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The founder of WheelPad L3C, Lineberger and her team create fully accessible housing for veterans, seniors, and people with spinal cord injuries or debilitating illnesses.

Julie Lineberger, founder and president of WheelPad L3C, received an unwelcome phone call in 2010 that would change the trajectory of her career. Her godson, Riley Poor, had been filming a documentary on Simon Dumont, an American freestyle skier who was competing in the X Games. At a celebration following Dumont’s victory, Riley had an accident in a pool that left him tetraplegic, all four limbs and his core paralyzed.

“At first, all we could do was show up,” said Julie of Riley’s long and difficult recovery. But many, many months later, over dinner in Portland, Oregon where Riley, a sports filmmaker and cinematographer, had accepted a job with Nike, she and her husband, architect Joseph Cincotta, had an idea.

Unable to find accessible housing near his new job in Portland, Riley had lived in a motel room for nine months while he searched for a home that was fully accessible. “He was virtually isolated during those nine months,” said Julie, “and just exhausted by adjusting to life in a wheelchair. Joseph posed a thought, ‘what if he had been able to attach an accessible bedroom and bathroom to his mother’s house?’ They would have been able to share meals. He wouldn’t have been so alone.”

Luella Strattner, Joseph Cincotta, and Julie Lineberger review plans in Wilmington. Photo by Erica Houskeeper.

From Idea to Prototype

Julie is the CEO and owner of LineSync Architecture in Wilmington, VT. Joseph is the principal architect. They began to conceptualize a personal accessible dwelling (PAD) that could be temporarily attached to a “host” home following a spinal cord injury. “At the center, we were always thinking about how to help families stay together,” said Julie, “to help everyone through a traumatic time.”

It wasn’t until a local business plan competition in 2015, however, that the concept began to take form. Not only did they win $10,000 from the Strolling of the Heifers/Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation competition, which they used to raise money for a prototype, they also received validation for their idea. “We had been talking about it for years,” said Julie. “Once we pitched the idea, we got a lot of encouragement to move forward.”

With input from Riley, advisor and minority owner of WheelPad, the first model, called a SuitePAD, was designed as an accessible bedroom and bathroom that could be attached to a host home through an existing door or window. The model contains a hoist track in the ceiling for a lift, a fully wet bathroom, and ample space for personal care assistance. Acknowledging that many people with spinal cord injuries have chemical sensitivities, and in line with their values as one of the first “green” architectural firms in Vermont, the units are made with non-toxic materials including plaster walls and natural wood wainscoting.

A model PAD. Photo by Erica Houskeeper.

Shortly after the prototype was complete, a local woman broke her neck boogie boarding on her sixtieth birthday. Julie offered her the model. “She loved the unit and it provided us with even more feedback that we were able to incorporate into the design.”

And that design, it turns out, had appeal beyond individuals with spinal cord injuries.

The first unit went to the local woman with the spinal cord injury. The second to a Vietnam veteran who had Lou Gehrig’s Disease, or ALS, and the third to a man recovering from a traumatic brain injury he suffered in a motorcycle accident.

“We realized early on that there are so many people–injured service members who are languishing in VA hospitals, grandparents who move a hospital bed into a living room, people with spinal cord injuries living in motel rooms–not because they need nursing care but because their home is not accessible. This gives people a way to have the family together.”

WheelPad began selling the SuitePAD in 2018, just three years after the business plan competition. Since then, they have placed 15 units around the country as far away as Washington state. They are getting ready to deliver four units to Green Mountain Support Services and have another 11 units in production. They have also received an order for 8 units that will be underwritten by an anonymous trust to provide the SuitePAD to individuals who could not otherwise afford them.

Manufacturing Challenges, Opportunities

WheelPad had been subcontracting the manufacturing of the units to two different companies when COVID-19 hit. The pandemic essentially brought manufacturing to a standstill globally. Undeterred and unwilling to give up, Julie decided to bring manufacturing in house–and create valuable jobs in an economically disadvantaged part of the state to boot.

She took out a loan to renovate a building that had once housed GS Precision in Wilmington, Vt. Though she always thought they would get into manufacturing at some point, the pandemic accelerated the timeline and, she says, “is a whole different ball game.”

As the former board chair of Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, Julie tapped her extensive network to find support for her newest endeavor. One form of that support came from the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF), who offered to provide business coaching through funding from the SBA Community Navigator Pilot Program (CNPP). “It’s awesome,” she said. “I had run a service business for 30 years with LineSync but although I know about building, I don’t know about manufacturing.”

Julie began meeting with VSJF business coach Victor Morrison, who helped her make that transition. “Probably the biggest thing,” said Julie, “was that I was doing too much. We wrote down everything I did in a week and we talked about what was vital, what I liked doing, and what somebody else could do. It was a really good process that has helped me think about delegation of tasks and next hires.”

VSJF Business coach Victor Morrison, second from left, meets with the team at the company’s manufacturing site. Photo by Erica Houskeeper.

Victor also helped her to get a true understanding of the cost of each unit, a key step to scaling the business, by establishing an accounting process that includes not only the cost of materials, but the overhead needed to support the business.

“She’s a brilliant person with so much creative energy,” said Victor. “She’s in a phase where she has a vision and a dream, and needs to get her systems in line with that vision.”

“Victor is steadily helping us in the way that I want to be helped,” said Julie. “He comes in and asks, ‘What do you want? What’s your end goal?’ The culture of this business is very important to me. It’s not going to be 100 percent about the bottom line. It’s got to be a balance between the type of culture we want and how to create and sustain growth. The better we are as a business, the more families we can keep together. Victor understood that from the get go.”

A Vision for the Future

Julie’s vision for the future of WheelPad is all encompassing. “That’s what female entrepreneurs do,” she said. “They really consider the whole picture. When we were first starting to do architecture, everyone told us that ‘anything green and sustainable is just more expensive.You should just make money and then give to charities’. We were like, no you can make money while doing good. You can pay people livable wages. You can keep families together. That’s our mission.”

This year, the company is on track to manufacture 20 PADs. Next year, she’d like to double that to 40. Part of that growth involves renovating the building where the units are currently manufactured with radiant heat wood floors, rather than concrete, which are better for employees who stand long hours. Long-term, she’d like to establish a local labor program that trains electricians, plumbers, carpenters, and caregivers–jobs that are in high demand in the region. Her plans also include six StudioPADs, standalone units that are equipped with kitchenettes, for on-site workforce housing.

Most importantly, she’d like WheelPad to have an inventory of units ready when they’re needed. The current manufacturing process requires four to six months for construction and delivery. She’d like to find like-minded investors to help create a fleet of inventory that would be paid back through the leasing program. “It’s a slower return than typical VC money,” she said, “so it’s investors who are interested in our mission.”

And, once she has accomplished all of that, she plans to replicate the model around the country… to keep even more families together.

RJ Adler, director of growth at Wheelpad, meets with the company’s staff. This year, the company is on track to manufacture 20 PADs. Photo by Erica Houskeeper.

About VSJF’s Business Management Coaching Program

The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund provides tailored, high-touch planning, coaching, and advising for business owners and their management teams to advance profitability, job creation, and sustainable job development. Click for more information about business management coaching. Funding support for our coaching program is provided by client fees, the SBA-Community Navigator Pilot Program, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, and Vermont Housing & Conservation Board’s Farm & Forest Viability Program.

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