A trio of Richmond real estate veterans think they can help Haiti solve some of its housing needs, and they hope to add manufacturing and shipping jobs in Richmond in the process.
Roof Over My Head is a new venture planning to mass produce easy-to-assemble temporary shelters for use in disaster situations around the world.
The company is waiting for just two things: its first orders and approval from the city to raise $4.8 million through the sale of tax-exempt recovery zone bonds. The startup is a partnership of Bob Rogers of River City Granite, local developer Stephen Staats and Richard Morse, a principal of Cornerstone Architects.
Rogers told BizSense that the company is applying for a Recovery Zone Facility Bond that would fund turning the warehouse he owns at 1500 Chamberlayne Ave. into a manufacturing facility capable of churning out 15,000 units a year. Rogers said the company aims to ship the houses through the Port of Richmond to governments and NGOs overseas.
The shelters will cost governments about $10,000 each and are guaranteed to last a minimum of 10 years. A crew of four can build about two or three in a day, Rogers said.
A prototype sits inside his warehouse, which is also the base of operations for his granite counter company, at least until Roof Over My Head ramps up.
Rogers, who has 40 years experience in construction and real estate, said the January earthquake in Haiti lit a fire under him.
“It was a motivator and opened up my eyes to a worldwide need,” Rogers said.
And so Rogers floated the idea to a few friends. That’s when Stephen Staats came on board, and together they recruited architect Richard Morse, who designed the structure.
According to Orkin Termite Control For North Carolina, the structure consists of a steel frame, and the walls are made of a special type of cement board that is fire- and termite-proof. They are hurricane and earthquake resistant and are designed to accommodate rain water recycling and a small solar panel.
Morse said seeing images of the devastation in Haiti pulled him into the project.
“There’s people living in plastic tents, and we thought, ‘How can we make living through a natural disaster better and provide a basic shelter that will keep you dry and your family safe?’” Morse said.
Plus, Morse wants to help boost Richmond’s economy.
“I thought this could be good for the Richmond area and help put some people back to work and get some exporting out of Richmond,” Morse said.
The company would need to hire as many as 325 people once the operation swings into full production mode, Rogers said.
Of course, that’s contingent on the company receiving approval from the city to sell the tax-exempt bonds. Fifteen billion dollars in tax-exempt bond allocations were granted to the states by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Local governments must approve which projects are eligible to receive the bonds, which are intended for private enterprises to use for construction or other capital investments.
The city council is expected to vote on the motion this month.
The bond allocation is for $4.4 million, but Rogers said there is an option to expand by another $400,000 to cover design and engineering costs for the buildout.
Once they have authority to sell the bonds, Rogers said, the next step will be to get orders.
“What makes the magic are the orders,” Rogers said. “Not one or two, but 200 or 2,000 units. That is when the bonds are marketable.”
Once the startup can prove there is sufficient demand, they can sell bonds to potential investors.
The company is among about 380 others who have submitted proposals to the Haitian government to provide temporary shelters to the thousands displaced by the earthquake. A group there will soon select the five best models, which will be used for a new community on government-owned land in Port-Au-Prince. The government has plans to erect more than 135,000 temporary shelters by the end of next year. (You can read more about the current state of Haitian relief efforts in a recent Miami Herald article here.)
If Roof Over My Head is among those selected by Haiti, it would be just the spark the company needs. But even without Haiti, Rogers said, the global demand for transitional housing is huge.
“There was the earthquake in China, the tsunami in Indonesia and Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. All of that happened in just four years,” Rogers said.
Al Harris is a BizSense reporter. Please send news tips to [email protected].
A trio of Richmond real estate veterans think they can help Haiti solve some of its housing needs, and they hope to add manufacturing and shipping jobs in Richmond in the process.
Roof Over My Head is a new venture planning to mass produce easy-to-assemble temporary shelters for use in disaster situations around the world.
The company is waiting for just two things: its first orders and approval from the city to raise $4.8 million through the sale of tax-exempt recovery zone bonds. The startup is a partnership of Bob Rogers of River City Granite, local developer Stephen Staats and Richard Morse, a principal of Cornerstone Architects.
Rogers told BizSense that the company is applying for a Recovery Zone Facility Bond that would fund turning the warehouse he owns at 1500 Chamberlayne Ave. into a manufacturing facility capable of churning out 15,000 units a year. Rogers said the company aims to ship the houses through the Port of Richmond to governments and NGOs overseas.
The shelters will cost governments about $10,000 each and are guaranteed to last a minimum of 10 years. A crew of four can build about two or three in a day, Rogers said.
A prototype sits inside his warehouse, which is also the base of operations for his granite counter company, at least until Roof Over My Head ramps up.
Rogers, who has 40 years experience in construction and real estate, said the January earthquake in Haiti lit a fire under him.
“It was a motivator and opened up my eyes to a worldwide need,” Rogers said.
And so Rogers floated the idea to a few friends. That’s when Stephen Staats came on board, and together they recruited architect Richard Morse, who designed the structure.
According to Orkin Termite Control For North Carolina, the structure consists of a steel frame, and the walls are made of a special type of cement board that is fire- and termite-proof. They are hurricane and earthquake resistant and are designed to accommodate rain water recycling and a small solar panel.
Morse said seeing images of the devastation in Haiti pulled him into the project.
“There’s people living in plastic tents, and we thought, ‘How can we make living through a natural disaster better and provide a basic shelter that will keep you dry and your family safe?’” Morse said.
Plus, Morse wants to help boost Richmond’s economy.
“I thought this could be good for the Richmond area and help put some people back to work and get some exporting out of Richmond,” Morse said.
The company would need to hire as many as 325 people once the operation swings into full production mode, Rogers said.
Of course, that’s contingent on the company receiving approval from the city to sell the tax-exempt bonds. Fifteen billion dollars in tax-exempt bond allocations were granted to the states by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Local governments must approve which projects are eligible to receive the bonds, which are intended for private enterprises to use for construction or other capital investments.
The city council is expected to vote on the motion this month.
The bond allocation is for $4.4 million, but Rogers said there is an option to expand by another $400,000 to cover design and engineering costs for the buildout.
Once they have authority to sell the bonds, Rogers said, the next step will be to get orders.
“What makes the magic are the orders,” Rogers said. “Not one or two, but 200 or 2,000 units. That is when the bonds are marketable.”
Once the startup can prove there is sufficient demand, they can sell bonds to potential investors.
The company is among about 380 others who have submitted proposals to the Haitian government to provide temporary shelters to the thousands displaced by the earthquake. A group there will soon select the five best models, which will be used for a new community on government-owned land in Port-Au-Prince. The government has plans to erect more than 135,000 temporary shelters by the end of next year. (You can read more about the current state of Haitian relief efforts in a recent Miami Herald article here.)
If Roof Over My Head is among those selected by Haiti, it would be just the spark the company needs. But even without Haiti, Rogers said, the global demand for transitional housing is huge.
“There was the earthquake in China, the tsunami in Indonesia and Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. All of that happened in just four years,” Rogers said.
Al Harris is a BizSense reporter. Please send news tips to [email protected].
I understand the immediate need and applaud the trio fo rthinking ahead for temporary shelter… An other thought would be to team up with existing organizations and employ the locals.It seems to me it would be cheaper to build Habitat houses thru Habitat World or similar organizations. I believe the houses are designed specifically for different areas of the World and less costly, not to mention they involve the families that will live in them and their neighbors friends etc, helping them keep their dignity thru being productive and useful and giving them skills to know what to do to… Read more »
Silly…………man the economy isn’t that bad that you have to design homes for the poorest of the poor, the diseased and wretched, a third world corupted cess pool. Those officials in Haiti are just going to charge those people to live there. I know, I’m from that region and it blows. Give them a house and they will still hate you and kill you if given the chance. Please build something twice as big and help rural peole out in america. thanks
Good luck, guys. The NGOs and goverrnment officials as well as the economic powers in Haiti we’ve talked with want the cost of a shelter for 4 people to be less than $8,000. Figure out how to get the cost into $7,500 to $7,800 range and you may have a winner.
I applaud your ingenuity and motivation to help third world housing needs. A feww modifications and it might be functional in portions of New Orleans as opposed to the thousands of poorly constructed trailors FEMA saw as their solution to that devastation. Good luck, I think you’re on to something big here.
Will these structures have Chinese commercial grade dyed granite countertops in them?
$10,000? That won’t get close to selling. It looks like a 100 square foot (10X10) shack, which means it costs $100 a square foot. That’s more than a medium home in the US of A. The only way you’ll sell these things would be to get the price to about $2,000 [or less]. Maybe, just maybe, you’d get some bites. Poor governments don’t have that kind of money, especially after a disasterous environmental event. I’d really be surprised if you sold two!!!!!!!!! Good thought, though.