[GSBN] Question for you

[David Arkin, AIA]

Hi All:

Having pitched straw-bale construction to mainstream homebuilders for many years, to no avail, I have found their well-founded aversion to risk due to the vagaries of the market--combined with the need to appeal to the least common denominator--leaves them striving for the cheapest solutions that give a perception of value with the fewest number of call-backs.

Here in California a builder/developer will probably spend half or more of the sales price of a house on the land and entitlements, leaving them in the position to put up the biggest house they can for the smallest possible amount of money in order to maximize return.  All of these would seem to work against bale for a mainstream development.

However, I recall a story of a family here qualifying for a higher mortgage because they could show that their summer cooling bills would be substantially lower in their straw-bale home; this financial advantage in the current tight lending market along with economies of scale suggest that the concept of a bale development has real merit, especially if it can take advantage of a site that is perhaps impacted by a noisy road, freeway or rail line, and take further advantage of bale's superior acoustic properties.  

Monday morning musings,

David

On Oct 18, 2010, at 4:47 AM, John Straube wrote:

> There are a tremendous number of obstacles to innovation in housing. This is almost all I do, even if the innovation is just "add more insulation" or "switch from 2x4 to 2x6 construction".  Change always comes with risk to most builders and change to SB is a big one :) However, I find banks and insurance companies are easier to overcome for modest changes, and the city is easy to fool in many cases, but the builder is the hard part.
> 
> On 2010-10-18, at 6:02 AM, Derek Roff wrote:
> 
>> I agree that Chris offers a great answer.  I'd like to add one more dimension.  In many places and jurisdictions, the legal and financial systems (including taxation, financing and insurance) ignore or penalize innovation generally, and thick walls specifically.  As we know, the direct costs of thicker walls are modest, and easily compensated by the advantages of strawbale.  But when one is taxed, financed, and regulated on the outside measurements of a house, that becomes an additional liability and price for thick-walled structures.  In locations where houses are measured and permitted by the "hat print", overhangs disappear.  This is bad for every construction technique, but especially dangerous for lightweight steel framing and for strawbale.
>> 
>> So to all the fiddly bits in strawbale construction, there are shadow fiddly bits in the permitting, legal, and financial requirements.
>> 
>> Derelict
>> 
>> Derek Roff


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Arkin Tilt Architects
Ecological Planning & Design

David Arkin, AIA, Architect
LEED Accredited Professional
CA #C22459/NV #5030

1101 8th St. #180, Berkeley, CA  94710
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