CFA recognizes Rich Kubica of K-Wall Poured Walls with the inaugural Innovation Award

Arguably the greatest benefit of belonging to a strong and vibrant network like the Concrete Foundations Association is access to the experience and innovative spirit of top minds and professionals. There are dozens of examples of such innovative spirit each year brought to the attention of CFA staff. It is for this purpose the CFA Board of Directors created the CFA Most Innovative Contractor award. This new award seeks to recognize a CFA contractor member for that innovative spirit and creative ingenuity. Whether directly related to the art and science of concrete foundations, running a business or marketing a company, this award was created to raise awareness for the dedication of the many professionals found throughout this Association that are continually pushing the industry to new heights.

American businessman, Tom Freston once said, “Innovation is taking two things that already exist and putting them together in a new way.” This quote is at the heart of the purpose for this inaugural recognition for CFA Most Innovative Contractor award this past summer. Rich & Patty Kubica of K-Wall Poured Walls in Asheville, North Carolina has spent the past five years dedicated to the development of a new precast wall system now known as MonoKast Wall Systems. This wall system has been exclusively born out of Rich’s efforts and supported by Structura Technologies (http://www.structuratech.com/) for code compliance, testing, licensing & form production. His efforts were based on creating an engineered wall system that would offer greater time and labor control for the challenging terrain found throughout western North Carolina.

“We have some of the steepest jobsites in the country here in the Asheville market,” states Kubica. “Our challenge daily is to get the equipment into these jobsites erect formwork, place concrete and strip formwork with very little access and 100% crane and pump manipulation. I began to see an opportunity to combine prefabricated wall panels for a large part of the standard foundation and supplement with cast-in-place where it made the most sense.”

This system has also transformed his business away from the scrutiny of minimum building code requirements and or heavy engineering for conventional CIP walls since each foundation is now pre-engineered, saving him considerably on materials and labor. He has successfully delivered MonoKast on numerous projects with and without traditional cast-in-place walls, setting a new standard for foundations in that market. However, his MonoKast walls have also been delivered to fellow CFA members, such as Scott Smith of MPW Construction Services in LaGrange, Ohio while working on a cabin project in Michigan. “Traditional cast-in-place walls could not be obtained effectively or with sufficient quality to fit our standards for this cabin project,” stated Smith. “Since we could not commit the crew and time to come up and do the work ourselves, we turned to Rich. He shipped loads of MonoKast panels up for our cabin foundation and the installation was flawless, the quality impeccable. This system is an opportunity for any poured wall contractor to consider bringing into his/her market and adding to their quality services.”

Rich is not new to innovation as many in the Association are aware of his innovative spirit that led to one of the first insulation systems to be available for in-form rigid insulation support. E-Maxx became the first insulation system available nationally, later purchased by Western Forms. Rich’s innovative spirit then continued on and his aggressiveness toward complicated projects took him off-shore to build above-grade concrete homes throughout the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The CFA has been a great network of such innovation on both small and large scales. We congratulate Rich for his vision and perseverance that will no doubt shape a significant portion of this foundation industry for years to come.