It's a form of mania. It often swings between the extremes. The middle is no fun. Bye-bye polar. Some might consider it a fair price to pay for the highs.

Is this the same Chinese country that is building back doors into networking and computer equipment so they can later take it over as described in a previous article? Seems everyone's hip to this fun game and playing it out.

Why talk about it? We're busy being optimistic. One must be very optimistic to be a startup (any business pretty much) or a farmer. The rest get 9-to-5 jobs.

That will be interesting. I live in the stone house. I doubt he can blow it down. :)

Read the article and you'll find all the details.

How big is a house was not the question. The issue at question is smart vs dumb houses, longevity, long term costs, ability of people to build their own. Some people choose to live in very large houses. Some choose small houses. That is an irrelevant variable. The question is can you affordably build a long term house. Most people can if they want. Do they need the Smart House fancy technology? No. That drives up the cost and isn't going to be supported long term - that was the concern of the original article.

Dumb Rock is my choice.
How big you build it is your choice.

No, you're wrong from applying your experience over someone else's experience and saying that your experience rules. You're failing to accept the possibility that there are other ways that don't fit your world view.

I hope your face gets better after that face palm.

And there lies the error in your assumptions. You assume that because you have seen X that most are X. That is not statistically or scientifically valid. In fact, it is irrational.

You are also wrong about your statement about connecting to the electric company. This further demonstrates your lack of knowledge. You're talking through your hat. We are utility connected.

Reality check: The state inspectors saw my work and were delighted with it. They said they wished everyone did such a good job, including professionals.

It's practical. Read code. Read manuals. Read books. Teach yourself. No experts needed. Just a willingless to learn and do.

It would be really nice if people like you stopped trying to convince other people that they are incompetent. Far better to encourage people to learn and do. People are a lot more capable than you appear to think.

Actually, I have explained it and documented it extensively. See:

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/cottag...

and then for another similar project read about how we're almost done building our own on-farm USDA/State inspected Meat Processing facility - a _much_ larger project at:

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/butche...

Largely of the cost of building a house is labor. Supply your own labor and you dramatically cut the cost.

Another big part of the cost is architects, engineers and other consultants. Be your own or use available plans on the web or in books (there are many) and you get rid of that cost.

The "cost estimating of $100/sq-ft" is vastly out of line with reality.

While most people might not have the creativity, knowledge and experience to design and engineer the structure the actual construction cost is fairly low. Most people could do it. The problem is experts, who have a massive conflict of interest, have been telling people that people are not able, not qualified to do things. This has created an economy where people hire out for things rather than doing things themselves. That's good for stimulating the economy, but expensive.

See:

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/cottag...

That starting page will take you onward to many more pages that extensively document how we did it. It took two months to prep and build the shell to the closed in point. Then winter hit - we have a short construction season here in the north.

This does not include the land - I already owned that - the discussion was the cost of building the house. I was not gifted the materials. The $7,000 is the materials. Our family of five (2 adults, 2 teens, one small child) supplied all the labor while also schooling and farming. Check out the page above for pictures and the blow by blow account.

Since then we have built our own USDA/State Meat Processing Facility e.g., a butcher shop which we're just about to open for business to process livestock from our farm. That was built along the same methods as our house but with improvements in methods - we learn. See:

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/butche...

for details of how that has been constructed and the process of going through the regulatory hoops. It's been a journey.

I have no certifications nor do I need them. It is something that most people could do. How to do plumbing, electric, etc is all on the internet and in books. Most people are intelligent enough to follow the step-by-step instructions and do it. They may or may not have the creativity to come up with the plan to start with but once they have the plan they could do it. I extensively documented how we built our house. There are lots of other articles and books out there about how to build your own house.

If you don't have a cheap supply of stone, something that grows abundantly in Vermont and NH, then look to your local resources. Rammed earth is another cheap solution that can be very long lasting.

The problem is motivation. People have been told they can't do things, that they're not capable, that they need experts with certification and they've come to believe it. The reality is most people could build an inexpensive long lasting low maintenance home. The housing crisis is a myth.

Who? I did. It has full plumbing, heating, electric, etc. It is interesting how someone like you says something is not true when you have no facts to base it on.

By the way, you lose the wager. Pay up.

Your post is just nonsense.

Our stone house only cost to build $7,000. That is not expensive. It's so low cost that I built it out of pocket money without needing to get a mortgage to build my home. This means I'm not paying interest on that too. Additionally the taxes are lower than a comparable sized stick built house so each year I save on taxes. And the maintenance is almost zero.

Our house cost less to build, less to maintain, less to heat and cool and is taxed less. It's extremely affordable. Not only that it is simple so most anyone could build their own making it accessible.

Our house will also last for hundreds to thousands of years instead of the typical 25 to 50 years of stick built houses.

Dumb rock house wins again.

You may not like losing but at least make sense with your responses.

Unfortunately not well.

And why do you reduce yourself to being insulting. Just because you fail to understand the need or the inadequacy of the existing translators is no reason for you to be rude. You need to learn to be polite in addition to realizing that you may not understand what other people need.

Well that does it. I'm canceling my order of three of these F-35 jets to defend our country of Vermont.