Quebec’s “disruptive” home builder to launch first Toronto project
CONDO.ca, September 2014
He won’t make any friends in the home building industry, not with comments like this: “Our houses are dinosaurs. People are still building them the same way as we have been for 400 years.
The cost keeps going up and the quality down.” But then, Marc Bovet has said that his goal is to disrupt the home building industry and to revolutionize housing around the world. As the founder of BONE Structure said in a Globe and Mail interview, “I like disrupting people. It goes with who we are—disruptive technology.”
What is he talking about? His system of home building starts with a steel frame that allows it to be constructed with “surgical precision.” The company boasts that it is so precise that you could order your kitchen cabinets even before the foundation is poured. A detailed 3D model of your home has such accuracy that it can zoom in on the head of an individual screw.
The really revolutionary aspect of BONE Structure homes is that assembly is “as easy as a Meccano kit.” The only tools needed are “a bag of screws and a hand drill.” No cutting is required; all the pieces are pre-cut to tolerances “within millimetres,” and the steel structure allows for rooms with spans of twenty-five feet, with no columns or bearing walls. Most remarkably of all, a BONE Stucture home can be assembled “in just four days.” The system can be used for single-family homes, multi-residential units up to four storeys, and light commercial applications.
The homes are not prefab or modular but, according to Bovet, “a Robinson Crusoe system,” meaning the buyer can erect whatever he or she wants—a single home, four condo units or a commercial building. They are energy efficient, healthy to live in, and versatile in terms of design. There is “zero site waste” during construction.
All of this sounds very good and almost unbelievably easy. For those who dream of designing their own customized home, BONE seems like just the way to go. According to the company, you can set up a free appointment with the architecture team to discuss your requirements, choose the home model you like, and there are more than a dozen, one- and two-storey models with up to 2,300 square feet to choose from, or create a custom model of your own. Eight weeks after ordering the home, construction begins.
Now Toronto is about to get to see what BONE is all about in the flesh. The company announced it will launch its first Toronto home with a four-day open house event next week, from September 25–28. It will be open to media, industry professionals and the general public.
CONDO.ca, September 2014 | Read the article online.
