The Future is Now
By Zachary Cohen
Northstar Technologies is not your average home builder. Florida is well known for its often devastating hurricane seasons. While Southwest Florida had escaped the brunt of major storms for many years, their luck ran out with Hurricane Ian in 2022. As the area recovers from storm damage, some of the more forward-thinking builders are taking on the problem of long-term housing sustainability. “Residential construction in storm-prone areas is a vicious cycle. We build things up, a storm rolls in and destroys everything, and then we build things up the same exact way again with very little improvements,” Northstar Technologies’ Kyle McLaughlin explains. “Frankly, home building is an archaic industry. Technology has advanced so much, and it’s time for construction to advance too. There is a better way for new homes to be built.”
Kyle and his team at Northstar Technologies have taken the challenge of creating higher-quality builds head-on. And so far, the results have been impressive. Northstar Technologies has 12 local residential projects under construction and another 18 residential and commercial projects scheduled to begin in Q4 of 2023 and early 2024 — with the capacity to do much more. Northstar Technologies is replacing traditional building materials like wood and concrete with a highly advanced composite material manufactured right here in Bonita Springs. And while the com - posite material is new to the Southwest Florida market, it’s well-tested in the industry. Kyle is con - fident he’s welcoming in a new era of homebuilding. SUPERIOR CONSTRUCTION Building a home with composite materials is a new idea for many clients, but the material has been around for over half a century. “I invite people to understand what the system actu - ally is,” Kyle offers. “We didn’t invent FRP (fiberreinforced polymer), the composite we use, but we did pioneer its use in the residential and commercial building industry. It’s been around for 50 or 60 years.
The earliest use is on oil rigs. All the pilings and decking are made out of FRP. This material has been exposed to some of the harshest conditions in the world — salt water, heat, sun - light, and storms — and they’ve never replaced this stuff. Those rigs are still out there. That’s the same material we use for your walls, roofs, sheathing, and floor decks.” Northstar Technologies has spent more than $1 million to put its product through engineering reviews, rigorous testing, and quality assurance. It’s been fully adopted in the Florida building code and far exceeds the necessary limits for impact rating, mold, fire rating, termites, and water permeability. Northstar Technologies also offers a 25-year structural warranty, something Kyle doubts will ever need to be invoked. As of this year, Northstar Technologies also owns two patents on its building sys - tem, with two others pend - ing, along with many other innovations, such as robotic manufacturing (currently in research and development). “The hurricane brought a lot of awareness of how things are built. People were ripping out drywall, renting dehumidifiers to dry their block walls, and dealing with rot and molded wood. You don’t have to worry about those things with our system. When it happens again, you’re that much better positioned not to replace your house. From a natural-disaster standpoint, it’s great,” Kyle affirms. “On top of that, insurance companies consider us superior construction… It’s that much less likely to burn down, flood, or be affected by termites, and that’s huge. “From an energy standpoint, we are the most efficient building system in the marketplace. Everything is manufactured here in our facility. We deliver pre-assembled walls, decking, and sheathing on a flatbed, shipped to the job site, and erected in just a few days. We’ve erected a 3,000-squarefoot home shell in two days.” BUILT ON RESILIENCE Kyle’s personal story is just as impressive as Northstar Technologies’ is. Originally from Santiago, Chile, Kyle moved to Naples with his mother in 2000 with very little understanding of American culture and its language. He comes from a challenging upbringing, and the adversity he faced has shaped him into the man he is today. Kyle’s obstacles have helped him develop a never-give-up mindset. “The lesson learned was never give up. No matter how hard things get, keep on working hard. I’ve overcome some incredible challenges in my life, and I am no different or special than anyone else,” he offers. Kyle’s professional background includes 10 years as a real estate bro - ker (a role he still holds). He joined his mentor and partner, Paul Inglese (CEO), at Northstar Technologies in 2021, right as the company was get - ting off the ground. Now, he’s leading the charge for a new era of home - building as the Chief Sales Officer for the company. “Being in real estate for as long as I have now, seeing the faults in construction, the things that get brushed under the rug — that has been extremely enlighten - ing. So when this opportunity came to fruition, it made a lot of sense. I want to change the future of construction. I want to be involved in something that can genuinely change the process,” Kyle shares. “My legacy is to do something special in this life, like chang - ing the way homes are built for the better. This is the way of the future.”