Proven solutions to meet Ontario’s housing needs.

The Canadian construction industry is predicted to rebound in 2021, with construction starts reaching $80 billion compared to $60 billion in 2020. That’s promising news as the country eases into a post-pandemic economy.

This recovery, however, brings a new set of challenges highlighted by labour shortages, capacity constraints and permit delays. In Ontario, Canada’s largest market, these challenges are particularly prevalent.

Our modular construction model and proven track record ideally position Nomodic to address these issues. The Nomodic model:

• accelerates project timelines
• maintains a consistent highly-skilled workforce while still being heavily invested in local trades
• provides developers with the most diverse and comprehensive network of qualified offsite fabrication capacity and tradespeople and
• offers flexibility of access to a variety of offsite construction technology and methodologies.

Labour Pains

According to the Globe and Mail, more than 257,000 construction tradespeople will retire before 2029, resulting in a shortfall of nearly 82,000 workers. In Ontario, the reliance on aggressive hiring campaigns to keep up with demand underscores the challenge of finding and retaining skilled labour.

A skilled labour force is crucial to meeting construction demands for commercial and residential projects, such as affordable and supportive housing (including seniors and Indigenous housing). All levels of government are engaged in the launch of initiatives to increase supply.

Nomodic workers install Sonder House, an affordable housing complex in Terrace, B.C. (2019)

• The Government of Canada launched the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI), a $1 billion program to address the needs of vulnerable Canadians, including support for 3000 permanent affordable housing units.
• The federal government is also rolling out its National Housing Strategy (NHS), a 10-year, $70+ billion plan to create 160,000 new housing units.
• Ontario is investing nearly $1.5 billion as part of its Community Housing Renewal Strategy and response to COVID-19 to maintain, repair and increase community housing supply.
• In 2020, Toronto created a Modular Housing Initiative to build 100 supportive housing units for people experiencing homelessness. Phase 2 will create an additional 128 modular homes for at-risk individuals.

More and more developers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) rely on modular to address time, cost, and speed of construction. This year alone, modular housing projects have been announced for Toronto, Hamilton, Sarnia and Beaverton to benefit individuals experiencing homelessness and those at risk of becoming homeless.

With experience in markets across Canada, Nomodic's highly experienced and mobile construction teams can scale up or down to address any labour gaps in both remote and urban settings. Along with its own highly-skilled workforce that remains relatively immune to market forces, Nomodic is heavily invested in and committed to collaboration with local trades and communities. 

Maximum Capacity

In addition to a labour shortage, other capacity issues threaten to create project schedule delays, including land constraints and rising building material costs.

Expanding our footprint into Ontario starts with a collaborative approach. Nomodic continues to develop our Ontario network of fabrication partners. Through our design phase, clients can preview projects and make changes, ultimately saving on construction and material costs.

Traditional construction models are often limited by material supply and fabrication constraints. Nomodic has a comprehensive, international network of fabricators and materials to ensure flexibility, innovation and consistent, reliable access.

We measure our success by our client’s trust and our ability to meet the developer's and end user’s needs. We leverage technology and offsite construction to optimize every build while maintaining the same or better standards as onsite construction.  With that guiding principle, we have consistently delivered projects on time, on budget, and with minimal disruption to the surrounding community.

Community First

From Thunder Bay to Toronto and Beaverton to Ottawa, Ontario runs the gamut from congested city centres to small towns and rural centres. Each of these areas presents a different and unique construction challenge. That’s why a site-first mentality is a must.

In urban environments, the challenge is dealing with high-density areas. That comes with many construction challenges, including infrastructure, neighbouring historical buildings, material consistency, traffic, community disruptions, and transit lines. Our offsite fabrication process allows us significant time for site prep while maintaining an accelerated schedule for onsite construction activities. Remote and rural areas provide their own unique set of challenges, including the availability of local trades, site access concerns, and transportation logistics, all of which are addressed by the Nomodic model.

Craning of Peterson Place Supportive Housing Complex (2020)

These were just some of the considerations we faced when Nomodic constructed a multifamily duplex in Webequie, an Ojibway community located on Eastwood Island. This remote Indigenous community, located 540 km from Thunder Bay, is accessible only by air or seasonal winter road. 

The Nomodic team in front of multifamily duplexes built for Webequie First Nation in Ontario (2018)

With both low and high-density areas, there is an established regulatory process and  ‘certain way of doing things.’ Being a good neighbour is a good start. Companies must be mindful and respectful of specific protocols but be open to innovative ways to provide valuable returns to a developer while meeting and exceeding safety regulations and standards.  

Breaking New Ground

The growing demand for affordable and supportive housing projects has motivated all government levels to expedite the administrative and permitting process. Recently, the Ontario government accelerated the approvals process in Hamilton to allow for 15 affordable housing units in the downtown area.

In 2019, Habitat for Humanity identified 6000 government-owned plots of land in Ontario that could be earmarked for affordable housing. With more than 100,000 people on Toronto’s waitlist alone, the provincial government announced plans to put 243 properties back into productive use. It’s estimated that this measure will remove 150 days from the administrative process and accelerate the construction process.

Building For Tomorrow

Moving forward, Nomodic is committed to working closely with government and community organizations and actively supporting their efforts to expedite administrative processes. This collaboration will allow for a faster speed of occupancy for at-risk individuals.

Nomodic CEO Kevin Read greeting guests at the opening of Goodacre Place Supportive Housing Complex (2019)

Nomodic can draw from our experience working with government and non-profit groups in continuing to serve the Ontario market. We believe we can use our technology and construction methodology to deliver projects faster while meeting stringent regulatory requirements and improving certainty for meeting budget and schedule demands.