An 82-year-old woman who lost her home to the Palisades Fire last winter is soon moving into her new house, which has been made of fire-resistant materials thanks to a Gardena-based company.
Sue LaBella marveled at the features of her new home as she explored the space she gets to call hers again. She was one of the thousands of residents displaced by the deadly brush fire after her home perished in the blaze. A year later, she’s replanting her roots right in the exact same spot.
Her new home, constructed by Gardena-based company Cover, was built to resist fires and earthquakes. It’s made of steel, tempered glass, ignition-resistant wood and other materials to help it withstand natural disasters.
“It’s about as close as you can get and having something that’s really California-proof,” said Buddy Squire, LaBella’s son-in-law.
Cover takes a unique approach to construction by building its materials in its Gardena warehouse before taking them to property sites for assembly. Alexis Rivas, who co-founded the company, said that by building their home materials in-house, it helps his team streamline the construction process.
“What we saw was an opportunity to make homes on a production line more like how cars are made and build better homes faster at a higher quality,” he said.
To help the public better understand how Cover works, Rivas compared the company’s process to building blocks.
“It’s like LEGO blocks, right? So, our production line makes the same LEGO blocks and then we use those parts to make homes of all kinds of layouts,” Rivas said. “Sue’s home with a courtyard, some of them are an L-shape.”
Although the homes Cover designs are customizable, they are all essentially made up of the same pieces, allowing for mass production.
“We move as much of the complexity that would normally happen on the construction site, we move that complexity to the factory, where you can do it on a production line far more efficiently in a more ergonomic setup,” Rivas said. “And by doing so, we can build more homes for the same number of people.”
To learn more about Cover, click here.
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