This week, we interviewed Galiano Tirami from Boxabl.

Without further ado…

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Galiano Tirmani and I’m the Co-Founder and Business Development Manager of
Boxabl, a new construction technology company that’s positioned to disrupt the massively outdated, trillion-dollar housing construction market. The Boxabl team has engineered cutting edge, scalable technology that allows a mass scale, automobile-style factory approach to home engineering.

As a result, we’ve been able to engineer deployable modular units that are made faster, better,
and for a fraction of the cost of our competition. Our Boxes are fit for any climate on the planet—they’re water, fire, wind, and mold resistant, and energy-efficient technology keeps the cost of living low. Our current unit is the Casita model, a 20×20 efficiency studio that comes fully furnished with full-sized appliances. Following its announcement, we generated $1 billion worth of reservations on the unit through 20,000 potential customers, and received two purchase orders for the delivery of 156 Casita units to the United States Federal Government, totaling $9M in revenue.

With patented foldable technology, we’ve been able to cut the costs and complications of home transportation and deliver our units in the form of a box. The units are able to stack together like LEGO blocks to create any building style—residential, commercial, high rise, multifamily, apartment, disaster, relief and recovery housing, and more. The units can be configured on site and installed in under an hour, because we believe functional flexibility will be freedom in the new and improved housing market.

What problem does your product/service solve?

Boxabl’s core mission is to solve the affordable housing crisis. Affordable housing is virtually extinct, and the number of rent-burdened households—those spending 50% or more of their monthly income on rent—is higher than it’s ever been. What was already a problem before the pandemic has turned to a full-on crisis, as families face job insecurity and city budgets are dwindled by the urgency of the pandemic.

An adequate solution to the housing crisis is a solution that offers more people affordable housing without the cost of expanding city infrastructure or the environmental toll of creating urban sprawl. We believe our Boxabl units are well positioned to do just that. Recently, legislature in cities like LA has changed to promote the installation of accessory dwelling units on residential properties. It’s given people a way to earn rental income, to house an aging family member, or to increase the value and capacity of their lot without facing the costs of expansion.

In fact, we believe our Boxes could be a permanent part of the way we think about community recovery. In the event of a disaster, Boxabl’s units can be deployed rapidly and delivered anywhere, providing quick and cost-effective housing for families who’ve had to relocate after a flood, or for large populations that need to isolate with a virus. After the crisis has passed, the Boxes can be repurposed and replaced to help rebuild communities and offer sustainable living situations in the wake of the disaster; with local labor and with zero waste.

What are you most excited about right now?

We are empowered every day by the thought that we’re currently setting up what we think is the most advanced modular house factory in the world. Our big goal is to have a factory in every country, so that affordable housing options exist globally, and every community has a disaster relief option that works for their climate and for the nature of their emergency.

Already, we have 100+ partners—across nearly every major country—who have expressed interest in developing a franchise. With that goal on the horizon, we’re unbelievably motivated to share our factory franchise business model and achieve international expansion through meaningful partnerships.

What’s next for you?

We are just about to move into our flagship factory in Las Vegas, 170,000 foot warehouse that we designed in collaboration with Porsche Consulting, Inc. Working with the experts at Porsche has been incredibly valuable, and we believe we’re well-positioned for success. The immediate tasks at hand include setting up equipment, expanding the Boxabl team, and finally, flipping the production switch to ‘ON’ and bringing these units to life.

What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

I’ve had a long-term passion to understand, contribute to, and make a lasting difference in the homelessness crisis. Early in my adult life, I began volunteering at homeless shelters, and I developed meaningful relationships with people who were experiencing home insecurity. With that window of access and relation, I started to understand the affordable housing crisis from a different angle. It’s not just stats, figures, and home prices, it’s real people’s lives who hang in the balance. When the math doesn’t add up, real lives are at stake.

It needs to be the case that hardworking people are able to work minimum wage jobs and secure for themselves the most basic human needs: shelter, privacy, security. I’ll never forget the time I spent with individuals and families experiencing homelessness, and I’ll continue to invest in the solution in the best way I know how.

Thanks to Galiano for sharing his story. If you’d like to connect, find him on LinkedIn here.

We’re constantly looking for great real estate tech entrepreneurs to feature. If that’s you, please read this post — then drop us a line (Community @ geekestate dot com).