LOUISVILLE, Colo. — Louisville architect Christian Dino, who lost his home in the Marshall Fire, is determined to rebuild his neighborhood and community one home at a time.
Dino is the co-owner of KCI Construction, a commercial builder. He lives in the Cornerstone neighborhood in Louisville, where hundreds of homes were destroyed.
Now, in an effort to help families navigate the often muddy and pricey process of rebuilding, Dino has launched a Facebook and social media campaign to help victims rebuild.
He’s attempting to garner support from professional architects, builders, interior designers and others; his goal is to get professionals to donate or discount their services to help fire victims rebuild.
“I’m going to rebuild,” Dino said. “But what good is that if there’s no one else in the neighborhood? I want to be there for all of them, despite what I’m facing myself and my family’s own challenges. I want to help.”
He’s asking his friends, colleagues and other professionals to step up and help.
“Either on a pro bono or reduced-rate fee structure,” Dino said. “There are over 1,000 people who are displaced, who are underinsured, who need our help in getting back into their homes.”
Homeowners are already finding the rebuilding process to be tricky, especially with so many families underinsured and Louisville’s recent green construction initiative that could add $30,000 or more to the cost of rebuilding.
“It seems like a lot of additional cost for folks that don’t need it at this time and need to keep costs down,” Dino said. “It’s insulting. I’m not against it by any means, but a code like this was intended for the five or six homes being constructed in a year’s time. Not 600 people that are homeless.”
Dino is hoping the city will relax those rules for fire victims.
So far, through his grassroots efforts, he’s managed to get eight families adopted through his architectural adoption program.
“It’s just kind of an impromptu non-profit that started in my free time,” Dino said. “I hope it continues to grow.”