General Contractors         
(Read about our Homebuyers Club)
Call Gary Cook, Development Sponsor: (626) 414-4127

We are currently looking for an appropriate general contractor(s) to oversee the initial planning and development of our construction project(s). We are also looking for an engineer(s) and an architect(s). 

We also consider these projects as befitting for employers to sponsor the ability of their employees to assist them in their purchase. 
See: (Stakeholders & their benefits) 

Your company should have some or all of the following skills and experience - internally and in the subcontractors you've worked with; (We won't be doing all of these types of developments at the same time, or in the beginning. These different aspects will be phased in at different points in time).

• Green building techniques, especially as applicable to pre-built housing, solar, wind & passive heating.
• Manufactured housing development - pre-fabricated/factory-built (Not mobile homes, panelized buildings or trailers, 
  and not in a mobile home park)
• We're interested in creating gated or walled village-style communities outside of the cities' limits, with finely landscaped ambience, but using manufactured homes and some custom-built high end, in a mixed income development. (We may build custom homes elsewhere as well - the profits of which will be used to privately subsidize the middle-to-lower income buyers purchases).
• Small (3 homes) to large (45 homes) developments
• High density, Mixed income & use (commercial & residential) development
• Granny Flat development, in backyards or at the end of driveways
• Co-operatively owned residential property
• Underground parking
• Multi-story buildings (2-3 floors)
• Building steel framed concrete first floor commercial and elevating manufactured home above.
• Raising older homes, to install new first floor
• Remodeling older and historically insignificant commercial buildings to include residential co-operatively owned units on the upper floors, adding floors when necessary
• Subterranean homes (in the future)

We are looking at producing multiple projects over the next years. To accomplish this, we're looking for multiple pieces of property, both inside and out of the city limits of Santa Barbara in south county, as well as in different areas of Ventura County. Areas within the City of Los Angeles will work, depending upon the zoning and prices of land in the nearby neighborhoods.

(We are interested in talking with other builders and general contractors about alternative building methods, besides pre-fabricated, factory-built manufactured homes).

The degree that we succeed in our expectations will depend upon a couple of issues: 

1. Obtaining a sufficient acreage of land, or at least 10,000 SF, with the proper kind of zoning; 
2. Working with the cities and counties (Santa Barbara, Ventura, LA) to speedily process our requests for building permits. 

As to the landscaping of our project(s), we plan to utilize as much natural foliage as space permits; We will not be using lawns, and other plantings that are not from local native stock. By natural we mean two things: 

1. Provide coverage as much as is possible for asphalt and concrete; or use alternatives such as paving stones that allow for plant growth.
2. Provide a habitat that fosters wildlife, including local animals, birds and insects.

We are building not only our capacity (size and strength of our organizations as we progress), we are also building our ideas and number of organizations. 

We are a membership-only home buyers club and mutual benefit society (non-profit), designed to add a subsidiary for-profit development company. (The legal incorporations of which are all pending). We are building our membership as we progress. It will not be easy, but it will not be an impossible task either. There are many things left to do, but many issues are being handled simultaneously. We are also developing a membership base that includes persons of these skills linked here. 

We are in discussions with expert consultants, mentors, affiliates and potential partners, as well as attorneys, CPAs, non-profits and foundations, as well as the general community, including private business owners and managers. We are establishing our working committees and appointing members to our boards of directors. 

We need some ideas of costs, in order to create a construction budget, other than what we have already outlined (click here).

Some of the other issues you may have questions about may be found at the following links. Please feel free to give me a call and discuss any questions or concerns you have, or to have a conversation about working with us. 

Thank you, Gary R. Cook
(Responsibilities of Development Sponsor)