It looks tiny, but the house can snugly fit a family of four and a Duncan company hopes it's a partial answer to the housing crisis on First Nations reserves.
Brent Pollard, sales director for EcoSIP Industries Inc., said the company has put together two designs at the request of the Carrier Chilcotin First Nation, near Williams Lake, which is initially looking for six houses. The company is also talking to other bands.
"It can be shipped to any location," said Pollard, after reading the Times Colonist's investigation into First Nations housing problems.
The best news is that, fully built, equipped and ready for occupancy, the cost of the 500-square-foot house is $55,000.
The house comes with a fire-retardant coating and another coating that eliminates mould growth.
The grant from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. for Carrier Chilcotin is about $40,000 per house and the band was anxious to keep the cost down, because of the high rate of rent default, Pollard said.
As a bonus, heating costs are low in the homes, which are built of structural insulated panels -- a sandwich of oriented strand board, plywood or concrete-board skins filled with foam.
"We've done a lot of hard work putting the prototype together, but it's a very durable, super energy-efficient building," Pollard said.
It has one bedroom, a loft sleeping area, kitchen, living room and bathroom and the design can be expanded to about 2,000 square feet.
Pollard said the company does the structural work -- floors, walls and roof -- in the factory, then flat packs it with kitchen and bathroom materials to the site, where it can be ready for occupancy in six weeks.
"Now we're looking at whether we can produce it on a larger scale and drive the cost per unit down," he said.
First Nations homes are often used 24 hours a day, and it's common to have extended family in the same house, leading to excess moisture and mould. So the EcoSIP houses will be equipped with a ventilation system that removes moisture and recaptures the heat from stale air.
A similar insulated panel-board system is being used by Mesa Design Group, a Saanich company that has done design work for several Vancouver Island bands and is now working with the Malahat Indian Band.
"We are looking at putting forced-air furnaces into these homes for heat and to assist in the removal of moist, stale air from the homes through fans hooked up to dehumidistats," said designer Bill Lunt, who pointed to low CMHC grants as the root cause of some problems with First Nations homes. Bands scramble to get more for less, then some contractors underbid the job or cut corners to make a bigger profit, he said.
He said the company will inspect the homes while under construction, and plans to train a couple of young band members to do minor repairs on the buildings when required.
jlavoie@tc.canwest.com
