🔒Construction’s moving parts: Prefab components have come a long way

The construction industry in Maine has over the past decade undergone a dramatic evolution in the way commercial and multifamily buildings are put together. The vast majority of projects are now constructed using prefabricated components. Wall, floor and ceiling panels, roof trusses, stairs and elevator shafts, even entire buildings are all pre-assembled in factories and delivered and installed on-site, often by crews from the manufacturer. The practice saves substantial construction time, improves predictability and delivers a superior product. “Wood panels are now standard practice across essentially 100% of our wood-framed projects,” says Simon Hebert, COO of Lewiston-based Hebert Construction. “It’s no longer the exception, it’s the default.” The prefab panels save time and labor. With a multifamily project where an investor is carrying the costs and has a set amount of time to lease the property, “shaving three to six weeks off a schedule has very real dollar value,” Hebert says. “When the panels arrive, our framers aren’t measuring, cutting, plating and standing walls from scratch,” he adds. “They’re setting engineered assemblies.”

Time is money

Curtis Thormann, vice president of operations at Freeport-based Zachau Construction, says he sees significant time savings particularly with pre-fabricated modular units. “Where it used to take a month to frame and get a building watertight, it now takes three-and-a-half days.” Zachau hasn’t employed the traditional “stick built” construction method for close to a decade, he says. Everything the company builds incorporates prefab components. For instance, at a four-story, 65-unit apartment building under construction in Riverton Park in Portland, Zachau uses panels for walls, floors, stairwells and elevator shafts.

Likewise, Landry/French Construction has been employing prefab systems for years. COO Denis Garriepy cites the fact that building components and systems can be prefabricated parallel to sitework, such as pouring foundations, the entire project schedule is compressed. “Faster, more efficient construction leads to overall lower costs,” he says. The Scarborough-based construction firm also has more control over quality with the prefab panels. “Quality is enhanced because panelized components are built in a controlled factory environment, with greater tolerance and workmanship, less material waste, as well as reduced exposure to all-too-frequent Maine weather impacts,” Garriepy says.

What ifs

There are some wrinkles to using the prefab panels, including some higher built-in costs, and they’re not right for every situation. “The panel itself does carry a premium over raw lumber and field labor for the same scope of work,” notes Hebert. “You’re paying for a manufactured product with factory overhead and delivery logistics baked in.” The traditional method of bringing in a framing crew is complicated by a lack of crews. “Labor efficiency is closely related. You need fewer framers on site for fewer days, which matters in a market where skilled framing crews are genuinely hard to find,” Hebert says. “The only scenario where we revert to conventional stick framing is when site conditions make panelized delivery impractical: tight urban lots that restrict crane access, or sites without adequate laydown area to stage and sequence the panels safely.” Recent Hebert projects that have incorporated integrated wall panels include Seavey Crossing and Seavey Terraces in Westbrook and the Furman Block and 5 India St. in Portland — all multifamily residential buildings.

Pre-manufacturing design time

One challenge to using prefabricated components is upfront coordination. “Panelized construction front-loads the design work,” Hebert says. “You need fully resolved framing plans, window and door rough openings, and structural details locked in before panels go into production.” Herbert adds, “If there are design changes mid-stream, you can end up with costly panel revisions or field modifications that eat into your savings.” Lead times can also be a constraint depending on supplier capacity and project timing. Panels need to be ordered well in advance, which requires tighter scheduling discipline than traditional stick framing.

Iron out the details

Garriepy of Landry/French says the use of panels requires good planning. “All of these details need to be worked out ‘in pixels’ before we put a shovel in the ground,” he says. For Landry/French’s build of the Redfern Properties’ Casco Building, at 201 Federal St. in Portland, the builder coordinated the design and installation of 332 individual exterior panels — all of which were constructed to include framing, sheathing, air vapor barriers, windows; even finished exterior brick. Over 18 stories, that was a major task.

“Every panel was premade, shipped to a marshalling yard, and then ‘called in’ to the site to be offloaded and hoisted into place,” Garriepy says. At the 112,000-square-foot Mayflower Hill residence hall at Colby College in Waterville, Landry/French has utilized 2,192 individual wood-framed panels for both the building’s exterior and interior walls. Housing projects employing prefabricated components in Lewiston and Tamworth, N.H., are next on the schedule.

Manufacturers offer choices

Panels come in different sizes and can be built with a range of finishes, from basic structures that include insulation and cutouts for windows, doors and mechanical systems, all the way up to components that include interior cabinetry and exterior siding. “There’s no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to sourcing; it’s driven by what makes the most sense for a given project. Hancock Lumber, UsiHome, and Atlas Structures are all in our regular rotation, and each brings something a little different to the table,” says Hebert. Zachau uses components from Canadian-based Atlas Structural Systems through a partnership with Hammond Lumber; from Hancock Lumber, based in Casco; from AmeriCan Structures, based in Canada, through a partnership with N.H.-based North & South Construction Services; and from Blueprint Robotics in Baltimore.

Two new factories to open in Maine

One of the largest suppliers to Maine builders of prefabricated roof, wall and floor panels is Atlas Structural Systems, which has a 11 production facilities in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada. The firm has been supplying contractors in Maine for years, exclusively through Hammond Lumber, which has 34 locations across Maine and New Hampshire. Atlas’ parent company, J.D. Irving Ltd., has a lumber mill in Dixfield, and is currently building its first factory in the state, in Lewiston, which is set to start production by the end of this month. The 44,000-square-foot facility is in the former Steel Service Center building at 1750 Lisbon St. Mike Vail, director of sales, says the new location will design and manufacture engineered trusses and prefabricated wall, floor and stair panels. He expects to employ close to 45 people and says the company chose Lewiston for its central location. “Lewiston is a great community with a historically industrial hub that offers good opportunities for businesses with a skilled labor force,” he says, adding that Atlas U.S. will source the majority of its lumber from stateside mills. The second new facility will be Hancock Lumber’s 44,000-square-foot factory for prefabricated components, in Oxford. The company has been manufacturing wall panels since 1999 in Windham and roof trusses since 2018, at the company’s Fairfield facility, and is expanding to meet growing demand.

“Not only will the new facility increase capacity by 10 times, it will also enable us to manufacture additional building components such as longer wall panels — up to 20 feet long; today our maximum is 12 feet — with 2.5-inch zip sheathing, pre-cut labeled framing, and stair systems, with the ability to expand and add services in the future,” says Kevin Hancock, executive chairman. Hancock Lumber has 12 lumberyards in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts; three sawmills in Maine; and a tiny homes manufacturing division. Hancock expects the new factory to be fully operational by early 2027.