The cost of building our straw bale house alone comes to $32 per square foot. This low figure was achieved by doing the design and contracting work and a good deal of the labor ourselves. The cost was also kept down through the help of many friends, through the use of construction workshops, and by using many recycled materials.

Not included in the $32 per square foot figure, of course, is the cost of buying our four acres, surveying, grading in a road, trenching for the phone line, the septic system, a car port and deck, and the rain water harvesting and storage/pressure tank system. These together cost $24,000, making the total price of our new home actually $56,000 or $47 per square foot -- still a little less than half of the usual per foot cost of building a home today.

We have also invested in renewable energy systems not usually included in the building of a new home: a 1200 square foot greenhouse, a wind generator, a solar hot water system, solar electric panels, batteries, DC-AC power inverter, and a back-up gasoline generator. At a total cost of $31,000, these systems give us almost complete independence from conventional utilities and their monthly bills (except telephone and Internet Service Provider), but make the total cost of our new straw bale home here $73 per square foot.

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DETAILED COSTS SUMMARY: