February 13, 2025
Imagine a comfortable, well-designed home that significantly reduces energy demand while delivering exceptional performance. Its heating and ventilation systems are half the size and cost of those in a conventional house. Indoor air quality is consistently clean. The building can withstand prolonged power outages, extreme weather events, and is far less vulnerable to wildfire or other catastrophic loss. In practical terms, it is as close to future-proof as a home can be.
Now consider this: its construction cost is comparable to what your neighbour just paid for their “custom home,” yet yours is completed in roughly one-third of the time. From day one, it outperforms the neighbouring house in every measurable way energy use, comfort, durability, and resilience. Twenty years later, when you decide to sell, your home has appreciated at roughly twice the rate. Add the long-term savings from reduced utility bills, and the financial gap between the two homes grows into the hundreds of thousands. The difference isn’t price it’s the choice of a smarter, more sustainable building approach.
Decades of research, countless studies, and thousands of built examples show us that better ways of building already exist. So why haven’t they become the norm? The answer lies in an industry that remains fragmented, inefficient, and slow to adapt. Construction is still one of the most wasteful and unproductive sectors of the economy, and systemic inertia makes meaningful change difficult. Homebuyers are often at a disadvantage few understand how poorly many homes perform, and even fewer realize that radically better alternatives are already available.
Encouragingly, more efficient models are gaining momentum. Companies such as U.S.-based Unity Homes demonstrate what is possible when building science, prefabrication, and integrated design are brought together. But transforming a ten-trillion-dollar industry does not happen overnight.
Image source: ThinkWood
To help shift the industry in a more productive direction, several changes are essential:
1) Collaboration – Affordability improves when trades, regulators, architects, engineers, and suppliers work collaboratively to eliminate redundancy and waste. Fragmented decision-making and siloed control slow progress and increase costs.
2) Building off-site – Manufacturing-based approaches are a critical part of the solution. Prefabrication enables higher quality control, shorter construction timelines, and more predictable costs.
3) Demands for efficiency – Higher performance standards support homes with the lowest lifetime cost of ownership. True affordability includes not only the purchase price, but decades of energy, maintenance, and operating costs.
4) Innovation and automation – Advances in building science, digital design, and automated manufacturing combined with intelligent use of natural materials make it possible to deliver warmer, healthier, and more affordable homes.
If you’re interested in better ways of building, we’d love to hear from you. In 2026, Cornerstone will introduce a new wall system designed to deliver high performance, durability, and architectural quality without unnecessary complexity. Being on the leading edge of change is both exciting and challenging but meaningful progress always starts this way.
Would you like to explore the topic further? The following books offer valuable perspectives on the housing crisis and the roles of cities, policymakers, and individuals in shaping better outcomes:
- Our Crumbling Foundation, Gregor Craigie, 2024, Random House Canada
- Escaping the Housing Trap, Chuck Marohn & Daniel Herriges, 2024, Wiley
- Home Truths, Carolyn Whitzman, 2024, UBC Press
- You’ll Pay for This!, Michel Durand-Wood, 2025, Great Plains
