Bargain Builders
- Posted by: Joel Rose
- on March 19, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Sustainable design is too often a luxury, available only to a wealthy few. But first-time developer Chad Ludeman wants to change that. His company, Postgreen, is building an attractive sustainable house in slowly gentrifying North Philadelphia for $100,000.
“We’re taking a minimalist approach, and saying, what do people really need?” says Ludeman. At a little more than 1,000 square feet, the house won’t be huge, and the open floor plan means it can be built quickly, in as little as three or four days, keeping construction costs down. Don’t look for granite countertops or hardwood floors. But you will find solar heating, recycled materials, and other touches intended to shrink the house’s carbon footprint without inflating its budget.
On the project’s blog—100khouse.com—Ludeman is documenting the planning and building process. The goal is to complete and sell the house this summer—and, in the process, to dispel the idea that solar panels are only for those with cash to throw around.
POSTGREEN is joined by the architects Interface Studio and the builders Level 5 Construction.
LEARN MORE
100khouse.com
PLAN
Interface Studio Architects
PHOTO
Véronique Huyghe Bel-Air
DISCUSSION: 1 Comment
I know this is ages old…but thought I’d drop a line anyways. I think it is commendable to look at affordable sustainable design. I would argue that a big, big part of making something sustainable and/or affordable should also confront existing structures. Further, we shoudl look at what affordable truly means. Is it building/rennovating a house cheaply up front or building/rennovating it well so that it stands the test of time and costs less to operate and maintain? And just a bit more here……Are we talking costs of human labour to rennovate or hand-restore say wood-framed windows, versus tossing them for the latest-greatest green technology, which actually uses a huge amount of energy to produce? In some ways, this isn’t terribly disimilar to food in this country. We’ve gotten used to cheap everything and have confused that with affordable. Maybe building sustainably is a lot like sustainability and food, not counting food “products,” should be a bit more expensive as it requires human input and time, and is more rare or limited in quantity, but when it is fresh, locally grown, it is fantastic! I think we should get over this cult of everything for nothing and accept that some things, those things that matter, do require sacrifice and quality over the bargain basement. It will mean less time and money for X box, or cable, or cool clothes and shoes, but I think we can all be honest about the value of those things anyhow.If you want I can show hundreds of homes in just Canton, Ohio, that can be purchased and restored in a sustainable way for $50,000 or less. That’s just one town. There are hundreds.