A proposal by Hubflow. A prefab rental multiplex delivery program for Metro Vancouver. We price every framing route before we build, then deliver faster and tighter.
British Columbia reopened low-rise land to several homes per lot, and demand for purpose-built rental is deep. The hard part is no longer permission. It is building well, on budget, on time. Most small developers choose a framing method by habit. We choose it with a model that prices four routes to the dollar against the same design, then we deliver the winner with panelized and Passive House systems. This is the proposal, and the first project is fully drawn and quoted.
Zoning changed faster than the way small projects get built. The constraint now is the cost and time of the shell, the part most exposed to labour and weather.
Most small developers pick a framing method by habit. We pick it with a model. That one decision moves the budget by tens of dollars per square foot and the schedule by months.
Two things working together: a costing discipline other small builders do not run, and delivery methods that compress the riskiest part of the build.
Every route is priced from real supplier quotes, structural quantities, and a building information model, then checked against an independent industry index. Downstream scope is held identical across routes, so the framing decision stands on its own. The output is a defensible number, not a guess.
Panelized and closed-panel systems move framing into a controlled plant, set a building in days, and arrive air-tight. Less weather risk, fewer trades to coordinate, and an envelope that meets the higher steps of the BC Energy Step Code without site rework.
A section through each route's exterior wall. The differences are where the money and the performance live: how thick the cavity is, what insulates it, and how much is sealed in the plant versus on site.
Hatched band is the insulated cavity. A factory-sealed water barrier and air barrier means fewer site steps and a more reliable blower-door result. Tags read factory or site for each layer.
A four-building, six-home rental multiplex on a single assembly. Architectural, structural, and mechanical drawings are complete. All four routes are priced against this exact design.
FIG. 3 / 6062 MACDONALD / ARTIST RENDERING
Total cost per square foot, hard cost plus contingency, with land and soft costs excluded. Lower is better. Toggle to the net-effective view, which credits each route for finishing earlier.
Dashed marker is the BDC Consultants multiplex index for medium-quality Vancouver Westside construction, $293 per sq ft including PST. The r2 route lands within two percent of it, the independent check that the model is calibrated. Net-effective applies a schedule credit (earlier rent plus financing carry saved against the slowest route).
Cheapest is not the same as best. A weighted matrix scores each route one to five on what matters for a rental multiplex. Weights are editable, so the ranking flexes to an owner's priorities.
Scores are directional and editable in the workbook. Weight capital cost and the open-panel route leads. Weight envelope or schedule and the prefab routes lead. A transparent decision, not a forced answer.
Months to a finished, rentable building. A faster shell brings rent forward and cuts financing carry. The prefab routes set in days and arrive dried-in.
At the pilot's assumptions the fastest route reaches rent up to three months ahead of the slowest. That schedule value offsets a real share of any premium it carries, which is why the net-effective ranking differs from raw cost.
Figures below are placeholders for discussion, set in one place in the file. They are not committed terms.
Led by a construction director and the Hubflow team, with hands-on delivery across BC multifamily and custom residential.
Director-level management of an owner-side construction portfolio, leading project managers and coordinators on work that has delivered more than $440M built.
The same team builds the cost models, schedules, and procurement. Pricing is grounded in live quotes and a building information model, then validated against an independent index.
The model is anchored to a completed luxury custom home at roughly $500 per sq ft all-in, which sets the upper rail and confirms the rental tier sits well below it.
The design is done, the routes are priced, and the method is ready to run. Hubflow is raising the pilot equity to build 6062 Macdonald and set the template for the pipeline.