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.
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.
