This small construction company is just down the street from us. I’ve driven past it countless times and it suddenly dawned on me to do a blog post about this business. This appears to be the owner’s home. They build small houses similar to this one using a combination of recycled wood, slab wood and wavy edge siding, along with wood poles and curved branches from the forest. These materials create an interesting, natural rustic look that many find appealing. The look is similar to traditional cabins and old houses in the region. Here are some larger rustic wood houses by a different builder. (Read this article if you want to use wood siding on earthbag houses.)
The main point of today’s blog post is to discuss the option of creating a rustic wood construction business like this. Of course, this idea is for areas where building codes are limited or non-existent. (See Counties with Few or No Building Codes.) The main advantage is these materials allow you to build at very low cost. There’s a huge unmet need for affordable housing, and whoever provides houses that people like at below going rates has a significant competitive advantage over other builders. In this case, they’re undercutting the competition that build primarily with cement. This particular company has been building these small, unique recycled wood houses on small lots adjoining their house and on farms outside of town. Each house is different.