fast, reasonable "green" housing options?

Hello all. My boyfriend and I are desperately needing to procure a home. I am able to build on my family's farm so space is not an issue. Ideally I would love to build a straw-bale house but I don't think we have the time and energy it would take to build something with any real integrity from scratch. We would love to do a lot of the work ourselves to cut costs but we really need something can would come together quickly. It may be considered somewhat blasphemous in the permies circle but I have been researching modular/pre-fab type "green" homes. I have yet to find anything that I'm sold on and was wondering if anyone had any tips out there? Or if there aren't any good prefab options does anyone have any suggestions for a truly efficient (both in speed to build and sustainability) build? We have a baby and may try for another which is part of what's causing the time constraint. I also work full time off the farm and have to commute. We are hoping to build a modest home but not one of the "tiny" houses.

Any insight is much appreciated.

Thanks!

Well. Do you have money?

Generally speaking, you're going to need either time or money. You can swap them back and forth.

For a small, simple house, you'll need either a lot of time or a lot of money.

For a medium-sized, interesting house, you'll need either a boatload of time or a boatload of money.

For a big, gorgeous house, you'll need either an incredible amount of time or and incredible amount of money.


If I were in your shoes, I'd consider a "phases" approach. Build your two-room cabin now, add the bathroom and laundry room next year, and two bedrooms the year after that.


Also, the wisest building method depends on the climate. Are you still in SW Idaho?

green is anything already existing. Take a used mobile home or rv. It's already built. It's greener (imo) than building from scratch or buying new,regardless of materials used.

wayne fajkus wrote: Take a used mobile home or rv. It's already built. It's greener (imo) than building from scratch or buying new,regardless of materials used.

Having done that, I respectfully disagree. Mobile homes are horribly inefficient with regards to heating and cooling, the materials outgas, and they are just fairly awful to live in, as well as being very unsafe if you live anywhere with extreme weather of any sort.

Yes, i'm still in SW Idaho. Desert like with cold somewhat snowey winters. I keep toggling back and forth on what building method would be ideal.