REDDING, Calif. — The key to a successful business is being able to pivot and evolve, this is what Don Ajamian, owner of Ajamian construction and Emergent Technology, shared with us as we met him at one of his companies latest construction sites in Redding.
From a young age, Ajamian spent his summers with his father on construction sites.
“I got into construction because my father was into construction. As I was growing up, it just fascinated me, I loved being on the construction site and building things,” said Don Ajamian.
His father told him one day he would pay him a penny for every nail he hammered in. With hard work in his blood, Ajamian accepted the challenge that day, hammering 500 nails into the wood. Ajamian shared that even though he may have made a mess that day, his father kept his word, paying him $5 for his work, which he says was a lot for a young boy in the 70s.
“He just taught me patience; professionalism. Just this moral standard that he would never compromise for any reason,” said Ajamian.
Growing up in Southern California, Ajamian came to the Northstate to visit. He says “This is like a vacation area, and if I could live in a place like this, raise a family here, and earn a living, what could be better.” He has now been here for over 30 years.
After the tragic fires we have experienced in the Northstate over the years, many companies are pivoting to be more fire safe. Ajamian Construction is now using newer technology to help save homes in a fire, as well as tackling other hurdles the construction industry is facing.
“Being in business for over 30 years, in construction, we’ve gone through highs and lows. It just happens. Construction is a very bell weather industry. If interest rates go up, construction suffers. If you know if there are supply chain shortages, construction suffers. The trick is constantly evaluate and re-evaluate what your doing, and how your doing it and make adjustments as you see the market changing out from under you,” says Ajamian.
Making adjustments, taking a leap of faith is exactly what he did. After the Carr Fire, Don Ajamian was a part of the long term recovery group of Shasta County. This is where he met a man who introduced him to the idea of 3D printing a home.
“Although I thought it was science fiction. Although I thought there was no way that could work in California. I was intrigued enough to dig into it,” says Ajamian.
He figured out how he could bring this technology to the Northstate.
“I have to give props to our City of Redding. They stepped up. They were the first in California to actually approve it,” says Ajamian. “They really stuck their necks out in trust to me and trust to the system and we made it happen. Now other people are following out footsteps.”
This allowed the Northstate to be the first in the entire state to get the ball rolling on this new technology.
“Right here in Shasta county we are the first in the State,” Ajamian says. “We are the first ones to get a 3D printed home approved through the California building code and even completed with final inspections, certificates of occupancy and people living in them.”
At the moment, Ajamian says it is about the same price to build a 3D printed home as it is to build a traditional home, although it won’t be this way for long.
“We are getting better. We are getting more efficient. The equipment is getting better and more efficient, and the costs will only come down as time goes on,” says Ajamian. “On the bidders table, um we should save around 20% we’re just not there yet.”
On top of making homes fire safe, as well as helping with costs, Ajamian says 3D printing homes will also tackle a future hurdle.
“For every 5 of me that’s aging out of the trades, there is only 1 young person coming in,” says Ajamian.
Don Ajamian Construction is now linked to a second business called Emergent Technology.
“We can now take all the challenges that we face in construction, feed that data to emergent technology, hopefully we solve that problem, feed it back to construction to not only make it more profitable but capture that intellectual property to help the industry grow,” says Ajamian.
This company is now bringing money into the Northstate from the company Cobot out of Denmark.
“Emergent technology has attracted investments from the world leader in this technology,” says Ajamian.
Moving forward, Don Ajamian Construction as well as Emergent Technology will be printing more affordable housing in Redding, possibly working with Haven Humane Society on a new building for the animals, as well as working in Puerto Rico helping with hurricane recovery.