How does the cost compare to conventional construction?
This is a difficult question to answer. We are doing a 1144 sf home for about $92,500. This is extremely economical at about $81/sf. HOWEVER, we are building it ourselves, have miminized costs through simplified building and finish techniques that could be applied to any type of building and are using some free and reclaimed materials. I don’t believe the use of straw is saving us anything in construction costs, especially as we are still using wood stud walls and merely using strawbale as an infill technique. Other methods of construction may cost less up front but would require more labour and are more likely to cause your bank/insurance provider/whatever more concern. Q) Are you worried about fire/bugs/rats/mold/big bad wolf. A) The short answer is no/no/no/a little/if I hear that “clever” and “origianl” joke one more time! Strawbale walls have been studied under controlled circumstances and shown to perform better in a fire than conventional construction. The compressed fibres and
