STURGEON FALLS – Amid the housing crisis, a Quebec-based company is opening a factory to produce kit buildings that can be easily assembled by remote communities.
The company, based in Alma in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region, plans to enter the Ontario market after experiencing some success in Quebec. Boréal will build the factory in an industrial park in Sturgeon Falls, northern Ontario, by September, with operations expected to begin in 2025.
This location is strategic because there are nearby wood sawmill factories, including Sturgeon Falls Brush and Contracting, which recently received a federal investment of $500,000 to expand its operations.
About fifteen prefabricated homes have been sold in Ontario.
“It’s very well positioned, easy to access from Toronto and Ottawa, but also for reaching the more challenging routes of the Far North,” says Pascal Tremblay, Vice President of Business Development at Boréal.
Employees and French Service
The company plans to hire 7 to 10 employees for the factory in the first year, with nearly 80 employees in the long term. Not only will customers be served in both languages, but recruiting Francophone labor will be a priority.
“We have very few English-speaking people in the organization. Having a city like Sturgeon Falls, which has a significant Francophone population, was a deciding factor,” adds Mr. Tremblay.
Established in 2012, Boréal produced 219 prefabricated buildings in Quebec in 2022 and aims to sell as many in Ontario within three to five years.
Reducing the Housing Shortage
What is a prefabricated home? “It’s a Lego-like house, like Ikea, assembled with an assembly manual. It’s self-construction, and we do everything from the smallest house to the largest,” explains Patrick Girard, President of Boréal.
Boréal’s three factories have produced over 1,200 buildings to date, primarily in Quebec.
According to the Quebecer, in the context of a housing shortage and with rising material costs in the North since the pandemic, it is essential to change construction methods.
With this method, customers can expect to save 30 to 40% compared to the costs of building a traditional home.
The company says, “We do as much as possible in the factory, as little as possible on-site,” since the assembly of a prefabricated house is made very simple and requires only three to four people.
A Technology Adapted to the North
The use of ThermologMD technology is what sets Boréal apart from other prefabricated home options on the market.
The Thermolog is made from four dried white pine boards, used as interior and exterior cladding, with high-density expanded polystyrene in the center to provide the necessary insulation.
The ThermologMD has an insulation efficiency factor of R30 and the pine interior finish in one step.
Perfectly adapted insulation for northern Ontario, according to the company, which exports its homes to the Yukon, northern Alberta, and the Northwest Territories, in addition to primarily selling locally in northern Quebec.
“The northern Ontario market is very similar to Quebec in terms of secondary residences, especially in the cottage sector,” reminds Mr. Tremblay. “It’s ideal for everyone who appreciates the northern vibe and this type of very cozy buildings.”
Collaboration with First Nations Members
These prefabricated homes are also easily storable and transportable on ice roads in winter conditions, which proved very useful this winter when the company received a special order.
One Bowl, an organization entirely operated by First Nations members, based in Chapleau, asked Boréal to deliver five duplexes capable of withstanding the extreme weather conditions of the Far North.
The duplexes each consist of three bedrooms capable of withstanding the extreme climatic conditions of the North.
“We loaded everything into 53-foot closed containers, which we delivered to Cochrane. They then took a train to Matheson to continue on ice roads,” says Mr. Girard. “There were only 72 hours left before the ice road closed.”
Built in record time, in less than 5 weeks, these 30-foot by 80-foot homes will accommodate 10 families. Assembly is currently taking place in the reserves of Fort Albany, Kashechewan, and Attawapiskat.
As the housing shortage affects Indigenous communities more severely, this initiative could be a permanent solution in northern Ontario. “Some communities have already expressed the need for more than 50 buildings in the next three to five years, and we are eager to carry out these projects with them,” concludes Mr. Girard.
