Do straw bale houses cost less to build?
This is a difficult question to answer. The cost of the wall system in a house is typically about 10 to 15% of the total cost of construction, so the finishes are really the determining factor in your overall budget. It is possible to build a straw bale house for less, if you do much of the work yourself, and use salvaged material. If you want a typical American house, with all the plumbing and appliances and a contractor to build it, the costs will be pretty much the same whether the walls are of wood studs or straw bales. Your life-cycle costs, however, will be much less. As straw-bale pioneer Judy Knox says, “Straw is a superior material for a comparable cost.” This is not to say you have to spend the same amount of money on your house as the average homeowner. By acting as your own contractor, investing your own sweat and ingenuity, and possibly salvaging construction materials, you can save on costs substantially. Straw bale walls are easy to raise, and the rest is manageable if y
