bale houses

Originally Posted by spam4einstein

Im not picking on you but you just sound silly!
Ive been involved in the realestate biz in one form or another since 1996. I can tell you a huge amount of folks wont even buy a used house for fear of the unknown. The more a house differs from modern construction and tecniques the smaller the buying pool. I have never encountered a straw bale house for sale, but can tell you its a fact most home buyers are nervous know nothings and run at the first whif of any thing scary. The slightly less standard constructed homes I did encounter like cinder block, log and modular all were very slow sellers that sold for less than stick framed of the same sf. These were pretty standard tecniques too, bale is much more obscure and frightening to most then those three. No person in their right mind would spend huge $$$$ on something they were unsure of because of resale value or possible building problems. Your market would pretty much be folks who want a straw houses and that is a very very small group like it or not!
I dont care if its the best tecnique ever, it would be a rare buyer who would touch it with so many other homes for sale. People are super carefull with their big investment and the FACT that it will be an odball with low resale value will scare that very rare buyer who has an open mind away. If you want to live in a delusional state thats your right.

If you can't admit that no more than about one in 5000 people are brave and educated enough to consider a bale house, then pay the same price per sf. as stick built (remember market determines price and stick built will have a bigger market) which would make no financial sense since a bale house WILL be worth less. You would have a hard time convincing anyone but yourself that a bale house would have good resale value.

So, even if a bale house is a better system (I dont think it is, but I dont hate it eather) To build it only makes sense as a labor of love for unusaul tecniques or eco friendly reasons. Its a very poor choice if real world things live value, speed and ease of construction are what your goal is.

I dont know the poster's wants. But if he is one of the many who think "stacking bales sounds easy" simply because conventional framing looks scary to them and they think they have found a tecnique that will be easier and quicker. Then I think its fair to warn them that it will cost the same or more to build and alot more if they ever sell. Most folks dont stay in a house forever. It also wont be faster to build.

So if you are into bale houses simply because you think it is quick, cheep and easy......RUN!!!!!!!!! Thats not the reason to build with bales as almost everyone agrees stick is easier, faster and more valuable.

Originally Posted by tnborn

where did you all get your bales from? Is their a certain place to order from?I have never heard of bale or straw houses until today when I was on a solar sight. How long does it take to build?