As governments try to solve housing crisis, modular homes emerge as potential solution

With all three levels of governments looking to find ways to build more housing and faster, one Quebec builder says it has the solution.

Bonneville Homes is in the business of what it calls pre-engineered housing often referred to as "pre-fab" or "modular" homes.

At Bonneville’s Beloeil factory everything is timed out. The plant has 16 stations, three hours each.

"Every three hours, a module comes out of the factory, we wrap it," Dany Bonneville, co-president of Bonneville Homes, said. "When we're ready to install the modules, we bring them close to the site and then we install them."

Close to 75 per cent of a home or an apartment building is constructed indoors. That means the building isn’t exposed to extreme weather.

"We install a multiplex in Beloeil about a year ago, the Monday morning, there was a foundation and four days and a half after, there was a multiplex of 30 apartments," Bonneville said. "That's how fast it goes up."

Efficiency is the name of the game and Bonneville believes this type of construction could make a major difference with the housing crisis.

"We have industrialized the making of homes, the making of modules, just like the production line of cars," Bonneville said.

Earlier in 2024, Quebec put out a call to build 500 pre-fab units.

"People are slowly, slowly turning around because the labour is very rare and we need so many apartments," Bonneville said.

For those who may have their doubts about modular homes, just ask Concordia civil engineer professor Adel Hanna.

With his students, they are studying pre-fab foundations.

"This is ready-made. Just bring it to the site, connect it. You can have the foundation for a house in two days," Hanna said.

That can cut down on weeks of work and waiting around for concrete to properly solidify.

Hanna says you can expect your pre-fab structure to last just as long as a traditional build. He says this allows governments to quickly boost housing in targeted areas.

"You can really expedite the constructions or economize on the construction and solve the problem in the specific area where residential [housing] is lacking."

At the Bonneville plant, the demand for pre-fab multi-unit housing has exploded.

"Right now we’re hiring about eight-10 people every week," Bonneville said. "We’re increasing the production by 50 per cent to start answering the demand of multiplexes."