Henry Valles, a first-generation Cuban American, was born and raised in Miami, Florida. He grew up in the city of bright lights with its fast-paced nature and metropolitan vibe till the age of 22.

 

While attending Florida International University, he craved change and a new direction. "My aunt and uncle had just moved to Austin," he reflects. "I also had a close friend from Miami who was attending UT then and told me, 'You'll love it.' So in 2006, I picked up and moved to Austin without even visiting!"

 

Once landing in Austin, Henry immediately started to put down roots. He earned a BBA in Finance from St. Edward's University. Although he went back and forth to Miami for vacation, Henry quickly knew Austin was home. He comments, "I was just tired of the Miami scene, and I fell in love with the beauty and friendliness of Austin." When his friends from back home would come to visit, they were pleasantly surprised by 'how nice" the people were.

 

After graduating in 2008 in the middle of the financial crisis, Henry went into property management for foreclosed properties. "It was extremely sad," he admits. “The company was booming while the economy was suffering, and constantly seeing the amount and the condition of the foreclosed properties was too depressing.”

  

As a result, he decided to get his real estate license in 2010. Slowly but surely, Henry began building his real estate business while with The Ditlow Team at Realty Austin. He worked on multiple projects with them, including SoLa City Homes, The Alpine by Wes Peoples, and The Landing at Mueller by AVI Homes.

 

"I worked a lot with new construction projects during the beginning of my career and was shocked to discover how toxic and unsustainable most building materials are," says Henry. Then in 2014, he was introduced to hempcrete, a sustainable, non-toxic, mold-resistant and pest-resistant building material. After taking a hempcrete course in Berthoud, Colorado, put on by the Hemp Industries Association and Steve Allin of the International Hemp Building Association, he knew he had to help bring more awareness to this method of building and help with the legalization of industrial hemp in Texas.

 

He learned about vapor permeability in construction and embodied energy versus occupational energy. "It opened my eyes and made me look at construction in a different way," he says. After the course, Henry co-founded the Texas Hemp Industries Association to help raise awareness of the many benefits of industrial hemp and advocate for the legalization of hemp in Texas.

 

In 2017, Henry spearheaded a fundraiser with architect Cody Gatlin to build the first hempcrete tiny home in Austin at Community First Village, a community for men and women coming out of chronic homelessness. The project came to life with the help of ESS Design Build and the generous donations of main sponsor Realty Austin, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps and many others.

 

 

"The project helped raise awareness in many ways," says Henry. "It helped support an amazing cause, educated Texas representatives on the many potential uses of industrial hemp, and showed the building and development community healthier and more sustainable building alternatives."

 

In 2018, Henry ventured out on his own in real estate. With the tiny hemp home going and getting married, at the end of the year, he realized that he had only done 3 million dollars in sales. "I needed to start making money," he jokes.

 

Henry aimed to merge his quest for sustainability with his love of real estate. In 2019, he grew his real estate business to above 8 million dollars and became a founding board member of the US Hemp Building Association. He also connected with local sustainability and building science groups such as the AIA Committee on the Environment, Positive Energy's Building Science Philosophical Society, Carbon Leadership Forum, and Passive House Austin to learn from these great organizations and help spread the good word about hemp-based building materials.

 

"I was starting to have a good foundation," he says. In 2022, he grew his real estate business to 17 million dollars in sales. Henry felt fortunate to have discovered hemp building which led to his passion for sustainable and healthy building materials to help improve the quality of our built environments.

 

Just last year, Henry and his wife Raechel completed an exterior renovation of their home in Southwest Austin. Wanting to apply the principles and building practices he believes in, Henry based the core of his remodel on HempWool insulation and an exterior siding, ThermaCork, which was introduced and supplied to him by Greg Esparza of Cross Cabin Build and Supply. With the guidance of Greg Esparza and the open-mindedness and great work of Tim Solano of Canopy Builders, his vision became a reality. The Valles family couldn’t be more pleased with how the project turned out and hopes to be an example to inspire other homeowners, builders, and developers to use more sustainable and non-toxic materials.

 

Recently, Henry received his certification in “Healthier Materials and Sustainable Building” and “Healthy and Sustainable Affordable Housing” from the Healthy Materials Lab at Parsons School of Design. He also earned his GREEN Designation with the National Association of REALTORS®. Henry describes it as "one of the most impactful designations" he has achieved. He looks forward to continuing to grow his real estate business and delivering his first sustainable and non-toxic development in 2024.