SUCCESS STORY

Sell West, New Home

An MEDT-sponsored trade mission to the Edmonton area last June is already producing new sales for Royal Homes of Wingham, Ontario. Royal’s modular homes offer an efficient solution to housing shortages in Alberta’s booming oil patch.

“We got a call from the Minister’s office asking if we’d be interested in a trade mission to Alberta,” says Royal Homes Vice President of Operations Klaas Jorritsma, “and of course we were. We’ve done some work in Quebec and exported to the U.S. , but this was an entirely new opportunity. We saw a number housing hot spots in Alberta on the mission, and we confirmed a real need for our products.”

Canada’s largest modular home builder, Royal, has been in business for 35 years. Owned and operated by a small group of owner/managers, the company has 100,000 sq.ft. of production space at its Wingham, Ontario facility, and employs upward of 200 people. Each modular home is built indoors and only leaves the assembly facility once the floors, walls, roof, interior finishing, electrical, plumbing and flooring are complete. The custom home is delivered to the lot on “air-lift” trucks and set on the foundation by a professional crew. Garages and porches are added on-site.

“We just shipped the first of three homes to Alberta in early December,” says Jorritsma, a master carpenter who has been with Royal Homes for more than 20 years. “And we hope to build many more. We’re very fortunate to benefit from a highly-skilled workforce here in Ontario. We’re going to foster the relationships we formed on the trade mission to grow that market in Alberta.”

With its chronic labour shortages and high demand for housing, Alberta’s oil patch offers an ideal market for Royal’s custom homes. Since most of the labour is performed in Ontario, the company can easily meet tight construction schedules.

“The best analogy I’ve heard is comparing it to the auto industry,” says Jorritsma. “Would you have all the parts for your new car dropped off in your driveway, and have them come out and put it together on-site? With our home-building method, weather is never a factor. And we offer our customers a very high degree of customization. We encourage people to give us their own plans, and we design it and build it to meet their needs.”

Building homes off-site also provides many other advantages, including higher energy efficiency standards, no cost over-runs, full customization, and high quality construction, because of the precision tools and mechanisms used in indoor home construction. Royal Homes has a superior record from the Tarion Warranty Corporation that administers the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act.

“Ontario’s manufacturers are leaders in innovation and advanced technologies,” says Minister of Economic Development and Trade Sandra Pupatello. “Royal Homes is a great example of that, and I’m not surprised at their early success in this exciting new market.”

All Royal Homes are built indoors in sections which are assembled on-site. Everything from interior finishing to electrical, plumbing and flooring is installed before the house is transported to the foundation.

Above, one of Royal’s newest models, the 2,560 sq. ft. Citadel. Royal’s homes are directly comparable in cost to custom-built homes.

For further information, or to provide comments, email Dino Rocca