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by Pamela Kramer Childress
By her own admission, Rocio Romero was a tomboy, climbing trees and running barefoot on the beach. As a child in the 1970s, she pretended that the land around her home in then undeveloped Coronado, California, was her own Gilligan’s Island.
Not much has changed since then. Romero still loves the outdoors, but she traded in the beach for a tree farm in the midwest. It’s that intimate relationship with nature early on that inspired her to do what she does now — create affordable paradise homes for anyone.
Romero is the owner and principal of Rocio Romero, LLC, a multidisciplinary firm that designs, manufactures, builds and ships modern, prefabricated homes across the country. The LV Homes Series are modern, kit homes that are affordable, easily built and customizable. The kit includes parts that make up the exterior shell of the LV home that can be delivered anywhere in the United States.
Even as a young child, Romero was always intrigued with architecture. She remembers as a kindergartener going to Sunday school and noticing the wooden trellis of the church. The sun beaming through the skylight impressed her even then. “I was always fascinated with architecture and the cultural aspects of it,” said Romero. “When I realized how much more significant it was — once I got that feeling and passion — I went for it.”
But it hasn’t been easy. Romero received her masters of architecture from Southern California Institute of Architecture and her bachelor of arts degree in environmental design with a major in architecture from University of California, Berkeley. After graduating, she spent a few years working at a firm in Los Angeles. Her passion for simple, modern and clean designs inspired her to start her own business. She wanted to create kits that anyone could buy and build on their own land by hiring a contractor or building it themselves. But when she started out, she couldn’t find a manufacturer to produce her designs. “I was politely told no, over and over,” said Romero. “My colleagues, peers and manufacturers all told me to stick with customized homes, that prefab homes were a failed experiment in the 1950s.”
But Romero didn’t take no for an answer. Since no one would agree to build her designs, she did it herself. “It was tough, but it was the best thing for my business,” said Romero. “You can’t be as intimate and knowledgeable if you don’t control that end of the business. It kept me committed and faithful to my design.”
Romero’s homes are sleek and open, with clean lines and a minimalist style. The largest markets for her modern designs include California and New York. However, her vision was to set up shop in the midwest so that she could bring affordable modern design to anyone in the country — to her surprise, a new rising market is Arkansas.
One thing that brings all her clients together is the love of the design. “From every client — the high-end to the do-it-yourselfer, the common connection is the love of the design,” said Romero. “Anyone can create a beautiful space wherever you go.”
With that common thread, Romero said it’s easier to communicate because rather than starting from scratch for a design, there’s only one jumping-off point. Each home can be laid out uniquely and customized with an occasional extra window or added units, but the basic template is the same.
Not since the 1950s has there been a market for prefab modern homes. Romero is the first to bring it back to the residential world. Since 2002, others have joined her in the marketplace, but for Romero, that’s a good thing. “Once the market had real players, then things started opening up,” said Romero. “People want choice so they can compare — it makes the market more comfortable.”
Romero speculates on various reasons why the prefab homes of the 1950s died out — not enough demand, poorly run businesses, limited marketing, etc. But today, she credits the modern architecture magazine industry and the Internet for their success. Her first clients, in Virginia, found her on the Internet. She says it’s a word-of-mouth industry, but it doesn’t hurt that her homes have been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker and on CBS Sunday Morning News.
So, why does the prefab home work now but not then? Romero says that because they have been built in so many locations and at varying degrees from high-end to basic, it shows the client the endless range of possibilities. She says, “it keeps things interesting.”
Today, Romero employs a staff of five — one sales person and four other designers. In 1999 while an undergraduate student, she spent a year in Laguna Verde, Chili (hence, the moniker LV), building a house. She was hooked. While working full time after graduation, she spent her spare time trying to get her business off the ground. Finally, she had to make the decision to quit her day job and focus her attention on her dream full time. That’s when she landed in Perryville, Missouri.
Romero’s husband is in the home healthcare industry. His job brought him to the midwest. They settled in Perryville, and since she couldn’t find anyone to build her LV homes, she built her first prototype — their own home. “I figured the worse thing that could come out of all this was we’d have a great house to live in,” said Romero.
Romero is first generation American. Her parents are from Chili. She spent her summers there and as a teenager, traveled to Europe on several occasions. It was an eye-opener — architecture was everywhere, at such a large scale. But she didn’t know her affection for architecture would become her career choice until she was in college. In high school, she assumed she would study fine art, specifically, painting — her uncle was a well-known sculptor in Chili, and an art history teacher in high school inspired her as well. It wasn’t until she was 18 or 19 that she realized architecture was a form of art and that it was her calling. “I appreciate anything minimal and meaningful,” said Romero. “There’s always an opportunity to learn from something that’s done well.”
In Chili, Romero says that modern architecture is more pronounced than in the United States. Common talk at parties centers around architecture and who built whose house. In Chili, one doesn’t build a home without hiring an architect — it’s almost like a status symbol, Romero says. “They talk about architects like we talk about fashion designers.”
Perryville, Missouri, is a world away from Chili and even southern California. But she enjoys the midwest and says that the people are great. She also enjoys living on a farm. She always lived near a beach and loved it — it was her way to relax. She never thought anything could replace that. But now, the farm brings a different kind of serenity and she can’t imagine life without it. “I love what I do. I can’t imagine anything else,” said Romero. “Sometimes I wonder if I created the LV just for myself.”
There are two reasons to which Romero attributes her success. Believing early on that she was right when everyone was telling her she was wrong, and staying on top of every detail, all the time. “Everything is possible,” said Romero. “Believe in your idea. If you’re passionate, go for it. And be prepared to work really hard.”
Her mother and husband have influenced her the most and shaped her emotionally, she says. When asked about the future, Romero says she would like to create more prefab lines, maybe a highly developed LV series. She also wants to expand to other structures and design furniture. Later in her career she would like to be a developer.
And there’s still motherhood in her future, too. She would like to have children someday. Maybe she’ll have a tomboy who will climb trees with her. “I’ve always been curious to explore,” said Romero. Even now, she’s still playing Gilligan’s Island.
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