Advantages for Municipalities

For a town, city or rural municipality, modular construction is mainly a way to meet a date: a building made in a plant while the site is prepared can be open for the season, the school year or a funding deadline that a conventional build might miss. It also keeps construction off a busy public site for most of the project. This article covers what municipalities build this way, how federal infrastructure money usually reaches them, the procurement rules that apply in the four western provinces, and what a real municipal project looked like from start to finish.

Why municipalities build modular

• Dates that do not move. Grants and budget years come with deadlines, and parks and pools open on a calendar. Because the building is made while the foundation and services are prepared, most Herauf buildings are manufactured and delivered in roughly 16 weeks, and installation takes days.
• Building through the winter. CMHC notes that a climate-controlled plant lets construction run year-round. A building ordered in the fall can be built through the winter and placed early in the year, ready for the summer season.
• Less disruption on public land. In a park, beside a rink or next to an office that stays open, most of the noise and traffic happens somewhere else. CMHC lists environmentally sensitive sites among the places factory-built buildings are quick to install.
• A building that can move. A temporary office, a seasonal facility or emergency housing can be built on a steel skid and relocated when the need changes.

What municipalities build this way

• Park, spray park and campground washrooms. Herauf builds nine standard barrier-free washroom and shower configurations, from 14' × 14' to 42' × 18', on municipal services or self-contained water and sewer. See modular washroom and shower buildings and park and campground washroom buildings.
• Municipal and site offices. A 55' × 18' office building holds five offices, a boardroom and a kitchenette; smaller site and safety offices suit public works yards. See modular office buildings.
• Daycares and classrooms. Daycares come in capacity tiers of 30 to 47, 65 to 82 and 90 children, plus additions to an existing building. See modular daycares and schools.
• Recreation and concessions. Published layouts include an 80' × 36' wellness centre with a gym and change rooms, and concession buildings at 30' × 20' and 42' × 18' with washrooms or a change room.
• Emergency and transitional housing. Finished, self-contained units on steel skids that need no foundation. See Rapid Response.

A municipal project, start to finish

The Town of Pilot Butte, ten minutes east of Regina, wanted an accessible washroom and change building for its spray park. Herauf (then Hytek Modular Solutions, the name the Town uses) built it off-site. Work began in September 2023, the building was placed in February 2024, and it was in full use by summer 2024. The Town's Chief Administrative Officer has since recommended Herauf to other municipalities in a signed letter, published on the references page. The full case study is Pilot Butte community washroom.

Provincial work follows the same pattern. For the Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways, Herauf built a barrier-free public washroom, finished inside and out, and set it complete on a prepared pad.

How the federal money usually reaches a municipality

The steadiest source for most municipalities is the federal transfer long known as the Canada Community-Building Fund, now renamed the Community stream of the Build Communities Strong Fund. Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada says it delivers over $2.5 billion a year to more than 3,700 communities, flowed through each province or territory (or, in Ontario and British Columbia, the municipal associations), which set the local rules.

Communities choose among 19 categories. Several fit the buildings above: recreation, sport, culture, tourism, fire halls, community energy systems and capacity building. A few limits are worth knowing: buying land is not eligible, schools and hospitals are funded through a different stream, and the funding can be combined with other programs as long as total government funding does not exceed the project's cost.

Targeted programs come and go. The federal Green and Inclusive Community Buildings program, for example, funded new and retrofitted community buildings but is now closed to applications. Confirm a program is open before building a budget around it.

Separately from government programs, the Herauf $15,000 Build Credit takes $15,000 off eligible new modular builds, and municipal projects qualify. It is a Herauf credit, not a government grant. How it works is in the Build Credit explained.

Procurement: when a building has to be tendered

In British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the New West Partnership Trade Agreement covers the municipal, academic, school and hospital sector. Municipalities have to use open, non-discriminatory procurement for goods or services worth $75,000 or more and for construction worth $200,000 or more. The agreement's page does not say whether a factory-built building counts as goods or construction, so settle that with your procurement lead before you write the call. Your own policy may set lower limits. In Saskatchewan, public opportunities from municipalities, school divisions, health authorities and the province are posted on SaskTenders.

A well-written request is what lets modular suppliers bid against each other fairly: the building's use and size, the site and its access, servicing, the standard you require and the date it has to open. The modular building RFP checklist walks through it, and Herauf's supplier details and a printable capability statement are on the procurement page.

Planning a municipal modular project

1. Get a written quote before the funding application. Most programs want a cost and a schedule. Herauf publishes no prices for community, commercial or multi-family buildings; it prepares a free written quote, usually within one business day.
2. Start servicing and approvals early. Water, sewer or a self-contained system, and power to the pad, take longer than the building.
3. Name the standard. Herauf's buildings meet or exceed CSA A277 and the National Building Code for climate zones 6 to 8. Ask every bidder to state theirs in the same terms. The standard is explained in CSA A277 explained.
4. Decide whether it will ever move. A permanent foundation suits a building that stays; a steel skid suits one that may be relocated. See steel skid or foundation.

To start, send the building type, the site and the date it needs to open through the commercial quote form, email info@heraufmodular.com or call 1.639.382.4106. All commercial building types are on commercial modular buildings.