Few companies could compete with the potential of Perth technology company FBR’s revolutionary Hadrian X bricklaying robot to disrupt the construction industry.
In August, the Hadrian X completed a four-house pilot program with GP Vivienda, part of one of Mexico’s largest construction and real estate development companies, and built the walls of two Mexican-style houses side-by-side, with each structure taking less than one standard shift to complete.
Not surprisingly, the signing by FBR (ASX: FBR) and GP Vivienda of a term sheet this week to build up to 5,000 homes in Mexico triggered an investor pile-in that sent the Perth company’s share price up to a seven-month high.
FBR’s stock peaked at 4.8¢ on massive turnover before ending the week at 4.2¢.
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The Hadrian X technology, when integrated with FBR’s Wall as a Service (WaaS) offering, represents the digitalisation of the traditional bricklaying process to give customers and end users direct access to improvements in speed, accuracy, safety and waste reduction without having to build robotics capabilities into their businesses.
In Mexico, this fills a key gap in the market for the affordable construction of high-quality residential housing.
GP Vivienda understands housing construction. The group, which specialises in master-planned communities, has built and delivered 115,000 homes so has a good understanding of the quality, safety and speed required from its builders.
And for FBR, it represents an outstanding opportunity to demonstrate proof of concept and gain a foothold in the lucrative North American market.
The agreement with GP Vivienda comes amid a busy period for FBR, which in parallel has taken great strides to build a pipeline of commercial jobs in the Perth housing market. The $100 million valued company has just completed the construction of the walls for two four-by-two homes in Perth and has been signed up by a Perth builder to deliver WaaS for eight two-storey townhouses.
FBR said this week that, depending on market conditions and GP Vivienda’s pipeline of work, it would supply WaaS for a minimum of 2,000 and maximum of 5,000 homes in Mexico as well as produce all associated retaining walls and other brick and block structures.
The term sheet outlines a number of milestones to be completed in the first 24 months including the Hadrian X and FBR’s systems meeting compliance with all relevant codes and regulations in Mexico, completion of a collaborative commercial model with GP Vivienda, completion of a 20-home pilot building program in Mexico and the easing of COVID-19 travel restrictions.
FBR expects the Hadrian X and its systems to be certified compliant within 12 months and a collaborative commercial model to be completed within 18 months. This will catalyse works on the 20-home pilot plant.
The term sheet also contains a 24-month binding exclusivity period in which FBR and GP Vivienda will deal exclusively with each other in relation to the agreement in Mexico. The remainder of the term sheet remains non-binding until formal documentation is completed.
“We are excited to have a term sheet in place to build our first homes in North America under competitive commercial terms,” FBR managing director Mike Pivac said.
“The volume of work contemplated under the term sheet will give us a great start from which to grow our business in North America as there will be a strong pipeline of work to complete as soon as we deploy.”
