What's the least expensive type of home construction?

Looking for ideas to build ahome with most work performed by my sons and me. Looked an logs, dry stack, SIPS walls basic stick and frame etc. All seem to cost about the same. What we need is someone to build preinsullated building blocks like Legos so anyone can build a house that also meets local building codes. The concrete filled foam block construction is close but still needs a cement truck to fill the gap in between the walls.

Geodesic Dome Home



The cheapest one is a half balloon you blow up with your car exhaust, and spray it with foam. When the foam dries, you cut your way in carefully making a door, not hurting the balloon, and you then you remove the balloon from the inside and put it on the outside a cap and then spray it again leaving in the cap sandwiched between the two layers of foam. Then you stucco the two layers of foam, inside and out.



Per square foot, the least expensive structure.



Each one is a room you can link with half doom tubes.

How well does this hold up to severe weather like straight line winds and heavy rains?

Renting a cement truck isn't that bad. Better to hire a crew to pour and they bring their truck. You've still got to pour a foundation anyway

I don't think you can build a house cheap enough that it's worth it these days. The market is saturated with cheap houses.

Sticks and straw

You could get one of those companies to make you a big steel building and then finish out the inside to your liking?

why in God's name would any Arfcommer consider building with anything less the pour solid concrete floor, walls ans ceiling

ummm...no.

Let's examine this a little more...the exhaust from your car? He's trying to build a house not kill himself with Carbon Monoxide.

What you may be thinking of, is the monolithic dome

I would say build your dream home completely underground, with just a small entrance and garage above ground. Pouring a two story concrete monolithic slab and walls would be ideal for heating, cooling, and any type of SHTF scenario. I may sound crazy and my tin foil hat may be tilted down, but i think it'd be awesome to convert an old missle silo into a home. The last one i saw had a cargo elevator large enough to fit a small car on, and was like 4 stories deep. It was obviously miltary grade so you go escape bio/nuclear/ any other hazard you had to.

Just a thought.

EDIT: I also remember this missile silo home coming with it's own aircraft runway and hanger!

Haven't you guys figured this out yet? The idea is to build a Zombie retreat that looks so normal, your wife doesn't know she is living in Apocalypse Central.

Check out log home kits.

The cheapest way to build is going to depend a lot on where you build it.

Cardboard boxes for major appliances,   sheets of plastic film for waterproofing, and lots of salvaged bricks and rocks to hold it down in windy conditions.





Cost is virtually nothing.  








CJ

I have spent twenty years messing around with cheap ways to build, tried a couple of things and worked on other peoples projects.  From this knowledge, and having a best friend that is an architect, I can say the cheapest way is to stick build.  I built a metal building and finished out the inside, and by the time I got done it was far more expensive than stick building.  Metal buildings need a slab poured and a crane to set the beams.  Then you have a shell, but it is uninsulated and you still have a long way to go.  If you got a good enough deal, or found a already standing building for cheap, then the economics might make sense.  You would still have a house that might be harder to sell than a stick built.

The monolithic domes I have checked out, and went to Texas to look at a few.  They are not cheap.  You will need a specialized crew for this, and they are hard to find sometimes.  First the balloon has to have a very powerful fan that may need to blow for a few days.  Never heard the car thing, but that wouldn't work on anything I have ever seen, not even close.  You will have to have a shotcrete contractor to spray the concrete, and they better be good because if there are problems, they can very hard to fix.  Monolithic did a school and they had repeated problems and ended up scrapping it after it was built.  Properly built, they are almost impervious to damage.  They have survived documented tornado (near miss at their headquarters) and a well publicized home that has survived hurricanes.  They also fired a 30-06 at a dome at close range and it deflected.  Again, you have  a shell that you will have to finish out, and living in a dome isn't easy.  You waste a ton of space because you can't use some areas that are circular.  You still have square applicances and furniture.  I have relatives that built a dome, and it turned into a bigger deal than you might think.

In my area, I am leaning toward block for one reason.  Labor.  There are lots of unemployed block layers around that don't speak english and will work for cash very cheap right now.  Dry stack appeals to me, and is supposed to be stronger than traditional block construction.  Going underground is expensive, period.  The groundwork, the insulation against moisture, and other precautions run up the cost fast.  I would lean toward partial earth bermed for insulation purposes.   The ground is very, very wet where I live and underground means water intrusion.

I have also looked at some other things like building from shipping containers and even using airplane fuselages.   The only thing that I could make work from an economics stand point was to buy a older yacht and pull the drivetrain and partially bury up to the deck.  It already has a galley and head and you just plug in water and electricity and run a sewer out.  Most old wood yachts can be purchased cheaply as the cost of keeping them up has gotten out of control.

These guys are VERY knowledgeable on small build it yourself projects: http://countryplans.com

I have an acre of land outside city limits. I'm leaning toward dry stack as I can do it myself as time permits and buy blocks as money comes in. Probably nedd to find a general contractor to figure out what needs to be done to connect to the existing sewage and water running by the front of the acreage. Got quite a few small trees to clear and I will probably just drag a section of chain link fence around the property to clear off the scrub and weeds. I used this method in Iraq to grade a road about once a month.

LMAO !  bury an old boat well if you think about it I guess you could buy an old one thats run down and dry docked. Alot of people would almost pay you to remove it off their property. Rent a track how and start digging back that puppy down and bury it up to the deck like he said. Hey you could have a big shelter for 3 or 4 grand. You could even pour a slab over top of the deck area and frame up walls and a roof but that could be done later. Hmmm I like this idea way to think outside the box Big Cozy!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthbag_construction



Very cheap as far as materials.  Labor intensive.

I love my logs. 6" thick x 12" tall. Easy to build. Setting a log is setting the exterior, interior, insulation at the same time. No mud, tape, sanding, more mud, more sanding and then primer then paint. UGH

I was going to post a joke about boxes, but damn!

Every "cheap" building method I see is either labor intensive, or makes finishing the interior more difficult, or both.

Cheapest, fastest way to build is stick framed, sheet siding, with paneling inside. Plus, it looks better than boxes.

Even if your labor is free, or cheap, you have to realize you are tying up time (which is money in interest on what you have already invested) by dinking around. If you had to rent a place for 4 years while you finished your house, you could have spent considerably more on your house to make things go faster, and still been money ahead.

Also, the design of the house is important if you are trying to build quickly/cheaply. You need fewer electrical circuits and boxes, easy, short runs for plumbing, and simple roof. Most owner/builders get balled up in their house, thinking of all the things they can do to make it better with all the money they are saving. Forget it. If you want an inexpensive house, build a low end, cracker box house first. Get it completed and financed. Then add a deck, or fancy lighting, or a garage, etc.

Probably the ultimate low dollar living is putting a newish single wide mobile on a piece of property. The one in preppernation's blog is a good example. MUCH less work to do, and much less time involved. Not a fancy option, but king of the low dollar approach.

I've always wanted a concrete dome home

Depending on a few things like location as far as any zoning issues and your ability to finish the inside I would think pole barn construction would be hard to beat as far as price goes. I could be way off base here but I don't think so.

If you have the property, buying a used single-wide is probably the most cost-effective method. You can have it placed on a corner of the property near the road and live in it while you build something you really want. When you are done, sell it to someone else.

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http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=10&f=17&t=497528

If you ever think you might want to sell it, you should build using techniques common to your area.

I think I found my answer. My wife found a local mobile home place that will sell us a 4 br double wide and 4 acres of land and build me a garage for around $100,000 with only 3.5% down. Saving money now and should have the down payment by the first of the year. I'll go see the property when I'm back home for Christmas.

Already bought a single wide. Lived in it for 15 years until we paid it off. Wasn't looking to live in another but the payments will be less than the rent I'm paying now and taxes will be less than a regular home as mobile homes in Oklahoma are licensed like a car.

check out rammed earth.