The ranch-style house starts at $279,000 without the garage. The houses at Canonchet Woods, whether ranch or Colonial, are “expansion-designed,” which anticipates future improvements.

The Providence Journal / Kathy Borchers

Bob Carr doesn’t usually build houses. He specializes in buying land, winning regulatory approvals for subdivisions from towns, then selling the lots to builders or individual owners.

Several years ago, Carr said, the 32 house lots in Canonchet Woods, a new subdivision carved out of the hills off Route 3 in Hopkinton, would have been home to sprawling McMansions priced well over $400,000 apiece.

But Carr, who lives in the Saunderstown area of North Kingstown, admits that the housing slump has changed everything about the way he usually does business.

Instead of selling off the 32 lots in Canonchet Woods, Carr is building houses on them.

And instead of building McMansions with luxurious master suites, sweeping closet spaces, granite countertops and the latest stainless steel appliances in the kitchens and whirlpool tubs in the master baths, Carr is building small, no-frills starter houses for young families — first-time buyers who aren’t stymied because they don’t already own another house they have to sell.

Two model homes at Canonchet Woods opened to the public yesterday, a ranch house (starting price: $279,000) and a Colonial (starting price: $309,000). The two models are modular homes, which arrived in large pieces on trucks and were assembled on site, but Carr said he isn’t sure yet if the rest of the houses in the development will be modular or traditional stick construction.

“I think that’s the kind of thing we need” in Hopkinton, said town planner Jim Lamphere. A few years ago, it seemed every developer in town was concentrating on the high end of the market, he said. “Everybody was building houses for 500, 600 thousand,” he said. “I guess somebody’s got that kind of money. Not me.”

The two model homes at Canonchet Woods are examples of housing stripped down to the basics: The kitchen countertops are a Formica-look laminate, and the faucets are a simple, single-lever style. Carpeting, in place of more expensive wood flooring, is everywhere except the kitchens and baths, which have beige tile floors. The bathrooms are functional but plain: there are no jetted tubs or towel warmers in sight. And, at approximately 1,300 square feet, these houses are modestly sized.

For more money, Carr’s company, Woody Hills Development Co., will add on extras like garages and porches, fireplaces and central air conditioning.

But the house lots, 1 to 2 acres, are large, and in this sense, the subdivision seems like many others built during the housing boom. Lamphere said the cluster development, which includes some house lots sized under the minimum 80,000 square feet required under town zoning rules, was approved under the condition that Carr includes affordable housing in the project. Carr said instead of building affordable housing himself — “I don’t know anything about it” — he gave land to the nonprofit Women’s Development Corporation, of Providence, which will build 10 duplexes on a private road in the subdivision.

A model of the duplexes should be ready sometime this fall, said Alma Green, president of Women’s Development Corporation. She said each of the 20 units will have two bedrooms, one full bathroom and one-half bathroom, a full basement and a bonus room, and will be priced in the $190,000s. For a three-person household, the income eligibility will be approximately $52,000 to $75,000 annually, she said. Green said the duplexes will have a Colonial design, and will be “just ordinary, safe, decent housing.”

The large lots are also an important part of Carr’s marketing plan, “expansion design.” The idea is to give young families the room to build on or add amenities in the future as their fortunes improve without having to go through the expense or trouble of a move.

Buyers will get two sets of plans, one for the basic house as-is, and an expansion plan showing where additions and improvements can be made with minimal expense and disruption. Carr said the expansion-design plans meet current local zoning and building codes.

The expansion-design features include:

•To accommodate garages, the walls at the gable end of each house are built to fire code and are equipped with a fire-rated steel door.

•If the grade of the lot permits, houses are built to allow future addition of a walkout basement.

•Houses will be wired for alarm systems, and plumbed and wired for central vacuums.

•Exterior living room walls will be framed for fireplaces.

•Exterior dining room walls will be framed to accept sliding doors or French doors to a porch.

•Switches and wiring will be installed for landscape lighting.

•Buyers can choose standard hot water/baseboard heat or optional hot air heat, in which case, they are built for future installation of central air conditioning.

•Houses will also be built with a “solar chase” to accommodate future wiring and plumbing for solar panels.

“I usually flip the whole thing, sell [house] lots,” Carr said. “This economy has forced me into home building.”

cdunn@projo.com