Manufacturing

Landmark Redefines the Homebuilding Industry

Challenge

Aware of the challenges and increasingly feeling the pressures of the sustainability imperative, The Landmark Group of Builders (Landmark) set out in 2008 to develop a transition plan to move from having a “green building program” to becoming a sustainable company.  From the outset, it was intended that this transition would revolutionize the company and make Landmark the leader in sustainable home design and construction.  Guided by a bold short term goal, to build all of their homes NetZero energy by 2015 at no additional cost to the consumer, Landmark had to rethink and redesign the way homes are built in order to make sustainable homebuilding affordable, yet possible and profitable in their business context.

Strategy

A critical component in this journey was industrializing the construction process with the Landmark Precision Building System (LPBS). The LPBS innovation completely redefines the industry.  It simplifies and makes it economical to produce a more precise, energy efficient home exceeding EnerGuide ratings of 80+, reducing the home’s operational carbon footprint by a minimum of 3.4 tonnes of CO2/home/year.

Not since the advent of power tools has an innovation this huge hit the home building industry.  The LPBS is a fully automated, centralized process that creates a home’s major components in a controlled environment.  The facility in Edmonton, Alberta, currently is the single largest installation of its kind in North America.

Taking technology from traditional framing and bringing it into a controlled manufacturing environment, LPBS greatly reduces the environmental impact of residential construction in several ways – from reducing countless vehicle trips to each site; to reducing the construction cycle process (framing, insulation and roofing cycle).  Compared to traditional site-built methods, LPBS reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 6.21 tonnes/home during the construction process.  And, because each piece of wood used is value engineered, LPBS produces an incredible 58% less waste.  The next stage of LPBS is to add drywall and siding to the panels, further reducing the carbon footprint of the construction process.

In a fully computerized process that minimizes human error, there has been an improvement in the consistency and accuracy of construction.  Accurate window and door placement, accuracy of framing, and consistency of stairwell openings are all contributors to an improved customer experience, a reduction in waste material and the need for rework.  Because the homes are built in a climate controlled environment and not exposed to the elements, warranty technicians do not have to repair problems with sub floor and interior and exterior wall studs that have been warped from moisture damage.  The climate controlled environment also reduces the homes’ exposure to humidity during the construction process.  In conjunction with a wall design that allows drying from both the inside and out and the inclusion of spray foam, mold problems are virtually eliminated.  Line workers well-being has also improved by not being exposed to the variations in weather patterns that they would see when constructing a home with traditional stick-built methods. Increased productivity has been the result.

 

Result

LPBS is poised to become the new standard – empowering builders with an innovative, more economically and environmentally sound way to build homes. 

Landmark actively advocates for sustainable initiatives within its industry and community, and challenges conventional thinking of what it means to build and live in a sustainable fashion. This sharing of trade secrets has garnered Landmark international attention as well.

Landmark is one of, if not the only, production home builders in Canada achieving sustainable, profitable business.

Website Links

http://www.landmarkgroup.ca/