Fort + Home, a modular homebuilder and real estate firm, is seeking to expand its manufacturing capacity in Grand Junction.
Using the codename Project Elevate, the company received approval for $1.08 million in Job Growth Incentive Tax Credits from the Colorado Economic Development Commission on Thursday.
The award is contingent upon the company adding 97 jobs at an average annual wage of $77,241, which is 135% of the average wage in Mesa County. The support aligns with Gov. Jared Polis’ push to create more affordable housing in the state.
The company, which has its roots in Grand Junction, is also considering Wyoming and Montana, other markets for its modular homes, as possible locations, according to its application with the state.
Marty Magill, the company’s chief operating officer, told the EDC that the company, which currently has 80 homes in the works, is looking at adding 125,000 to 140,000 square feet in manufacturing capacity. It is currently talking to a local developer with 500 lots available who is interested in its homes.
The company built a factory last year that can complete components for an entire modular home within 10 days, according to a video narrated by Jeff Zimmerman, the company’s president and CEO.
Zimmerman and his wife, Danielle, co-founded Fort + Home, which follows an integrated real estate model that includes not just building homes, but also selling and financing them, and developing communities. The pair was behind the renovation earlier this decade of the Hotel Melrose, which was built in 1908 in downtown Grand Junction.
The company uses a Structural Insulated Panel or SIP approach, which creates walls, roofs and floor panels with three layers: oriented strand board or OSB on the outside, rigid foam insulation in the middle, and OSB on the interior. The approach creates components that are structurally much stronger than frame-built homes.
The company has self-funded to date, Magill said. The Office of Economic Development and International Trade conditioned state incentives on the company showing proof it had raised $1 million, which is below the $1.5 million the company has targeted.
In December, Clayton Homes announced that it would be shutting down the state’s largest maker of home components and letting go of 74 workers. The closure left a gaping hole in the state’s drive to manufacture homes more efficiently and at a lower cost. Pre-fabrication and modular construction are seen as key ways to lower costs for new homes and combat labor shortages.
The commission made a second construction-related award, worth up to $229,213 in tax credits, to a company using the codename Project Frontera. The company supplies products and services to the construction industry and is looking at expanding in either Montrose County, New Mexico or Utah.
The tax credits are tied to the creation of 40 net new jobs paying an average annual wage of $55,375. The company currently has 30 employees in the state.
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