From Tiny Shops.

Volstrukt was launched in 2015 by Marc McQuain and Peter Row, who by then had been business partners for thirteen years, having co-founded a successful retail real estate consultancy; Vindico.

Specializing in the field of tenant coordination and retail delivery, Vindico manages the interface between its clients’ shopping center and airport developments and the design and fit-out of the individual tenant spaces within them. Vindico has delivered over 9,000 shops and restaurants across three continents and is one of the world’s leading outsourced suppliers of retail delivery design and management.

It was on a retail development project in Abu Dhabi that we discovered the magic of cold form steel.

Vindico was supporting independent, local retailers grappling with the process of building shops inside a new building that replaced an ancient souk lost to fire. The big building and its tiny shops were not coming together well. The challenge was to introduce an additional structure that had the design flexibility to meet the unique needs of each shop, within tight deadlines and a budget no one saw coming.

The solution? Cold-formed, lightweight steel design and fabrication.

We solved the problem with lightweight steel.  But we didn’t stop there.  We saw the opportunity to use steel to create more responsive retail property footprints and to create small-format, relocatable retail shops.  Since 2011, our Partners in Dubai have used our Pocket Shop to introduce over eighty new brands in 200+ locations.

To Tiny Houses.

Marc returned to the United States from Dubai in 2014.

Settling in Austin, TX for the quality of its schools, entrepreneurial vibe and access to international shipping routes in equal measure, the plan was to import and distribute our tiny steel shops.  We realized that we needed direct control of the design and manufacturing, so we invested in a warehouse and the world’s leading cold form steel system by Framecad (out of New Zealand).

Focused on our retail agenda, we initially ignored the trickle of referrals from people wanting to build their tiny house frames out of steel.  What is a "tiny house", anyway? Marc investigated and raised an eyebrow when learning that traditional, static timber structures were being put on trailers in houses that move: tiny houses on wheels.

We again saw an opportunity to solve problems with steel, by making tiny house frames that were lighter and stronger than timber, but more importantly, properly engineered for this fast growing residential format.

Volstrukt changed gears and a year later emerged as the tiny house industry’s leading specialist provider of lightweight steel framing and shells.

Forces are at play in the retail and residential real estate market that are driving a common shift to smaller, relocatable, reusable, sustainable, flexible spaces.  

The rightsizing revolution is happening, and Volstrukt is framing the revolution in cold form steel.

Read more about how we introduced cold form steel technology to to the USA tiny house movement in Turning Tiny, a collection of stories from some of the most renowned tiny house thought leaders and luminaries including Volstrukt Co-founder & CEO, Marc McQuain.