Bobble7

I'm not saying that lumber doesn't come in sizes optimized to save time and material, that's only sensible. But as you've said there is still cutting on site and frankly there's a fair bit of it, despite what you claim. With prefab most of the cutting is done in a factory and there are very few if any cuts on site. Complete modular components are delivered and fastened together, and on site assembly is measured in weeks not months. The idea that this will not ultimately be a better way to build homes just isn't well founded. It's a better way but different and it's going to take time and investment for the industry to change. We have an opportunity here to help our country put people in homes and invest and be a leader in that change, and that's what I'm voting for.

The Liberal and Conservative housing plans aren’t so dissimilar.

There are similarities for sure between the Liberal and Conservative plans, but only the Liberal plan involves the federal government directly involved in the building of homes through the Build Canada Homes program. I see that as a significant difference that should eliminate some of the major friction that has prevented increasing supply.

The NDP are the ones proposing non-market housing solutions.

Indeed kudos to the NDP for addressing this directly.

This is such a weird, fact-less comment. Plywood and 2x4s do not come "precut to the exact length needed". They come in standard sizes: 4x8 foot sheets and 8 foot lengths (I'm generalizing here, there are of course other sizes). Every construction site in Canada has skilled carpenters on site that cut those standard sized goods (what I called "raw materials") to correct dimensions.

They are heavily invested in prefab homes

That could have been because they believe prefab homes are a good industry to invest in because they saw the potential to solve the affordable housing crisis that afflicts populations around the world. That doesn't make it nefarious.

Which will help us bypass municipal laws

Do you have any facts to share about this? I would expect any new, modern, prefab homes to be built in Canada to the local building codes. Municipalities have as much at stake and to gain in solving our local housing shortages.

the problem isn’t skilled labour to build houses

Can you provide any references for this? My naive web searches find that most sources say there is a significant skill labour shortage, so if you can provide sources which I can learn from that would be helpful.

it’s the cost and availability and accessibility of land

Housing shortage is a multi-dimensional problems with what you mention here included. One plank in the BCH platform that attempts to address this is the release federal lands for new housing. I suppose it will remain to be seen how that works out, if Carney is elected.

Just because we've built homes on site from raw materials for decades doesn't mean there are not better ways to do it. Prefabrication is not that uncommon in other parts of the world. The problem in Canada is that our industry is built around on site construction so it has a lot of inertia and there is tremendous financial risk to making changes. What Carney's plan does is create stable demand, provide funds, and create incentives, for the industry to change faster.

Yeah. We actually already do prefab with roof trusses. They are precision manufactured in a factory, shipped to the site and then assembled. This is extending the same principle to other home components like wall assemblies.

They would be assembled on site.

Honest request: Explain to me how Brookfield is involved

It's a sensible way to do it. Modern prefab doesn't necessarily mean the house is entirely built offsite and then dropped in place. It just means that more of the assembly is done in a controlled, precision, effficient environment (a factory) and then assembled on site with less time and expense. It means more houses, faster and cheaper. Which is what we need.

Main Sequence is coming soon from a Canadian indie developer!