10 Tips for Lowering the Cost of Your Build 💰

Owning a home is foundational for financial stability, comfort and security, identity, sanctuary, and building wealth for your family.  Unfortunately, conventional housing and the mortgage system has gotten out of reach, pricewise, for most of the world.

Plus conventional stick frame housing is flimsy, toxic, and soulless. 

We want to help make natural and alternative building more affordable and available to everyone. 

We want to inspire and give you the knowledge to plan your own healthy, resilient, energy-efficient, beautiful home made from materials that are better for people and the planet.  

Let’s look at a few ways to lower the cost of your eco-alternative home build:

1. Assess your wants vs. your needs.  We all need shelter from the elements, comfortable temperature, clean water, food, and safe sanitation to survive. While there are many things you may want, no one needs stainless steel appliances or granite countertops to survive.  Make a list of your needs and a separate list of your wants.  Come up with a plan to address your needs first. If you are able to downsize your possessions, pare down your wants and look at how to provide for your needs, you may realize that you can live in a more modest, less expensive home yet still be comfortable. 

2. Start small.  If you are an individual, could you live in a small but well-designed house? If you are a couple, or a small family, ask yourself if it would be possible to live in a small studio or one-bedroom home if it meant it was more affordable and you could add on to it in the future as time and money allow? Starting small is less expensive and less resource-intensive. It also takes a lot less time! 

3. Grab a clipboard.  You can be your own project manager, ordering materials, scheduling subcontractors, organizing your jobsite. Stay tuned...we are currently creating resources to help you with project management!

4. Build it yourself.  If you have the itch to build your own home, there are fewer things more rewarding than building your own natural home. Natural materials are less expensive than conventional ones but more labor intensive so you can save money by doing a lot of the work yourself. 

5. Repurpose with purpose.  Save big by looking for free, inexpensive or repurposed materials to incorporate in your build. Repurposed materials can be used for walls, roofing, windows, structural components, and insulation. You can even find and refurbish cabinets, doors, and fixtures!

6. Learn as much as you can first.  We can’t tell you how many failed/unfinished sustainable house projects we’ve seen due to the owners rushing in, all inspired, without a realistic idea about what they were getting themselves into.  It’s easy to underestimate the amount of time things take to build, especially if you are new to construction.  It’s also easy to look at your budget with rose-colored glasses, even when you are paying someone else to build the house for you.  Building is expensive, especially these days.  Wishing that your budget is going to get you the finished house of your dreams is not enough.  Please don’t rush out and start pounding tires, or ramming earth, or stacking straw bales, without learning what will work best for your budget, climate, permitting needs, and personal preference and having a comprehensive plan in place!

7. Help others. A great way to gain fluency in this world is by attending a natural building workshop or jumping in to volunteer on a project.  If you have a friend, family member, or acquaintance who is also building an alternative home, offer to lend them a hand.  Sweat-equity can be accumulated with a work trade.  You help someone, they help you.  Start banking work trade hours before you even start your house. You can learn so much in the process and the energy created by teaming up is super motivating!

8. Buy local/dirt cheap.  An important part of natural building is using materials available on-site or nearby. One Mastermind tip for sourcing dirt for your natural building project is to contact local builders.  They usually have a pile of dirt leftover from excavating a foundation or grading a site and you might be able to get it delivered for free!

9. Consider rural land.  Land can be one of the largest expenses when building your own home.  Generally, the farther you are from cities and big towns, the cheaper the land.  That needs to be balanced with not being too far from “civilization” for purchasing materials and supplies.  You also don’t want an extreme, rough road that will keep you shelling out for vehicle repairs. The explosion of remote work and the proliferation of high-speed internet means you can earn a living in the country in your cozy natural home without being a farmer or rancher.  Though you can certainly plant your own vegetable garden too! 

10. Join a community. Building in an eco-community with like-minded people who share your values is a way to lower costs by accessing an experienced labor pool, sharing tools and resources and the initial cost of the land itself.  If you’re not quite ready to go full granola then sign up for our newsletter for more ideas and inspiration while you decide if building your own natural/alternative home is the best choice for you!