The FBR Ltd (ASX: FBR) share price is taking off on Wednesday after the company announced its bricklaying robot could soon be employed in Mexico.
Following a successful pilot program, the company has signed a term sheet with one of Mexico's largest homebuilders, GP Vivienda. The agreement will see FBR's Hadrian X construction robot building up to 5,000 homes.
The news has seemingly excited the market. At the time of writing, the FBR share price is 5 cents, 25% higher than its previous closing price.
Let's take a closer look at today's news from the construction robotics company.
Image source: Getty Images
Here's what's boosting the FBR share price today
The FBR share price is rocketing higher on news the company will be supplying its 'wall-as-a-service' technology to a major homebuilder.
FBR will supply wall-as-a-service for between 2,000 and 5,000 homes, subject to several factors, including market conditions and GP Vivienda's pipeline.
According to FBR, wall-as-a-service marks a shift from selling bricks and bricklaying labour separately. Instead, the company's wall-as-a-service entity supplies the blocks and robotically constructs walls onsite using digital architectural plans.
The company states its wall-as-a-service will improve speed, accuracy, and safety, as well as reducing waste when constructing brickwork.
The wall-as-a-service will be priced to allow each home to be "commercially competitive".
Before the program begins, the companies will create a timeline to deploy the bricklaying robot at particular sites. Each site will see it building at least 100 homes.
The only binding part of the term sheet is its 24-month exclusivity period. The rest of the term sheet will remain non-binding until formal documentation and numerous milestones are complete.
Such milestones include confirmation FBR's Hadrian X and Fastbrick Wall System are compliant with Mexico's regulations and the easing of COVID-19 travel restrictions.
The companies will also create a collaborative commercial model and undergo a pilot building program of 20 homes.
FBR's managing director and CEO, Mike Pivac, commented on the news driving the company's share price today, saying:
The volume of work contemplated under the term sheet will give us a great start from which to grow our business in North America, as there will be a strong pipeline of work to complete as soon as we deploy.
