How fast can a 20,000-square-foot church facility be constructed? According to Royal Concrete Concepts, such a project can be completed "within days" using the manufactured building system units developed by the company.

Units are off-loaded from the truck, then set in place by crane.

Royal Concrete Concepts was born in 1989 when Wally Sanger, an experienced custom builder, introduced a patented wall system called Royall Wall. This system combines concrete, polystyrene and reinforced steel to create structures that can withstand severe hurricane winds while offering comfort and affordability for the customer. Sanger developed the system as an alternative to conventional building materials, and since then Royall Wall has been used in more than 25,000 applications throughout the Southeast United States and the Caribbean.

Seeing the success of Royall Wall, Sanger took the system one step further. He integrated the floor, walls and roof into one unitized system and founded Royal Concrete Concepts Inc. to market the product. His goal was to build structures that were "strong, safe, attractive, and energy-efficient," utilizing factory-style manufacturing and production techniques in order to keep costs under control.

Members of the construction industry recently had a chance to see the system in action at the site of the McGregor Baptist Church at 3750 Colonial Blvd. in Ft. Myers. It was, according to John Albert of Royal Concrete Concepts, "an amazing opportunity to watch a hurricane-resistant 19,704-square-foot two-story building come to life in just four days." According to the company, it also yielded significant savings in cost.

Following design, construction began with site prep and footing construction. Meanwhile, even as this work was going on, the building units were being manufactured at the Okeechobee site. Once completed, the units were delivered to the site by truck, then set in place by crane and tied together via steel embeds that had been cast into the units. Excluding the foundation work, the basic building erection was completed in just four days.

Royal Concrete Concepts completed the on-site portion of the work in just four days.

Fast Concrete Construction

Russell S. Howard of McGregor Baptist Church notes that the church is pleased with the outcome.

"From permitting to all modules in place," he says, "about 10 days elapsed."

"And recall," he notes, "our spaces are not 'generic' classrooms. Our facility includes offices, a band room, a three-module wide library, and a chemistry lab." He adds that the modules' durability, flexibility, cost per square foot, and construction timeline savings "build a very compelling case" for this approach to projects such as this one.

The Royal Concrete Concepts building units should be suitable for a variety of applications. The preconstructed units are stackable up to three stories — and since the units are 95 percent complete when delivered to the job site, significant savings in time, labor and materials are possible.

Currently, the Royal Concrete Concepts building system is finding applications in markets ranging from residential and commercial to educational and military construction.