A new home, fresh off the line

At 224 McDougall Crossing there’s 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, a Toronto suburb, that are 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.

See article in the Globe and Mail »