Nov 30 2005
For the first time, David Pressler, owner of Lunar Construction in Plantation, Florida, is really busy answering calls about EcoShells. David has been building ten-foot diameter EcoShells since the 1990s and recently completed his twenty-fifth, but he has never experienced this high of a demand.
"It's all due to Hurricane Wilma," David said.
On October 24, 2005, Wilma, a Category 3 hurricane whose storm's eye had a diameter of 35 miles, assaulted Florida with winds of 125 mph. Besides the destructive winds, Wilma created a ten-foot storm surge, that flooded streets and structures and destroyed thousands of vehicles. Several days after Wilma, David spoke briefly with one of his EcoShell customers. She and a friend, along with their two pets, rode out the hurricane in their EcoShell.
"She told me they could hear metal from mobile homes hitting against the dome. But if it wasn't for that, they wouldn't have known they were in a hurricane," David said.
David began building concrete homes, using his own formings, rebar and sprayed-on concrete in 1984. At that point, he had not heard of Monolithic Domes or EcoShells.
"Hurricane Andrew in 1992 made me aware of Monolithic," David said. "That's when I attempted to build Monolithic Dome homes, but my plan didn't work because buyers could not get construction loans -- even if they had 80% of the money."
Convinced that he could not develop a Florida market for Monolithic Dome homes, David began building EcoShells. But recovery from Hurricane Andrew got under way and people lost interest in shelters.
"They thought Andrew was one hurricane in 20 years, so the EcoShells I had built didn't move very quickly," David said. "Folks just wouldn't believe they needed an eight-ton dome."
But David feels that this year's hurricanes may have changed their thinking. Besides EcoShells, he's planning on building Monolithic Dome homes on property he owns so his buyers can take advantage of owner financing.
You can visit David's website at: www.lunarcon.com.