MINE YU OWN BUSINESS

The ‘simple’ business of building homes

Frank Hall on the phone talking business 

Some of Frank Hall’s developments in Cayman.

Wednesday,  October 12, 2005

“A simple man wearing cowboy boots and hat,” is how one of his employees described Frank Hall.

Wearing cowboy boots and hat maybe, but a simple man – definitely not.

Mr Hall is the son of a dairy farmer from St. Catherine, Jamaica.

“I use to have to milk the cows and do all sort of farm work,” he said. His parents were farmers so Mr Hall said there wasn’t much pressure from them in his academic pursuit, but that didn’t stop him from attending one of Jamaica’s finest colleges and becoming a formidable force in the development business.

Mr Hall moved to the Cayman Islands at the time when Jamaica was at a cross road when everyone, especially the business community, was uncertain which course the country was going to take.

The People’s National Party (PNP) with the late Michael Manley as the Prime Minister was in power. Famous for his controversial approach and to have thumbed his nose up at Washington and his regular coating of Cuba’s president, Fidel Castro, in his speeches, he became a mortal enemy to most of the business community who had felt alienated.

“I didn’t plan to come here, it was decided for me. The political situation was unstable,” Mr. Hall said.

“It was a very uncertain time. But I tell ya, he had some very good ideas for Jamaica. If Manley had worked his plan in conjunction with the business community, the result would have been different,” Mr. Hall added.

A past student of the prestigious Jamaica College, which turned out many of Jamaica’s noted leaders, Mr Hall recalled his school days.

“I went to school with Michael Manley. He was older than me. We became good friends later. But I always teased him how I beat his father’s forty year record.”

According to Mr. Hall, Norman Manley had held for forty years, the School Boy 100 yard dash record running at 10 seconds, which he beat it at 9.9 seconds and held it for ten years until Donald Quarry broke it.

Though now a spectator-sport man, Mr  Hall was once an active participant in the sport arena in Jamaica.

“I represented Jamaica in the 100 meter breast and back stroke. It was then that I received a scholarship to attend Notre Dame University in Indiana where I majored in Industrial Engineering.

“I returned to Jamaica and worked for the government in the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) as an Industrial Engineer Consultant.”

At that time, Jamaica had just gotten its independence and was putting in motion its own wheels of industrialization. 

His experience as an Industrial Engineer has helped him in most of his present endeavors. It was while working as an Industrial Engineer that he came up with the first plan to build affordable housing in Jamaica.

“We started in Jamaica with twelve houses on Halart Drive off Hope Road,” he said.

“That was in 1959. I didn’t have any money to build it. So I went to the bank to borrow  $250,000. That was the Bank of Novia Scotia. The guy (Loan Officer) wanted to know what security I had. I said $500.00. He had good feelings about the project and he loaned me the money. We have had several successful projects since then. We built other projects in Montego Bay, Discovery Bay and Kingston,” he explained.

Mr Hall said that when he came to the Cayman Islands, instead of housing he mainly concentrated on providing developments for the financial sector.

“Our first project includes the Ansbacher Building, the Bank of American Building and Walkers,” he said.

“We then went into housing,” he said which at first appeared to be a failure with the first development in Newlands.”

According to him, the problem for the failure was that the people could not afford the down payment. The bank was only lending 65 percent of the cost of the houses, but with his input he managed to convince the Government to back the loans. With that, the demand for housing went up. Up to date he has built and delivered in excess of  $75 million worth of housing stock.

He noted a slight difference in environment in the Cayman Islands and Jamaica.

“We have a peculiar thing in the Cayman Islands. There is no income or land tax. But there is actually a land transfer fee.”

He said that to provide a savings for the consumers, they actually sell the land before they build the houses.

“If we build and sell the houses for say $150,000 the land transfer fee would be significant than if we say sell the land then build the house.”

Divorced for almost five years but separated for almost twenty, Mr. Hall said he is enjoying life.

“I love the housing business particularly developing new projects. The action of choosing and designing new projects belongs to me. That’s the part I like most.”

Though he considers the Smith Road project to be one of the best projects, he said it posed the most challenge for him because the ground was very swampy.

Addressing the environmental concerns in developing wetland area he said they don’t build on wetlands.

 “It is not affordable for us to build on wetland owing to the cost of filling. Everywhere we build, we basically have improved the environment.”

To remain cost effective, he said they stick to five or six models of houses, which are going now between $135,00 and $150,000.

“After delivering the houses, we provide six months of maintenance. Thereon after, the owners do their own maintenance.”

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