cost

My husband has been a contractor in California for over 20 years and has built many homes, both ours, and for others. Since he was born and raised in Germany, he has a lot of experience as to how build more efficiently as well as eco friendly. There's a lot of resources on this site and I'm going to take time to research all of it, as we'll be building our first Green Home this year. Hopefully, completely off grid, sewer and water. Any tips and even warnings would be helpful!

Thanks,
JoAnn

When we talk about green building and green living, we often talk about materials that we can buy or practices that we can adopt in our home -- and that's because we truly believe that every little bit helps and that every person who decides to green their home in a responsible way makes a difference.

We don't talk about legislation very much; however, just this morning we received an email from iPower (no it's not a Mac product; it's a renewable energy corporation ) about the Vote Solar Initiative.

Long story short, Vote Solar's goal is to bring solar energy into the mainstream through policy. They're currently, and rightfully, all riled up because there is a federal solar bill in the works. The goal of the bill is, ostensibly, to make solar power more affordable to more people by extending federal tax credits, and lifting the limits on current solar tax credits. And Vote Solar wants to make sure that Congress gets it right.

You can learn all about the Vote Solar Initiative here and in this piece written by Adam Browning, cofounder and executive director of Vote Solar, for Grist.

(Sung to the tune of "How much is that doggy in the window...)

I have been watching the building of Kevin's green home in the Building Green TV program and had a few questions:

What is the footprint of the house & garage in square feet?
What is the total area of the house including both floors?
What was the per square foot cost of constrcution alone?

Thanks to anyone who can help me...

Kevin,

Was watching your show and wanted to know what the cost per sqare foot was for this house. I am planning to purchase\build my first house soon and would like to be able to compare prices. Thanks. Oh, by the way the house looks great.

Dante

Dante,

We spent about $250 per square foot, but we live in a very expensive area of the country for construction labor, and our earthquake codes require a lot of building that is not necessary in other parts of the country. Also, we went with top of the line fixtures to meet the standards for homes in this area. It’s not unusual for people to spend $400 or more per square foot around here. That said, straw bale building with earthen floors and other simple green solutions can be very inexpensive. Others have built straw bale homes for as little as $140 per square foot, and here is a link to a 1,200 square foot home in the Sonoran Desert that came in at $47 per square foot.

Good luck,
Kevin