The Seattle based company Blokable raised $23 million to expand it’s manufacturing capabilities to California. Its gearing up to kick-start new and bigger projects. In fact, Blokable plans to open a second facility in Sacramento.
After the model units project Blokable delivered in Edmonds, Washington, they stopped taking on projects. However, they started to focus on their business model and making sure housing regulations are being met by their manufacturing team.
“We’re not rushing to get maximum output at this point,” Blokable Co-CEO Aaron Holm said in an interview with GeekWire. “It’s really about the engineering of the building system and getting that 100 percent ready for scale and then looking for opportunities to spread across the country.” (geekwire.com)
The companies history has been manufacturing small housing units that come together to build in expensive but high-quality complexes. The idea is to speed up the planning and building of projects, thereby lowering costs and giving owners more control of the schedule.
“The company makes money in two different ways. For market-rate housing, Blokable owns the units and makes money off the equity they gain. For affordable housing, Blokable develops units for nonprofit partners for a fee in addition to the cost of the project. Blokable employs 22 people today and is working on hiring a vice president of manufacturing. Blokable has refined its manufacturing and engineering process in the last year to be in compliance with stringent California regulations around housing as it looks to expand there.” (geekwire.com)
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