ARTICLE

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• Relations Médias

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Column New in Homes

House pieces built in factory

DREAM HOME CELEBRATES LAKESIDE LIFESTYLE

Modular builder ships globally

Toronto Star, Saturday, April 8th, 2006

ELLEN MOORHOUSE

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

Jermaine Thomas is enjoying his front-row seat. The security guard who monitors Gate 28 of the National Trade Centre at Exhibition Place has watched with astonishment as this year’s Toronto Star Lakeside Living Dream Home has popped up like a mushroom inside the cavernous building.

“You know, I’m from England, and there it takes so long to build anything,” says Thomas, who is also a computer technician. “I’ve seen this go up from scratch.” That was last Saturday, only 39 hours after construction had started on the 2,500-square-foot house. About 30 workers were on the job. They had completed the first-floor structure, were finishing the exterior with stucco and manufactured stone, done the wiring, were working on drywall, and were making progress on the second floor. Construction was streamlined because many elements had already been built by Quebec City-based Modulex International Inc. in its factory. Funrooms.ca Inc. of King City is the Modulex distributor in the Toronto area.

A 40-year-old family-owned company, Modulex specializes in pre-engineered panellized homes. It manufactures components such as interior and exterior walls, floor systems and roof trusses, as well as kitchen and bathroom cabinetry and ships them as kits to 22 countries around the world. “What really appealed to us was the whole modular aspect of it,” says consultant Kendall Christie, who specializes in constructing show features such as the Dream Home. “A lot of it could be built off site, and our motivation, especially for a show such as this, was the ease of building it.”

The home show opened yesterday at Exhibition Place, and continues until next Sunday, April 16. With its $130,000 contemporary Italian kitchen from Savannah Kitchens, and its $30,000 to $40,000 bathrooms, the two-storey Dream Home would cost $300 a square foot, or about $750,000 not counting the land, to reproduce, according to Doug Bristow, vice-president of sales and marketing for Funrooms. A builder has already bought the shell, plans to put it up on a 220-foot lot in the Muskokas, and when it’s finished, will likely sell it for $1.7 million to $2 million, he says.

Bristow hastens to add, however, that Modulex can deliver custom-designed energy-efficient homes from $125 to $150 a square foot, not counting land and development costs. The panelized system, he points out, saves about a third of the framing costs for a house. The house design, modern in flavour, is similar to one that Modulex had already shipped to Spain. The plans were enlarged and the white exterior changed to earth-toned stucco and manufactured stone, appropriate for Ontario cottage country. The interior, however, has an understated contemporary elegance that would fit in just as well in the city.

“For a country home, it’s very unpredictable,” says Lynn Spence, a regular on CHUM Television’s CityLine, who selected the interior finishes and décor. “There are glass and stainless steel banisters; there’s lightness and a fluidity I thought was really great.” The kitchen cabinetry, with stainless steel and light and dark woods, appears to float, as do the bathroom fixtures. The non-traditional fireplaces, set in natural stone walls, also seem suspended.

Following the airy theme, Spence chose light-coloured wood and has painted all walls a neutral linen colour. Spence has also brought in “a ton of natural products, accessories, very organic things so even if it’s modern, it still has a sort of rustic appeal to it.” While urban chic, with a Zen flavour, is in the forefront of décor trends, other aspects of this home are helping to define the housing market;

• Energy efficiency: “It really is a big sell,” says Funrooms’ Bristow, “particularly if you sit and talk to customers, and you show them what the extra capital cost is for making it completely energy efficient and environmentally friendly.”
• Permanent country homes: This two-bedroom house, with one-floor living, is perfect for baby boomers looking to down-size.
• Prefabrication: A scarcity of skilled labour is leading to greater interest in pre-engineered and prefabricated housing.
• Innovation: The Dream Home offers companies a chance to showcase their products. Michael and Isabel Grace, whose Stouffville company, Wintergreen Ltd., has manufactured a structural stone product called Bradstone, have come up with a facing stone called Stone-Rox, featured on the façade.