Mike South, President

Mike South is President and General Manager at Monolithic Constructors, inc. He oversees all business, construction, and manufacturing operations.

As the son of David B. South, Mike grew up in the Monolithic Dome industry. He began working as many hours as David could legally squeeze out of a kid when he was 14.

Mike started as a laborer constructing Monolithic Domes in the summer and fabricating Airforms and methane digestors after school. When it comes to construction, Mike learned to do it all. He did the dirt work and poured foundations. He sprayed foam and concrete and hung rebar. He installed tile floors and plumbing, wired electrical, installed door bucks, and did interior framing and painting. He applied exterior coatings and hung the doors.

During those early years, Mike became an expert in construction management, Airform and fabric product manufacturing, polyurethane foam and shotcrete application, and mix design and uses. Meanwhile, he was sharpening his IT skills, putting together a Linux intranet at home for fun.

Mike began dividing his time between construction and administrative work shortly after high school. He began working in the IT and accounting departments and oversaw the development of Monolithic.org from 2010-2018.

In the early 2000s, Mike also took on more responsibility for the fabric forms manufacturing part of Monolithic Constructors. He managed the fabrication crews and learned how to engineer complicated Airforms. He has been a driving force behind broadening the scope of the fabric forms manufacturing plant to include the fabrication of many types of architectural fabric products.

Over the last thirty years, Mike has emerged as a leading expert in every aspect of the Monolithic Dome industry. He knows as much or more than anyone else in the dome-building business. He and Dave South (his brother and one of his two business partners) are the industry’s foremost experts in the engineering and manufacturing of monolithic dome airforms.

Mike’s responsibilities as President and General Manager are many. He manages the design and accounting departments. He oversees IT at the Monolithic Dome Research and Industrial Park in Italy, Texas. The dome construction and fabric forms manufacturing crews report to Mike. He puts his lifetime accumulation of knowledge and first-hand experience to work to streamline the design, planning, construction and manufacturing process for every project Monolithic touches. He is a hands-on guy who loves working with customers as partners to ensure the success of each endeavor.

He personally engineers complicated Airform membranes and architectural fabric forms and oversees their design and manufacture. His design team collaborates with the construction and manufacturing departments to find the best solutions for every project—a 20,000-ton bulk storage, a home or a community recreation center.

Mike is a favorite instructor at the Monolithic Dome Builders Workshops, where attendees learn to build a real Monolithic Dome during a five-day hands-on and classroom training course.

He is also a member of the American Concrete Institute and is on the board of directors at the Monolithic Dome Institute.