automated panel plant in Cambridge, Ont., provides the walls.
In Milton, each house takes about 10 days to assemble and the new factory will turn out one new house a day. Each building is moved along an assembly line through 10 work stations.
At the final stop, the vacuum cleaners and polishing cloths come out.
Mr. Cauchi says buyers are informed that they are buying a prefabricated house, but so far the company hasn't changed the prices from on-site houses or launched any special marketing campaign.
The main advantages for the builder are the protection of raw materials from theft and inclement weather, and the safety of the workers.
Roof trusses, for example, are built by workers standing and walking around on the factory floor.
"It's significantly safer, rather than having a roofer outside, up in the air."
At the same time, the assembly plant's 100 workers are well-trained employees of Mattamy, paid on an hourly basis. That gives the company more comfort and control compared with dealing with subcontractors and their trades, Mr. Cauchi says.
"It is about a controlled environment and trained people," he says. "This isn't a cost-cutting project."
Mr. Cauchi adds the new system is also easier on the environment.
He estimates about 25 per cent fewer trees need to be cut down for each house because the smaller pieces of wood can be gathered up from the factory floor and incorporated into the house.
Similarly, scrap drywall can be kept separate from the aluminum and other materials so each can be recycled more easily.
"It's a little trickier to do that on site."
And, when the subdivision is finished, the bolts will be removed from the factory walls and it will be trucked to another location.
"Ultimately, we recycle the plant itself," says Mr. Cauchi.
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