Mark McKinley Feedback

1. What were your learning objectives coming into the course? (This question helps us to understand what demand exists for various aspects of the course - what are people interested in learning about construction - whether for their own home or in a production enterprise)

I was mostly interested in learning a high level introduction to the entire house build process. I mostly needed to know the framing and I am happy to report that I am much more confident in the process of building the framing and construction. I also was very happy to introduce my boys to building and demystify the house building process.

1. What percentage of your learning objectives have you accomplished as a result of the course?( This helps us to understand how well we are meeting our stated objectives, establishing a baseline for improvement)

I feel like I learned 80% of what I was hoping to learn. I am disappointed that we didn’t fully finish the build process, but I think I could do it on my own from what I did learn.

1. What specific teachings did we not cover in the FBCC that you would have liked to be covered in future FBCC courses?

I wish we had time to finish drywall, cabinets, and the plumbing.

1. What was you participation level - ie, what percent of actual group build time/class time did you participate in? Please provide an estimate. This means direct build time (most of the day, class time (1/2 to 1 hour prep session before the day starts), and theory session time (hour in the evening) - outside of any breaks, oversleeping, resting, going to church, doing other work, computer work, socializing, lack of interest in a particular aspect of the build, sickness, fatigue, doing other things such as housekeeping or facility maintenance, etc - anything outside of direct hands-on build work? For example on the frst Sunday, there were only about 20 of 40 participants in the Hangar during the actual build. (A high level of house completion is a great morale booster, and people not participating brings team morale down. Further, a high participation level during the workshop accelerates development of the enterprise model for the workshop, and helps us improve the build quality of the actual house. Hence, we are looking for ways to minimize distractions and make it as easy as possible for everyone to participate in as much of the actual hands-on build as possible - while leaving ample time for people to socialize and do other things after hours.)

I would say that I participated 90% of the time. My boys were 90% engaged in the beginning but as there became less clear direction on the daily tasks they started to lose focus. They also had school they had to finish up the second week.

1. With the above question - what suggestions do you have for increasing the participation level of people who came to program? (It was fascinating to see the gradual decrease in participation as the workshop carried on - and we are interested in improving this or shortening the program if the 2 week duration is unsustainable)

When people didn’t know what to do they lost interest. It also became clear that we had no chance of finishing the work scope and that might have demotivated some. The cold was really hard on many too. I think if there was plumbing and electrical simulator boards that would allow everyone to have clear skills goals it would help them be able stay engaged on the house build. People not working on the house could be doing electrical and plumbing simulators.

1. How much time did you spend preparing for the course - such as downloading and studying the CAD file? Looking through the design docs of former Seed Eco-Home versions? Participating in the prep webinars? What additional preparation resources which we did not provide would you have liked? (We would like to know how we can help participants to prepare better for the program, and how much preparation time people are willing to spend)

I watched the prep videos you made. I also spent 10ish hours learning the CAD software. Very helpful. I plan to continue to learn and be more competent on the CAD.

1. Please list the top 3 things that you are learning during the workshop. Please expand on this after your top 3 things - for as many little things and learnings as you remember. This could be both the hands-on build things, and design/theory aspects. ( We are interested in learning more about what people are retaining as a result of the workshop)

Open Source Mentality: I really like the open source mentality of sharing. I hope we see it change the hardware world in the same way we have seen Open Source Software change how we can compute.

Modular Building: Seeing your shop assemble like a huge lego project was super cool! And the house modular walls was also very flexible.

Keeping unit square: Watching the real carpenters obsess on keeping everything square as we assembled was eye opening and has always been the biggest issue when I build stuff at home.

1. What would your ideal food plan be for the workshop if you were to design the food program? Buffet? Cater? Hangar kitchen similar to what we had? Self-serve? Is location in workshop OK for you? ( We would like to make the food aspect of the event as wholesome as possible)

The food was really good, and I appreciate that you didn’t skimp on the quality or volume of food. People were genuinely hungry after working. I personally could have done BBQ meat and a Veg every meal and been very happy. The workshop eating was great and enabled us to keep on task.

1. HabLab kitchen cleanliness was a bit rough. Ben wanted no mice to be injured… But that meant in order to respect him we had to live with dozens of mice in the kitchen. In the morning you would walk in the kitchen and watch them scatter from all the counters and shelves. I had one mouse run and grab a piece of cheese from a plate while I was cooking. There was mouse poop in the drawers and when you cleaned it one day they would come back as it was an active zone.

1. What was the favorite thing about the FBCC? (Our program features a diverse audience of backgrounds and interests, a wide scope of content, and novel approaches - and we would like to know which aspects of the overall experience are the most compelling to our audience)

HabLab living was the best! Great culture of interesting people who all wanted to improve the world.

1. Would you recommend a Future Builders Crash Course to others? If not, what additional features would this program need to provide for you to recommend it to others? Do you have suggestions for how we could execute the missing items effectively? ( This will help us to implement the changes that are desirable for future participants)

Yes, I would recommend the course to others. I would think a smaller group of 12 people and focus on just module 3 would be a more doable group size. There needs to be an OSE representative for every 3-6 people to ensure the work teams have the knowledge and resources they need to move forward with each task. Building the house is important but people paid money to learn how to build the house. So both goals need to be focused on.

1. What question should we ask in this feedback that we have not asked? ( We would like to understand if we missing any big picture items that would help us improve the program)

I think with so many new builders there should have been more focus and encouragement of safety gear. Clean safety glasses and boxes of earplugs or muffs should be easily available. Hardhats when overhead work is happening. If we encourage a culture of safety we will save someone's eye in class or in their future builds.

1. Do you have any other comments or thoughts that would be constructive towards us improving the program in the future - outside of the gaps above that we have already identified?

The middle Sunday should be a day off to reset. Encourage people to head to town and explore the local area.