Module apartments easing Regina’s rental crunch one piece at a time

With an extremely tight rental market, one Regina developer is taking advantage of a quick and new technique to help ease the crunch.  

Deveraux Developments and Altern Properties are building modular, or pre-fabricated apartments. Each section is built in Idaho, then trucked up to Regina. When they arrive they are sort of like building blocks with workers lifting them on top of each other. So far there is construction underway in Harbour Landing, downtown and Northwest Regina. 

“The major benefit is speed to market,” Deveraux CEO Denis Jones said. “We can take one of these buildings, and from the time we start putting the foundation in to the time the building is up, is seven to eight months.” 

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That can be half the time it takes to construct stick frame apartment buildings. The reduction of time has a huge impact on a city with a vacancy rate below one per cent. 

“We’ve managed to bring on almost 400 units in the last year and a half,” Jones explained.  

The modular homes are helping to ease the vacancy crunch, but some renters have noticed chipped paint, and cracks in the roof and walls, despite the buildings being less than a year old.  

“As things settle, there may be some small cracks that occur,” Jones said. “Those are all repaired. We go around after (a year) to all the units and repair.” 

The city says despite the quick construction, it has not had any problems with the safety or quality of the buildings.  

“Prior to production the drawings are reviewed by Saskatchewan licenced designers and reviewed for compliance with the jurisdiction,” City of Regina Building Standards manager Garry Wasyliw said. “Then they are reviewed by the city office for compliance to the building code regulations.” 

City officials will inspect the buildings, just like any other building in Regina. If those inspections were to find any problems, the city would take action.  

“We would definitely respond if there was a legitimate reason for a concern,” Wasyliw explained.  

Already the pre-fabricated buildings are having an impact on the vacancy issue. Construction is underway on several module apartments in Regina, but there is a waiting list.