There are, says Pocock, about 25 different systems using forms filled with concrete now on the market.  He uses Polysteel, the trade name for the forms he applies to his projects.  Polysteel, he continues, has about 75 percent of the market.  It and three others represent "the lion's share."

In addition to building with it, Pocock is also the distributor for Polysteel for this area.  He is supported in his efforts to popularize the technology by the Hampton Roads Concrete Advisory Council.

Any style home, single or multi-story, can be constructed using the technology.  The 2,850-square-foot Homearama concrete house is a three-bedroom ranch.  Architectural lines can be curved or straight.  Window and door openings, including those for multi-car garage doors, are provided for in the placement of the forms.

The concrete (Pocock uses a modified 3,500 psi mix) is poured once, after all the forms are in place and braced.

"We generally pour on Friday," says Pocock, "and start working on the house on Monday.  You put a little time into the pouring and it comes out fine."

Advantages include high structural strength resulting from the use of steel-reinforced concrete, even though 25 percent less concrete is used than with conventional methods.  Proponents of the process tout it as ideal for areas susceptible to hurricane force winds and earthquakes.

"The wall itself," says Pocock, who earned a degree in civil engineering from Old Dominion University in 1988, "is one large beam."

Sound deadening properties are exceptional.  A concrete house has an STC (Sound Transmission Rating) of 48.  Virginia Beach, says Pocock, requires an STC rating of only 49 for construction in the highest noise zone.

He tells of one concrete house he constructed in a neighborhood bothered by jet noise from a nearby airfield.  The couple living in the home had to come out on their patio to find out what their neighbors were complaining about.  The sounds of the aircraft weren't audible inside the house.