SEH 2 Revenue Model Scenarios
Is the Seed Eco-Home more affordable than any other home available in the marketplace? There are several very compelling cases which make the Seed Eco-Home - a 10x better solution. Let's examine the financial model under various scenarios.
DIY Build Model
Summary: A 1000 square foot house that you and a partner can build in 2 weeks, for $60k
If one already has land, and does not live in the city, and one builds the house themselves - the costs are the lowest:
- Material cost - $60k fpr a 1000 square foot home
- Plans, engineering, build instructions - free download from the OSE site. See TOC.
- Electrical Connection - $10-30k. $500 for a subpanel if electric already exists.
- Off-grid system - $6k
- Labor cost - 2 people, 2-4 weeks - after spending a number of weekends building.
- Expected complete build time is 500-2000 hours, 500 for OSE-certified apprentices - 2000 for a complete novice. About half the time goes into module preparation, and half the time goes to assembly + finishing details.
What is the extreme example: a capable, motivated (hungry), DIY couple, who work full time jobs. Spend $60k on materials and their shipping onsite. They stake out and pour a foundation. They start on a flat lot with suitable soil.
Then over about 60 weekends - they each spend 8 hours on Saturday to build. They build the modules, and stash them. Total hour count is 1000.
This means that after about one year - while keeping their full time job - they build all the modules and are ready to assemble their house.
Then the 2 people spend 2 weeks - assembling it all- to the point that they can move in. This would be a 1-story structure - because to build a 2-story is harder, and recommended only for the most capable DIY people. There are larger risks - such as falling off a ladder if there are 2 stories. Most construction people are injured in ladder falls.
Is 2 weeks enough to the point of moving in? It will be a long 2 weeks, but rewarding. There may be trim details left, such as baseboard, top, window, and utility channel trim. But by move-in - house is painted, floors are finished. 2 weeks means 240 hours of work total - 60 hour weeks for each person. Only experienced people would be able to do this. For an average person - the more realistic scenario would be getting 2-4 more friends to help out. This becomes completely doable. The majority of the work has been done in the module build phase - and especially as we evolve this to the full potential - the 2 weeks becomes completely realistic. This means dedicated, ongoing development for improvements.
You may still ask - is the house finished by then? The real answer is - a house is never finished. When a house is sold, it on average contains only 20% of the overall work to the house. Additions, maintenance, and modification of the house takes another 5x effort and cost! This is especially easy to understand for the Seed Eco-Home. As Incremental Housing - we build not a crappy house - but 'half of a good home'!
Turnkey Production
Lifetime Costs
Average household size- 2.65 [1]