Today, over 2,000 years later, concrete has come of age in home construction and several British Columbia companies are at the forefront of the revolution. And despite B.C.'s historic attachment to abundant lumber, concrete homes are becoming more and more cost competitive.

Now, concrete homes are a serious alternative that is becoming increasingly popular in North America as their advantages over wood-frame houses become more widely known. A recent Portland Cement Association survey showed an estimated 8,000 homes in the United States and Canada were built in 1998 with technology known as insulated concrete forms (ICF).

With the emphasis on simplicity in construction thanks to ICF technology, which offers flexibility in design and construction unmatched in other types of forming, there's new interest developing in Canada around concrete homes.

With the new interest comes a new industry, and companies like Surrey B.C.'s Quad-Lock Building Systems are emerging as ICF specialists offering something different.

Quad-Lock manufactures interlocking polystyrene panels, much like the popular children's building blocks. Walls are formed by stacking and interlocking the four foot by one foot panels held together by special plastic ties. Reinforcing steel rebar is run through the centre which is then filled with ready-mix concrete.

But, concrete homes are still a tough sell in British Columbia's abundant forest of wooden homes where builders are slow to experiment in new building concepts. In the meantime, Quad-Lock has been doubling its sales every year to the United States and Japan.

"In Western Canada most people associate wood as the only material a house is built with," says Quad-Lock General Manager, Tim Dayton. "But, when we get an opportunity to talk to them about the benefits of concrete homes it's easy to get people excited."

Recently, more than 300 people came to visit an ICF concrete home being built by UNICUS Custom Concrete Homes at 13736 28th Avenue in South Surrey. All exterior walls were built using Quad-Lock's ICF panels and this was the first whole house for Quad-Lock in the Lower Mainland.

Builder-designer, Bill Davis, of UNICUS, sponsored the open house and was amazed at the interest and a flurry of publicity as the project became more widely known.

UNICUS specializes in custom concrete houses and after building his own home using ICF technology, Davis is so sold on the concept that he hopes to build nothing else but concrete homes in the future. The open house success at his latest project convinced him that people take very little persuasion when it comes to building with concrete.

"There is no architectural form that couldn't be replicated in concrete, but there are some that couldn't be built in anything else," he says. Davis is inviting the public back for a second open house in late October once his latest project is finished.

What Quad-Lock wants is more enthusiasts like Bill Davis in the Lower Mainland, says Dayton. Then people will learn they can build their dream homes in a different way and get a superior home with many advantages.

"We just have to convince building contractors to give concrete a try," says Dayton.

The project in South Surrey is different from the ground up in other ways, too. Davis chose the latest in concrete footing technology from another Surrey firm, Fastfoot Fabric Forming Systems, a new concept in concrete forming technology for footings and pads which uses fabric instead of lumber.

The concrete-filled fabric easily adapts to uneven ground conditions and provides fast, economical, and accurate forms for footings with no leakage, less labour and minimal lumber which saves money for the builder and buyer.

The strength in the ICF walls and footings came from Rempel Bros. Concrete Ltd. in Langley and Vice President and General Manager, Bob Fairbank says the greater interest in concrete homes is good news for his 32-year-old company and the ready mix concrete industry. Not the least because ICF homes double the usual amount of concrete in a typical single-family dwelling.

"The growth had been quite slow in our traditional wood frame environment, but elsewhere in places like Oregon concrete homes make up a significant share of the market," adds the Rempel GM.

Fairbank says Bill Davis has the right idea as builders elsewhere in North America have been successful using custom built concrete homes to differentiate themselves in the market. "We feel companies like UNICUS will drive the success of concrete homes in our market, says Fairbank"

The finishing touches on the 3,400 square foot South Surrey concrete home come in the form of an Arizona type stucco produced by a Langley, B.C. firm, Preswitt Manufacturing Ltd., which has wide experience in providing exterior cladding and interior finishing for homes, hospitals, schools, office buildings and shopping malls.

Preswitt's primary weather-resistant lamina consists of an open weave glass fibre mesh totally embedded in a cement-like acrylic basecoat which is applied over the polystyrene ICF panels. Then, a 100% acrylic polymer exterior coating is applied giving a smooth, classic stucco finish. The higher quality materials used are resistant to water and cracking, making the choice of finish ideal for Vancouver's Pacific Coast climate.

Today, the look of a concrete home can be markedly different or the same as other conventional wood-frame houses on the street. And with its three compelling advantages - cost competitive with wood, far cheaper to operate, and lower cost to maintain (ICF homes don't rot or settle like wooden homes) - more and more building contractors and home buyers will be turning to concrete in the future.