Meet Super Evolution driver Carl Gish: Co-founder and Co-CEO of Aro Homes
Innovation Endeavors was founded on the thesis of the Super Evolution: that technological advances across data, computation, and engineering would converge and translate into significant, fast changes for the world. We’ve seen this firsthand.
But more importantly, this era of innovation is made possible by people: changemakers working to revolutionize computing infrastructure, engineering biology, climate, intelligent software, and the physical economy. This Super Evolution Leader series highlights the stories of these innovators and gives you a glimpse into how these entrepreneurs bring their work to light, what lessons they’ve learned along the way, and how they hope to change our world.
We hope their candid insights are helpful for anyone tackling meaningful problems and that their stories leave you feeling inspired.
What if your dream home could be built in a mere 90 days? What if that same home was energy efficient, carbon-friendly, and used greywater reclamation to be as sustainable as possible? Now imagine that home had… an owner’s manual.
Aro Homes is doing just that and, in the process, is reimagining residential housing through a more sustainable and efficient lens.
“At Aro Homes, we have an ambitious mission, which is to reimagine how residential housing in the U.S. is done. We looked at the opportunity both as consumers and business people and discovered how broken and out of date the building process is,” said Aro Homes co-founder and Co-CEO, Carl Gish.
Meet Super Evolution driver Carl Gish: Co-founder and Co-CEO of Aro Homes
Aro Homes is building some of the highest quality, most energy-efficient homes on the market — six times faster than the average builder. The core innovation is threefold: offsite manufacturing, end-to-end integration, and a single efficient design that can be modified to meet the unique needs of every community. And as mentioned earlier, each custom build comes with its own owner’s manual — so homeowners never have to wonder what that ‘random’ light switch does, where to find their circuit breaker, and more.
“We’re reimagining residential construction. Today, they still call it stick building homes because essentially, they’re hammering together two by fours to frame a house. And this hasn’t changed in decades. Bringing some of that process into a controlled environment, into a factory facility, improves quality and efficiency. We save a lot on materials. It’s a category that’s rife with opportunity,” said Carl.
This mission of sustainable building and beautiful construction has helped Aro Homes rapidly build a passionate and mission-driven team.
“I like to think that we will be able to have a positive impact on the world. We’re building carbon-negative homes out of the gate. We’re already looking at the embodied carbon footprint of our homes and figuring out when they’ll get to net zero. It just takes intent and some hard work,” said Carl.
It’s a testament to the team’s efficiency that Aro Homes has already built and listed its first home in Menlo Park in an industry with myriad stakeholders, building codes, zoning restrictions, and process complications.
“Almost anybody you talk to in this industry, whether it’s the municipal building departments, the GSEs, or the architects, talks about how inefficient home building is and how there should be a better way. And it hasn’t changed. It’s such a big industry, and there’s so many elements that are bought into the way it’s done,” said Carl.
Watch the video to learn more about how Carl and his team are revolutionizing home building.
