By Lexi McFarlane, Times Chronicle
The contract to construct new modular housing for visiting healthcare workers who are either working temporarily at the South Okanagan General Hospital in Oliver or are moving here and are in need of transitional housing has been awarded, with work underway to meet the March 2026 deadline.
At the October 6 Regular Council meeting, Town of Oliver staff put forward a recommendation to award a building contract to Chaparral Industries for the installation of two new modular homes. The units, with two bedrooms each, will see installation in March 2026, after site work has been performed to allow for their construction.
As previously reported by the Times Chronicle, the modular homes will be installed on a plot of vacant Eastside Avenue property near the Sunnybank Retirement Centre, owned by Interior Health but leased to the Town of Oliver. The lease stipulates that work on the homes begins this Fall, with completion by Spring 2026, hence the targeted March deadline.
A Request for Proposals was issued in July for interested bidders, and a total of 11 responses were received. Town staff determined Chaparral’s entry as the winning proposal, for best meeting criteria set by staff. Staff graded proposals on five categories, including experience, product quality and specs, delivery and schedule, pricing, and added value.
Chaparral’s contract offered a pre-GST price point of $430,690. Presently, the Town of Oliver has $515,000 in secured funding, with “verbal commitment” for an additional $20,000. The total forecasted funding thus covers the entirety of the contract, plus $94,000, which will be used to cover furnishings, appliances, and utility works. A contingency of over $11,000 will remain in play.
Map showing the location of Sunnybank Retirement Centre and vacant land in Oliver where the healthcare housing will be built.
Google Maps image.
The majority of the housing funding will come from a larger – $2 million – fundraising campaign by the South Okanagan Similkameen (SOS) Medical Foundation for new equipment at South Okanagan General Hospital (SOGH).
The total cost of just over $515,000 was defrayed by the Ministry of Health, which contributed $215,000 to the project in April of 2025, and following a presentation by Oliver Mayor Martin Johansen to the SOS Medical Board, he secured a fundraising commitment of $300,000.
In order to get the project going sooner rather than later, Johasen secured an interest-free loan from the Okanagan Similkameen Regional Hospital District in August, which covered the $300,000 amount until it can be fundraised.
Chief Administrative Officer Wayne Anderson, who wrote and delivered the report to Council, noted that there were four proposals included in the final review stage and given serious consideration, including one proposal that was slightly above the maximum cost stated in the RFP, and that two of the companies were visited.
“The Selection Committee, which was made up of the Mayor, myself, our Director of Operations, and our previous building official, visited Halston Homes in Kamloops and Chapparal’s production facility in Kelowna on August 29,” Anderson said.
“The Chapparal proposal scored the highest, and was the preferred choice of the Selection Committee after the site visit,” he added.
The motion to approve awarding the contract to Chapparal was made by Councillor Terry Schafer and seconded by Councillor Aimee Grice. Without additional discussion, the motion carried.
Work is now underway to prepare the site for the modular homes, with the contract being awarded on October 7, following the vote.
