One of Quadrant’s 10 developments under way is Patrick’s Faire in Maple Valley. Photo by Matt Brown

By refining a production-line approach, Quadrant Homes has launched itself into the position of the state’s most prolific homebuilder.

The single-family division of the Weyerhaeuser real estate subsidiary Quadrant Corp. sold a whopping 967 houses for 2002, up 47 percent from 657 in 2001 and about three times its closest competitors’ volumes.

The firm plans to grow even more.

Peter Orser, Quadrant Corp.’s executive vice president in charge of home building, said he expects to sell 1,100 homes this year by adding a fifth production line, and “we’re looking at six for the year after that.”

The 2002 total is up from 358 in 1998, before Quadrant put its assembly line-like “even-flow” construction system in place, and before record-low interest rates stoked buyers.

Quadrant pre-sells the homes. Customers visit a display center at which they pick the features they want. Then Quadrant builds each one in 54 days.

Quadrant ran four construction lines to reach the 2002 total, finishing four homes each day. Once the fifth line is up, Quadrant will finish building five each day.

The homes range from 924 to 4,310 square feet and sell for between $140,000 and $410,000. They can be found in 10 developments: Snoqualmie Ridge, Redmond Ridge, Wesley Park in Sammamish, Farm at Woods Creek in Monroe, Liberty Ridge in Renton, Silverwood in Federal Way, Patrick’s Faire and Katesridge in Maple Valley, Brookwater in Bonney Lake and Northwest Landing in DuPont.

Quadrant recently started Wesley Park. Located across the street from Beaver Lake Park and Beaver Lake on the Sammamish Plateau, the community will total 226 homes.

Orser said he’s among those who don’t think the Puget Sound market will experience a housing price bubble burst. “This market has factors that constrain supply,” such as growth management, he said. Therefore, “We haven’t overbuilt the market, so if anything it will go up.”

But he said that even as interest rates rise again, which he expects to start during this year’s second half, he’s betting that Quadrant will continue growing by grabbing more market share.

“There are always risks,” he said. “But last year this market contracted. There were fewer new homes sold in the markets we’re in, but we still captured a lot more of those markets.”