Future Builders Crash Course - December 2025

Event

https://www.opensourceecology.org/builder_crash_course_2025-2/

CAD

• Graphical Index - in a Google Slides Presentation - [1]

Schedule

Last Day

• 9-1:30 PM Build
• 1:30-2:30 PM Lunch
• 2:30-5 PM cleanup
• 5 PM - 5:45 PM - written feedback session
• 5:45-6:15 - Feedback Discussion
• 6:30-8 PM - Irresistible Offer Design Sprint. Each person takes a page in a work doc - with the following Irresistible Offer Specification Questions

More:

• 9 AM - Water Hookup and Service Entrance + distribution
• 10:30 AM - Heat Pump Final Hookup and Run
• 11 am - drywall group
• 1 PM - PV. Till :30 PM

Running

• Daily schedule is 9 AM to 1:30 PM for the morning session.
• Lunch: 1:30-2:30 PM
• Afternoon build session from 2:30-5:30
• 5:30-5:45 is wrap-up and cleanup
• Evening presentation starts at 6 PM and goes to 6:45 PM including question and answer session.
• Housekeeping discussion is at 6:45 PM, ending by 7 PM.

Daily Workflow:

• Day 1 - Morning Intro + House tour. Afternoon: Tool Basics and Tool Organization
• Day 2 - Walls build
• Day 3 - Roof Trusses build
• Day 4 - Roof Box + Floor modules Build
• Day 5 - Morning: Concrete Pour Preparation. Afternoon: Concrete pour
• Day 6 House Build! Floor Install for 3 sections. Section 3: Interior and Exterior Walls on Section 3. 5 minutes.
  • Section 1 is used to build roof section 3 in parallel including PV
• Day 7 - Section 1 Roof Build + PV - house closed in. Windows and siding.
• Day 8 - Plumbing, Water, Electrical including PV connection. Afternoon water connection + pump vault.
• Day 9 - Front and Back Porch. Interior: tub
• Day 10 - Drywall, Heat Pump, painting
• Day 11 - Cabinets, toilets, water heaters, finish exterior trim
• Day 12 - Thermal Battery v1.0, geothermal, flooring
• Day 13 - Biodigester v1.0

Shared Pictures Folder

Add your photos and see why you should add your photos and videos at Future Builders Crash Course Video Plan:

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMx9bFAmzAFiJp4t5oABCPqGnszLMa3CM-FuVJshQ8jhRvXNX_i6oPautwze_ikRA?key=VVZJX0FJa0lyOUNJNG1lOFA4LWJISXoxdEN4MkRn

Logistics Form

Workshop Logistics

Feedback Form

Please spend the time to provide feedback to help us improve the Future Builders Crash Course (FBCC) in the future. Our goal is to satisfy the section of the population (about 1%, or 60 million people worldwide) who are currently interested in building their own home. Towards this, 1000 FBCC courses would have to be run per month across the globe to satisfy the global need of effective DIY construction. We see this as an enterprise opportunity that can be an outcome of the Future Builders Academy Apprenticeship - training enterprise-minded collaborators to replicate similar education/production operations around the globe as an open, collaborative franchise providing mass creation of right livelihood. Note that we are highly interested in the FBCC as a replicable education product - a product just like any of the machines in the Global Village Construction Set.

There were many 'situation factors' - freezing weather, mud, exploded water heater, inadequate tool control and working space, insufficient space inside the Hangar due to the partial completion of the Hangar, a flexible curriculum that changed based on state of completion, chaos (see Nietzsche on Chaos) which produced challenging conditions during the workshop. Note that none of these will exist with continuing improvent - whose need we are well aware of:

• Completion of the Hangar - from 50x50 feet of available space to 50x160 workshop space, with all materials available indoors without even having to leave the building
• Completion of a kitchen and bathroom inside the Hangar - bringing food to the worksite - and minimizing time going back and forth to other buildings to eat and go to the restrooms
• Insulation and installation of 100kW of solar panels on the roof, and installing 100,000 BTU of heat pumps to heat and cool the space
• Completion of the Rapid Learning Facility - for rapid build kits that assist in acceleration of the learning process 5x

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)
2. 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)
3. What specific teachings did we not cover in the FBCC that you would have liked to be covered in future FBCC courses?

• how much did you participate? Ex, on Sunday, there were only about 20 people in Hangar.
• What certification would you like? We will provide a certificate.
• What did you learn - list top 3 things. Expand with more feedback - this will help us learn.
• What would your ideal food plan be for the workshop if you were to design it? Buffet? Cater? Hangar kitchen? Self-serve? Location in workshop OK?
• Suggestions for increasing participation of people who came to program?
• Would you recommend this to others? If not, what would this program need to provide for youbro recommend it to others? Do you have suggestions for how we could execute the missing item effectively?

1. What was the favorite thing about the FBCC?
2. Would you recommend the FBCC to someone else?
3. What improvements do you suggest? ( This will help us to implement the changes that are desirable for future participants)

• What worked well? How to improve?
• What didn't work for you? How to improve?

Working Docs

• Main Working Doc - both preparation and during workshop - [2]
• Bug List

Theory Sessions Requests

Participants - please list subjects here so I can make sure I can cover them during the theory sessions in the workshop.

1. How to design any shape or form of the house - Richard
2. Cold Weather Issues for House: Hot VS cold roof, snow load rating, continuous vapor barriers and insulation for the wall modules. - Mark M

Theory Session Recordings

• Session 4 - Integrating Food Production into Homes Webinar - presentation - [3]
• Session 3 - Seed Eco-Home Utilities Webinar - [4]
• Session 2 - Collaborative Litaracy - presentation - [5] - YouTube -
• Session 1 - Big Picture - presentation - [6] - YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxlk4BNToDk

Video Plan

See Future Builders Crash Course Video Plan for how we will document the build with time lapse, build details, and testimonials - and why you should contribute to this documentation.

Food Plan

• BCC Food Plan
• December Food Purchases

Prep Session Recordings

Newest on top:

• 6 - Utilities + FreeCAD 1 TechDraw - [7]
• 5 - Roof Truss Design - [8]
• 4 - Cheatsheet Generation - [9]
• 3 - Modular Breakdown Process - [10]
• 2 - Intro to FreeCAD and Collaborative Process - [11]
• 1 - Intro to FreeCAD - [12]

Email - Prep Sessions

Email 2

Friends,  Here is the recording from yesterday's session on the Modular Breakdown process for collaboration in the December swarm build. https://wiki.opensourceecology.org/wiki/Future_Builders_Crash_Course_-_December_2025#Prep_Session_Recordings

Please review it - and join us tonight at 7 PM CST USA time as mentioned in the video for a practical session of modular breakdown - core preparation for the build. It will be recorded.  If you miss it, review the recording. 16 people have stated in the Logistics form that they will bring their laptop. Great. We will have 12 desktops with monitors in the shop as well.

17 people stated they could bring a cordless drill. That's great. We have about 18 more here. We need a total of one per participant - or 50. To the cordless drill - please add cordless circular saw if you have one and can bring one. We have 6 cordless saws here and 5 corded. Bring a tape measure, hammer, and snap string line for marking - if you have one. Based on your responses - we'll get more of the above.

 If you haven't filled out the Logistics form yet - please do so now so we can coordinate better. Or if you have - please respond and update me with the cordless saw, string line, tape, and hammer.

Thanks, Marcin

Email 1

Hello Friends,

Welcome to the Future Builders Crash Course for December 1-14, 2025. Here are some prep notes.

 

We have massive turnout for the Future Builders Crash Course due to the video that went viral. We currently have about 40 people registered for the course. This means that we will have more fun - as the entire swarm build will be easier and faster. This will perhaps be the most exciting build since 2016, when we built the first Seed Eco-Home with 48 people.

 

To get the most out of it - here are prep steps:

 

1. Join preparatory video calls 

2. Download and study the master CAD file

 

We will hold the first one tomorrow, Thursday, Nov 6 - 7 PM CST USA time.

 

If you are a direct or remote participant - join us and learn about the house, the CAD file, the FreeCAD, the subsystems. It's all optional. You'll get more out of the build if you join. We will record and publish each session if you cannot make it. Same link as above for all meetings. Meetings will run 45 minutes, with 15 minutes for discussion and Q&A. You can ask various questions outside of the actual build procedures.

 

Rough schedule for the video calls is:

 

1. Thursday, November 6, 7 PM CST USA time (same link for all meetings). Downloading FreeCAD, CAD file, and viewing the file. Generating build instructions in Google Slides.

2. Friday, November 7, 7 PM CST USA time. Build Breakdown: 3 main house sections, how to organize the swarm build process.

3. Thursday, November 13, 7 PM CST USA time. Materials used. Going through the CAD file to extract materials information. Overview of tools and techniques. The philosophy of how to build: measure, mark, cut. 

4. Friday, November 14, 7 PM CST USA time. Wall modules, roof, and exterior finish procedures..

5. Thursday, November 20, 7 PM CST USA time. Build order. Upgrading and manipulating the CAD file for extraction of build procedures. Team formation for swarm build: modular build teams.

6. Friday, November 21, 7 PM CST USA time. Plumbing and electrical build.

7. Wednesday, November 26, 7 PM CST USA time. Heat pump, water heaters, induction cooktop, vents and penetrations. 

8. Friday, November 28 (Thurday the 27th is Thanksgiving), 7 PM CST USA time. Subsystems: PV, electrical, biodigester, thermal battery.

 

The above are for all registrants where we get into the nitty-gritty of viewing the master CAD file. We will teach you how to view and analyze the design fully. All the details are in the CAD. During the workshop, we plan on setting up 6 computer terminals with the file - for the different teams to view. In conjunction with other documentation - you can see all the build details transparently. It's all in the CAD file. This requires a basic level of computer literacy, and can be learned in a few hours.

To get inolved in this part - do steps 1-3 below if you want to review the whole design in CAD. Do 4-7 if you would like to contribute to documentation. Documentation is never done. We work on it constantly to make the build easier.

1. Download FreeCAD. FreeCAD 1 is the version you want.
2. Download the master file for the home - SEH6 - Assembly.fcstd is the file you want from https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZVXjMMDMpyf0OuwnUzpeGdPN9QGeJ0AV
3. Practice Hiding and Unhiding Parts in FreeCAD.
4. Practice generating Technical Drawings from FreeCAD - if you dare! We will cover this in the prep session.
5. Get familiar with Google Slides - such as writing and formatting text, inserting pictures, using various drawing tools within Google Slides, adding hyperlinks, embedding YouTube videos, etc.
6. Start a Work Log if you would like to contribute to upgradeable documentation, so that you can share your work with others. Embed a Time Log if you would like to count in the overall development of open source civilization. We will produce screenshots from FreeCAD for build instructions. The entire build process can be extracted from the master file!
7. Learn to upload files to the OSE wiki. See Wiki Instructions.

 

If you do one thing to prepare - download FreeCAD for your computer, and study it. It is the full house. We plan to build EVERYTHING that you see in that file. So the more you know about the design, the more you will get out of the workshop. I suggest you open the file, click view/hide for each part in the part tree - and you can examine every single detail at the module level. The file has about 400 parts. These are in about 50 sub-folders. These are in 8 folders. Start by hiding and un-hiding the 8 main folders. Then hide all the folders, and view one at a time. Such as Kitchen. Unfold that folder - and go through the same exercise hiding and unhiding all of its subfolders.

You can do this ad infinitum. We suggest you spend hours doing this. At the workshop, we will ask you first - how many hours did you spend on this exercise? This is actually data for us. Do people care? Do people review the materials beforehand? If not, what are the blocks?

On logistics -  

1. Please confirm with me how many people are in your group if more than one so I can verify my count. 

2. And summarize which specific parts of the build are most interesting to you. If you have build experience - let us know what your experience is and let us know what you are proficient at - and what you would like to learn more about. We are planning the event to allocate build roles as effectively as possible, so that we get the most out of the workshop and guarantee the highest level of completion possible.

3. If a person who should be receiving this email did not receive it - send me their email so I can add them.

Thanks, and see you tomorrow,

Marcin

Audience Feedback and Testimonials

• Tim Dooley - My name is Tim Dooley, I'm signed up for the December crash course. I'm responding to your logistics inquiries from your previous email. I have my own compliment of hand tools, drill and driver, and cordless saw.

I'm a carpenter and spent about 5 years working for a remodeling company in Minneapolis. I'm familiar with the fundamentals of carpentry and framing, but no experience with plumbing, electrical, HVAC, ect. The aspects of the build I'm interested in are first, the design. I'd like to become proficient in using the freeCAD software with the intention of using it in my own work. Additionally, I'm interested in expanding my understanding of the various other trades required for home building. Overall, I'm eager to learn this system of home building, see it implemented, and hopefully I can take what I learn here and integrate it in my own work.

In my experience working in the trades, I've been pretty disappointed in how little I've learned about the home building process beyond the tasks of a carpenter. Each aspect of a build is so compartmentalized, it's hard to gain an understanding of how the whole system works together. Additionally, one of the draws for working in the trades was the value that building and fixing homes can bring to individuals and families, and by extension, communities and society at large. But in my albeit limited experience, the only people that could afford the kind of work the companies I've worked for offered were people that already owned homes. They just wanted nicer ones. There was never any prospect that the work I was would to provide value for people who didn't already have access to sufficient housing to begin with. In a relatively small way, I felt that my work was only broadening the socioeconomic gap that's preventing any real upward mobility for lower and middle class Americans. I left the company I was working for a while back feeling pretty disenchanted, and with a strong belief that in order to alleviate the issue of affordable housing, new systems will have to be developed, parallel to the existing ones, and outside the prevailing industry paradigms. I think the vision of your organization and the goals of this course align with my own ambitions, and I'm excited to learn as much as I can and see what happens next.

Links

• Seed Eco-Home Future Builder Crash Course
• Registration - [13]
• Apprenticeship - [14]
• Future Builders Academy
• September 2025 Future Builders Crash Course