Are Standardized Home Designs the Key to Unlocking Housing Affordability?

Canada's housing crisis presents a complex array of challenges, including escalating construction costs, labor shortages, and regulatory hurdles. Addressing these multifaceted issues requires more than quick fixes; it necessitates a comprehensive reevaluation of our approach to housing. Recently, the federal government provided a progress update to the Housing Design Catalogue, announcing that the first iteration of the catalogue will be launched in December.?

The catalogue could potentially reshape Canada’s housing market by providing pre-approved designs ideal for more efficient construction, including opportunities for offsite manufacturing.

Standardized Home Designs: An Overview

Governments and industry leaders across Canada are actively exploring various solutions to alleviate cost pressures in construction and expedite housing development. One noteworthy initiative emerging from British Columbia is the Standardized Designs Catalogue for small-scale, multi-unit homes.

This catalogue features ten versatile designs that developers and builders can utilize like building blocks, offering free, pre-approved layouts for one- to two-storey homes and laneway houses. The primary objective is to streamline the permitting process, ultimately saving both time and money. By selecting a design from the catalogue, builders can potentially receive faster approvals from municipalities, reducing delays that often add months—and substantial costs—to construction projects.

Increasing Efficiency and Cost Savings in Construction

As Luke Harrison, Owner and Partner of Smallworks Ltd., explains, standardization facilitates economies of scale in material procurement leading to substantial cost savings.?

Using principles of standardized design encourages quicker permit approvals, enabling builders to optimize material procurement strategies. This leads to bulk purchasing, resulting in lower costs for essential items such as furnaces and windows, rendering homes more financially viable for prospective buyers.

“Rather than treating each project as a unique challenge, builders can operate with greater efficiency by utilizing designs that are more likely to gain municipal approval,” says Luke.

By removing the necessity for individual design approvals, standardized models could trim months off the construction schedule.?

Accelerating Project Timelines To Improve Affordability

The longer it takes to design, approve, and construct a home, the higher the overall costs become, due to factors like labor, materials, and interest on loans.?

James Innis , President and COO of Sutton Group and former board member at Assembly Corp., explains, “Standardization can help take projects from concept to completion much quicker, lowering associated labor and financing costs while increasing the overall supply of housing at a much faster rate.”

Overall, standardization holds significant potential for increasing housing supply and unlocking greater affordability by accelerating project timelines and reducing time-sensitive costs. This, in turn, helps lower the final product cost for potential buyers.

Addressing the Challenges in a Standardized Design Approach

Despite their potential as a progressive step toward addressing the existing housing supply shortage and affordability crisis, initiatives like the federal Housing Design Catalogue and BC’s Standardized Designs Catalogue’s actual effectiveness remain uncertain.

While standardized design catalogues show potential for reducing construction costs and expediting project timelines–especially in markets struggling with affordability–they hinge on municipalities' ability to streamline permitting processes. Without faster municipal approvals, the anticipated savings in time and costs could fall short.

That being said, adopting principles of standardized design where possible in a housing development can undoubtedly help increase efficiencies in construction.?

As Luke explains, “Standardized products shorten the design phase and are designed to be repeatable. This facilitates increased opportunities for automation and prefabrication in the construction process, ultimately leading to cost savings and quicker turnaround times.”

Standardized Housing: The Future of Development?

Canada’s standardized home initiative represents a promising step in addressing housing challenges. While examples like BC’s standardized design catalogue take a more rigid approach, there’s a strong case for increasing standardization in housing without sacrificing the ability to customize.

By adopting repeatable designs that allow for automation and offsite manufacturing, developers can unlock efficiencies throughout the construction process.? Ultimately, these savings benefit homeowners, making standardized home designs an innovative tool in the effort to make housing more affordable.

Sources

Assembly Corp. (n.d.). Assembly – A Modular Wood Revolution. Retrieved October 18, 2024, from https://assemblycorp.ca/

BC Ministry of Housing. (2024). B.C. Standardized Housing Designs Catalogue. Gov.bc.ca. Retrieved October 11, 2024, from https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/farming-natural-resources-and-industry/construction-industry/building-codes-and-standards/guides/bc_std_des_catalogue_v1.pdf

Government of Canada. (2024, October 14). Housing Design Catalogue: Federal government provides update. Canada.ca. Retrieved October 18, 2024, from https://www.canada.ca/en/housing-infrastructure-communities/news/2024/10/housing-design-catalogue-federal-government-provides-update.html

Pascoe, D. (n.d.). Exploring the Prefab Home Market in Ontario: A Modern Solution to Homeownership. FlexoBuild. Retrieved October 11, 2024, from https://flexobuild.com/blog-articles/prefab-home-market-in-ontario

Pierson, R. J. (2024, February 29). Pre-approved Home Design Directory Canada, Good or Bad Idea? Ecohome. Retrieved October 18, 2024, from https://www.ecohome.net/news/1605/standardized-sustainable-homes-enhancing-canadas-housing-landscape/

Reno Quotes. (2024, May 22). Modular House: A Solution to the Housing Crisis in Ontario? Reno Quotes. Retrieved October 11, 2024, from https://renoquotes.com/en/blog/modular-homes-as-a-solution-to-the-housing-crisis