With the cost of building a home out of reach for many V.I. residents, Maurice Wheatley has come up with a solution with his Caribbean Affordable Housing Co.
"I’m not competing with other contractors. My typical client can’t afford them," Wheatley said.
The per-square-foot price for a Caribbean Affordable Housing home is a third or more less than other builders charge, Wheatley said.
According to Wheatley, back in the 1970s and 1980s, there was big push to sell land to the territory’s middle class. He said those people have finally paid off the land, but now find they can’t afford to build. He hopes Caribbean Affordable Housing can meet that need.
Wheatley unveiled his first St. John project Saturday with an open house at the Fish Bay home of Livy and Tom Hitchcock, full-time St. John residents who own Bajo El Sol Gallery.
People arrived in droves to see the house.
"I’m curious because I’ve been thinking about building, but I’m concerned about the environment and the cost," St. Thomas resident Tregenza Roach said.
Livy Hitchcock said she located Wheatley, a St. Thomas resident, when a St. John newspaper made mention of Caribbean Affordable Housing.
Hitchcock, an artist, did the floors. They’re poured concrete throughout the 1,440-square-foot house and 560-square-foot deck, and Hitchcock put her skills to good use in painting turtles, olewife, and many, many sea creatures and coral reefs on the inside floor.
"The starfish leads you to the rest of the house," Hitchcock said.
In fact, Wheatley said that one purpose of the open house was to showcase the house’s unusual floor. Hitchcock will also do floors, showers and other parts of the house for people interested in adding something unique to their home.
The floors of the two-bedroom, two-bath house were coated with epoxy sealer and waxed, Hitchcock said. Wheatley said using this process on the floor compares or is less than using mid-priced ceramic tile.
As for the construction, Wheatley said he used new technology to save time and labor costs.
"The biggest element of construction isn’t materials, it’s the labor. And the house typically takes four months to build," he said.
Additionally, since the house plans are standard, the homeowner doesn’t have to pay architect’s costs, Hitchcock said. Other floor plans are also available.
With poured concrete walls reinforced with steel, a concrete roof and hurricane panels to install in case of a storm, the house will hold up well in a hurricane.
Wheatley said that he used foam blocks under the floor for insulation. While he didn’t install the foam blocks in the roof on the Hitchcock house, Wheatley said he plans to do so on subsequent houses.
He’s also used compact fluorescent light bulbs throughout the house as part of his energy saving approach. And the water from the wastewater treatment plant can be used to water the landscaping.
The cabinets and appliances also came with the house, a factor Wheatley said allowed them to be included in the mortgage.
Wheatley got into the house-building business in 2006 because he found contractors charged too much for the house he wanted to build for himself. Now 56, he spent his earlier working years in the banking business and managing a convenience store.
"Everything I was doing before prepared me for this," he said.
Visit www.caribaffordablehousing.com to learn more and see photos of the construction process.
