Winnipeg, MB – Star Building Materials Winnipeg has launched a new product offering prefabricated wall panels that will be used in Qualico’s single-family and multi-family homebuilding. The introduction of wall panels will significantly benefit Qualico’s supply chain, while exemplifying innovation, responding to industry trends and meeting customer demand effectively.

Officially launched on March. 1, the service will provide Star Ready to Move Homes, Foxridge Homes, Broadview Homes, Kensington Homes, Sterling Homes, and StreetSide with many benefits including less reliance on framers, and increased quality, productivity, and control during home construction.

Mark Kennedy, Vice-President, Star Building Materials Winnipeg, said labour issues in the market sparked the creation of the wall panel product.

“These labour issues make it hard to find good framers, so there is a need to support our homebuilders to be able to build more with less,” he said. “The ability to pre-manufacture exterior and interior wall panels allows us to control workmanship quality and speed up the building time on site.”

Currently, the plan is to bring on about 10 new employees to start and increase that number once business takes off as expected. Roles will include production labourers, sawyers, forklift operators, drivers, designers, admin personnel, and salespeople.

According to Mark, on-site crews will need fewer experienced framers to assemble a home, since they’ll be installing the wall panels instead of framing the walls. In addition, the quality of a manufactured panel is more precise versus on-site framing, and the time it takes to frame a house is cut in half.

Once up and running, Star Building Materials is expected to produce panels for 1.5 to 2 houses per day. The team will also have the ability to increase capacity as needed by adding a second shift or adding assembly lines to keep up with demand. At full capacity, the team will be able to manufacture panels for over 500 homes per year.“Using wall panel construction from third-party suppliers has served us well for many years,” said Brian Cornelsen, Vice-President, StreetSide Winnipeg. “However, bringing this service in-house at Qualico is a significant step forward, as it allows us to enhance our capacity and streamline operations.”

“We are excited to work with Star Building Materials and look forward to the many great benefits the service will bring, especially to our townhome projects,” continued Brian. “Panelized construction enables higher quality, reduced risk and improved efficiencies. This consistency means we can replicate our standard townhome plans with greater precision, ultimately speeding up the overall build time and allowing us to deliver homes to our customers more quickly.”

The wall panel production process starts with the design of the house and creates a cut list and design layout for each wall panel within the house. The next step is cutting the parts and pieces, which includes cutting top and bottom plates, precutting the exterior sheathing and marking all material for easy installation.

From there, door openings, windows, and corners are pre-assembled. The process then moves to the framing table to drop in all components, frame and square the walls and nail them all together. Advanced machinery, equipped with fast and versatile tools, enhances this process, ensuring efficiency and precision.  The exterior sheathing goes on and is nailed to the walls with an automated bridge that follows a predetermined nailing pattern from the design process.

Finally, the wall panels are stacked and banded together, ready to be shipped to the site and assembled.

“We’re excited to see this new service line in action,” said Mark. “The assembly of the first home using our prefabricated wall panels is expected to be completed in a few weeks in a Star Ready to Move Home. I’m incredibly grateful to our team for their hard work and dedication in rolling out this innovative service.”