The Guildcrest Homes factory, where dreams take shape. Working indoors allows techniques that would be impossible outdoors to ensure that each home meets a high standard of quality. Tinkess Photo

MOREWOOD – At first glance, Morewood seems like another one of the sleepy little communities that dot eastern Ontario, a place that doesn’t really catch your eye or stick in your memory with its corner store that sells just about anything, and the community centre and fire hall.

The people who live there know that there is much more to Morewood than meets the eye: it has as strong a sense of community spirit as anywhere and the people who live there are proud to call it home.

To many people however, across Canada and into the US, Morewood is also the place that their home went from a dream into reality, in the company’s massive, climate-controlled factory. No concerns about inclement weather here: everything from the top of the foundation upwards can be completed indoors and then wrapped and shipped to the customer’s site.

Guildcrest has built high quality homes for thousands of homeowners across Ontario, Quebec and the United States since 1991, and while they are proud of their past, they also have their eyes on the future and what the business of providing many different types of homes for those looking for a first home, their forever home, or even for that retirement home or recreational property.

It is their continued efforts that were on display on Sat., Oct. 19 when they hosted an open house at their display court on Mill St. in Morewood. Sean Kelly, Guildcrest’s retail sales manager was on site, and said that there had been a steady stream of potential clients stopping by to take a close look at a couple of their current models.

Kelly says that there are changes occurring in the marketplace, and what people are looking for today is different from what they wanted not that long ago.

“…Over the past few decades, our core business has been single family homes,” said Kelly. “We’re now diversifying, because we’re trying to pivot to what the clients are looking for” That is multi-family homes. So, we see a lot more opportunities with the multi-family homes being presented to us. So that’s kind of what we’ve done.

“We certainly still do the single-family homes, but we’re starting to see more demand for ADUs, which is the additional dwelling units for various potential clients.

One thing that visitors to the open house were commenting on was the concept of having their home essentially built indoors, but there is more to it than just the working conditions.

“No, you’re absolutely right,” agreed Kelly. “I mean, just today, throughout our open house, you know, people are amazed that the product that’s in the factory, how we build it, how airtight we are, and the energy efficiencies because of costs, depending on how you heat your house, those costs are not going down. Every year we see increases, so when people were starting to see a lot more people on fixed incomes, either they’re retired or whatever their job is, they want to minimize their “out” cost at the end of the month.”

The world is changing and there is a lot to be said about how housing will factor into that. Guildcrest Homes want to be a part of that and judging by the reaction of many people at the open house, it appears they will.