Mezza Ltd. president Tyler Wilson says his firm has plans to scale up its delivery of more affordable, quality modular housing in Northern Ontario as a solution to rapidly rising housing prices in the region.

The entrepreneur formed Mezza, which is based in the Sudbury, Ont.-area community of Chelmsford, in October 2024 as a division of his company Wilson Hope Ltd. The firm also owns a custom homebuilding company, a sod farm and a home hardware dealership.

Mezza retails, ships and then constructs residences from Supreme Homes, a modular housing builder based almost 1,600 kilometres east in Tracadie-Sheila, N.B.

One of the major reasons is price. Since 2020, the average price of a home in Sudbury has risen from the $300,000 range to almost $450,000 as of January 2025, according the Canadian Real Estate Association.

For a blue-collar city and region like Sudbury and Northern Ontario, such a surge has hurt affordability for everyone, Wilson said in an interview with RENX Homes. Modular housing is his answer, as it allows his firm to assemble homes faster and more affordably than via traditional on-site ground-up construction methods.

Another obstacle he looks to overcome is the stereotype that modular housing means low quality.

“We’re looking to create some affordability in the market, and bring some upscale homes with that affordability,” Wilson said.

Mezza’s modular catalogue and portfolio

Serving as the “boots on the ground” for Supreme in their partnership, Mezza supports customers from permitting to assembly.

A customer will start by discussing a budget and desired features in Mezza’s office, and examine the catalogue of Supreme’s prebuilt housing ranging from under 1,000 square feet to approximately 2,000 square feet, including two-storey duplexes, bungalows and lakehouses. Mezza also supports custom builds.

Then Mezza will examine the client’s site for eligibility, evaluate all the requirements, and then provide a quoted cost. Once a home plan has been finalized and the site is deemed feasible, the project goes through the design phase, with Mezza’s engineers creating it based on the customer’s specifications.

Once the plans are approved, the home will take take two to 2.5 months to be built at Supreme’s factory and these components are transported to the site.

“The home’s pretty much complete when it leaves the factory in its relative sections,” Wilson said.

Mezza can assemble smaller models in two to three days due to the prebuilt nature, which simplifies construction. Larger models could take a few weeks to assemble, depending on size and complexity.

The models offered by Mezza start from approximately $150,000 up to $900,000 depending on features, Wilson said. Even with the cost of transporting a home from New Brunswick to Northern Ontario, the prices are more affordable than stick-built homes on average, he added.

Since inception, Mezza has installed three homes with an average price in the high-$200,000s range:

• the over 800-square-foot, two-bedroom FL-12 model;
• a two-storey 1,700-square-foot, four-bedroom custom home; and
• a 1,200-square-foot, three-bedroom unit.

Word about the prefab process is getting around - Mezza has nearly a dozen additional pre-orders for the spring, Wilson said.

Elevating the modular home

Since envisioning the formation of a modular homebuilding company in 2017, Wilson said he has seen the sector drastically evolve in quality.

The perception of these homes having wood panel walls and linoleum floors, chosen for their robustness against bumpy shipping, is outdated, he said. Prebuilt homes today can feature granite counter tops, luxurious flooring, fireplaces and many more options.

“If there’s something you had in mind for a build that you would want custom on site, you can order it.”

People who walked through a two-bedroom modular show home at Mezza’s office have been “shocked” by the high calibre of craftsmanship, Wilson said.

Sudbury’s interest in modular housing

Greater Sudbury housing buyers are showing more interest in prebuilt housing, he said, particularly as an accessory dwelling unit. Prospective buyers come from a wide range of demographics, including seniors planning to move into the modular home and have their children take over the previous home; or children looking to house their parents in a modular home so they can be nearby for care.

Wilson believes the trend is, in part, fuelled by rising home prices. And as more potential buyers learn about, and see examples of modular housing, he expects more will want to live in these homes.

“I definitely think the modular home space is going to be the new wave in Sudbury. What’s going to be driving it is information, education of the people,” he said.

A major scale-up of Mezza’s ambition is a plan to develop an upscale land-lease modular housing park on 80 acres of land Mezza has acquired. Wilson plans to have approximately 200 modular homes and a community centre on the site.

The company is looking to partner with another northern firm, Massey, Ont.-based North Shore Quality Homes, which is also experienced in modular housing.

“We’ve always been big dreamers and we’ve always been big doers, so we’ve got big plans,” Wilson said.