"I've tried to developed the most economical way to build on water."
--RICHARD MORRIS Seacells creator
Morris described his concept as "essentially a boat. It just has dirt, trees, and a house."
But his first major creation with Seacells hasn't been land. Just water: a floating swimming pool. It's tied to a dock behind a neighbor's house off McGregor Boulevard, floating in the Caloosahatchee River. It took Morris about two weeks to create at a cost of about $9,500.
So far he's avoided investors, using his own savings. But now he plans to turn to outside for the cash he'll need to create 5,000 pound capacity cells to support a house.
Seacells are designed to give slightly with the sea forces they're meant to withstand. Made of polyethylene -- a plastic-like material -- the cells are like open-bottomed barrels. The top has recesses for crossbeams to be attached. Wood planks are attached to the beams to create a deck.
The current cells can bear 400 pounds each. The principle is simple -- similar to shoving an inverted plastic cup into water: air and water pressure are key.
"I've tried to develop the most economical way to build on water", Morris said. But he admits he hasn't paid much attention to codes.
Lee County Codes and Building Services enforcement officer Paul Smith was perplexed when the pool was described to him. "I've never heard of such a thing."
Smith said building a house on water would require all sorts of permits, with agencies ranging from the Coast Guard to state department of environmental protection and Army Corps of Engineers getting involved.
Complicated building rules are what led Morris to come up with the idea. He felt it would be cheaper to build on water than on land in Lee County.
"Not that there's not enough land to build on", said Morris, who used to work for the Lee County development review office. "It's just so polluted with regulations that the cost is astronomical. I can create 1/4-acre on water for $100,000." A 1/4-acre of riverfront property in south Fort Myers starts at about $500,000.
Morris, who has a degree in architecture from Iowa State University, works at home, in a small poolside cabana packed with computers, a drafting table, stereo and loads of books and papers.
His home pool has been his testing facility. "I figured out how to get the boat lift to work in there."
Cells sell for about $75 a piece. A company in Bartow can build up to 60 a day for him.
It took about four months to come up with a workable prototype, and four more for the factory to build a stainless steel mold and tooling required to make Seacells. That cost him about $10,000. So far he's sold about 100 Seacells, mainly for boat ramps.
He has spent about $50,000 on his project so far, yet doesn't expect a profit for three to four years. He began marketing Seacells in mid-July, with ads in newspapers, construction magazines and a public relations company.
"The concept of building on the water is a challenge. It has always fascinated me", Morris said. "There is just so much here we haven't explored. How long can you plow up farmland and create subdivisions?"