A Prefab Revolution Rooted in Maine’s Forests and Fields

Multiple rounds of MTI funding | MERC engineering support

In the face of Maine’s 84,000-unit housing deficit, Croft is pioneering a revolutionary approach to construction that’s environmentally regenerative, cost-effective, and rooted in local resources.

Founded in early 2020 by Evan Ryan and Andrew Frederick, Croft has developed a proprietary prefabricated panel system that utilizes straw and timber sourced from Maine’s fields and forests. The result? Carbon-negative buildings that can be assembled quickly and adapted across various building types.

“We honestly believe we can create a kinder, healthier, more holistic system to deliver the future of buildings in Maine and beyond,” explained the Croft team.

Breaking New Ground

The journey hasn’t been without challenges. Working with natural materials that had never been industrialized before required the team to invent their own equipment, create novel production processes, and develop new supply chains.

With support from MTI, Croft has overcome these hurdles and achieved remarkable growth. In the past two years, they’ve doubled throughput and tripled annual building output, with the company growing over 100% year-over-year.

“We’re a unique company defining a new niche in the marketplace, and it often seems like none of this would have been possible without the stable footing that MTI’s financial and business development assistance made possible,” they acknowledged.

Maine-Powered Innovation

Tom Kittredge, their MTI contact, provided crucial guidance through the application process, helping them identify strengths and overlooked opportunities within their business. The funding enabled Croft to build newer, faster, and more powerful custom production equipment, resulting in:

• 30% reduction in labor hours across production
• Doubled production throughput
• 54% improvement in wall system performance
• Nearly zero material waste

Croft credits Maine’s entrepreneurial ecosystem for much of their success. “Virtually all other entrepreneurs we’ve encountered just genuinely want to help each other succeed,” they noted. Beyond MTI, organizations like MaineMEP, CEI, Dirigo Labs, Maine Venture Fund, the Roux Institute, and SCORE have played vital roles in their journey.

Building a Regenerative Future

For Croft, the mission extends beyond making buildings. “We see a future where buildings regenerate rather than deplete; where construction is a force for climate restoration, economic resilience, and human well-being,” they shared.

Their goal is to set a new standard in building that harmonizes technology with traditional techniques in ways that are scalable, practical, and deeply rooted in ecological and human-centered design.

Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of their work comes when clients first experience their new spaces. “There is a hard-to-describe quality of space, quiet, and comfort when you’re surrounded by Croft’s building envelope,” they said. “The heartfelt messages, photographs, and letters we get from customers after their move-in date make all the intensity of logistics and stressful timelines of prefab so worthwhile.”