Bryan Roberts

So, first off, I am the licensed contractor who was originally hired to build the earthship in Manatee County Florida.  The owner experienced some health issues during the build that precluded the completion at the time.  The son of the founder of Earthship Biotecture was retained years later to ATTEMPT the completion of the structure.  He was unfamiliar with Florida building codes and the associated building officials and attempted to employ methodologies that work in NM, but not so much in Florida.  That didn't go so well...  I was brought in to assess the project after it was abandoned by the person who had taken it on.  The project had gone very far astray of the plans and had numerous very expensive issues.  The owner chose to sell the property rather than go through all the hassle and expense of major structural changes.  It was difficult for me to witness given all the care and energy my crew and I originally put into the project.

Since this project I have built a number of alternative structures in Florida.  We are planning an aircrete dome workshop this fall in North Florida.

We maintain around 10 acres in North Central Florida.  It currently is mostly grass on sand.  We would really love to transition to a meadow and in fact have made several attempts.  However the wildflowers we plant never seem to take off and it quickly turns to weeds.  Bidens are the predominant flower and the spread everywhere.   There is lots of Dewberry and smilax that quickly infiltrate and try to take over any time we back off from mowing. When left to grow wild, it not only looks unseemly, but it also is next to impossible to walk through.  
In addition, there is a noticeable increase in mosquito and tick population.   We would love to see a lot more beautiful meadow, but that is simply not what happens.