Modern Cabin Concept Requirements + Value Proposition

Problem Statement

Observation: there's a demand for modest, flexible housing, suited for temporary residents like students, short-to-medium-term employees, workers, workshop participants. These structures would optimally be cheap, fast & easy to build. They would mostly serve as sleeping quarters and spaces giving privacy to the residents, not necessarily requiring all the amenities of a full-time or full-size home, unlike a Seed Eco Home.

Factor-e-Farm and similar intentional communities are in need of such a solution. And there's interest from similar Intentional Communities as well.

A similar problem is faced by people who have acquired some land, but do not yet have a livable home built on it, and won't be able to do so any time soon. For example, due to lack of resources to buy the materials for a SEH-style house, or inability to organize a swarm build. Even with sufficient construction skills, it could therefore take someone a long time to build a livable home this way.

These people would therefore benefit from a cheap, simple, & rapidly built structure to serve as a home until the funds can be earned to start the build of a SEH, or during the longer construction phase if only one or a handful of people are able to work on the project.

Possible solutions

One possible solution for student housing is building dorm-style structures like the HabLab. The advantage is a big common space with full kitchen and sewer hook-ups. A downside is that there is very little privacy for residents, as the common space is adjacent to the private rooms and roommates/other participants/students often hang out there, taking up space and creating noise.

Another model is the "village commons" idea: a common, larger structure (SEH6) centered in the area with full hook ups like kitchen and sewer. It serves the same purpose as the common place in the HabLab does.

But the actual private residences/sleeping quarters are proposed to be spread around the common structure. One could purchase a number of ready-to-assemble cabin kits to serve this purpose. Two of these have already been assembled, one of them serving to house the Bio Digester for SEH6.

These ready-to-assemble cabins are an OK fit for this use, but far from optimal. For one, they're expensive. The ones purchased retail for $5,000 or more (https://www.ezlogstructures.com/models/toronto/). The cabins assemble relatively quickly, but storing the kits outside in the elements, even under tarps, led to significant warping of the very thin wood, which created problems during assembly.

The cabins do not come with a foundation, and creating one is among the most time intensive parts of putting them up. They are also structurally quite weak, with no real framing and the entire cabin just being made of very thin tongue-and-groove wood. There is also zero insulation, and the roof, equally being made from tongue-and-groove, isn't particularly waterproof.

Additionally, they do not feature any electrical or heating, although these could be retro fitted, given the incredibly bare bones nature of the kits.

In short, the cabins are not ideal for this use case, even if they could potentially be retrofitted.

One advantage they have over dorm-style housing is that they can be built off grid without power, water, or sewage hook up: in the dorm style scenario, residents can simply use those facilities in the shared space (Hablab, SEH6). In the "bare land" scenario, temporary off-grid facilities can be used until more permanent arrangements are installed as part of a larger, more permanent structure like a SEH.

Another possible solution is using RVs or offering RV hook ups. The issue here is that RVs themselves are quite expensive, often far in excess of a full-blown Seed Eco Home. They are thus impractical both for dorm-style housing of students/workers/participants, and as a cheap & temporary housing solution.

Potential Solution: The Modern Cabin Concept

The idea of the Modern Cabin Concept is to use the same design & build techniques from the SEH for a much smaller, cabin-like structure. It would likely be similar in size to the prebuilt cabin kits, e.g. 10x12ft. But instead of the flimsy tongue-and-groove, the entire structure would be more sound and built-out with structural framing, sheathing, insulation, and possibly simple off-grid electrical or water systems.

In terms of rough-in systems, various options could be explored. Installing a small (12v?) electrical systems with 2 solar panels on the roof would be simple & cheap, and would likely suffice for most modest needs - after all, residents wouldn't be running stoves, ovens, washers, dryers, or, likely, even fridges in there. Solar panels, 12v LED lights and a cheap commercial power bank would likely be enough to light the structure at night, provide power to charge phones & laptops, and so on. These would likely total <$500 for the entire electrical systems, but even that could be considered optional for some cases.

In terms of water and sewage, the Modern Cabins would be off-grid by default, with residents expected to use the shared facilities in the dorm scenario, or bring their own temporary solutions (separating toilet, water jugs) as grid connections would likely not yet exist on non-developed land.

Since installing the pipes is the cheap & easy part (compared to getting grid hook up), the Modern Cabins could be fitted with simple water inlet/drain pipe systems for later hook up. Or, they could simply be designed in a way that makes it easy to retrofit these later. For example, an easily accessible utility wall module. Again, this could be changed depending on the anticipated use-case.

Finally, since the cabin size is very small, it could be transported in full on a trailer. In fact, a 40ft trailer that can accommodate 10ft in width might be able to hold up to 3 cabins at a time? These would be significantly easier to deliver in a completed state than the SEH.

Tools, Materials & Crew

In terms of tools, the Modern Cabin should be easy to build with only the most basic power tools. Ideally, nothing more than a drill, impact driver, and circular saw. This would allow people to buy into the idea for ~$250 in total tool costs depending on brands & discounts, or by simply borrowing these common tools from friends & family.

Materials would be nearly identical to the SEH with structural lumber, OSB sheathing, and a similar style of floor modules and tapered roof trusses, all built as modules. 2x4 lumber could be used instead of the 2x6s in the SEH, since overall roof weight will be much lower and there are no plans to expand to a 2nd story (although a loft space might be explored for 1.5 floors). Insulation wise, either thinner layers of the same fiber glass insulation might be used, or sheets of foam insulation if the trade-off between increased cost & space savings (thinner walls in the much smaller structure) is considered worth it.

Height would be more modest than the SEH to simplify build & keep cost down by using e.g. 8' sheets of OSB or 8' lumber.

Total material costs should be kept as low as reasonably possible, possibly as low as $2,000. In addition, keeping the total dimensions & weight of materials to one full-size pickup load or similar would be a significant factor, as it would allow to get all the required materials in a single trip to the hardware store.

In terms of crew, the Modern Cabin should be designed to be completed by a small group (2-3) of relatively unskilled people in a long weekend (3-4 days) of full-time work. This includes not just framing but also any rough-in systems and interior.

In short: grab a friend who owns some basic power tools, take one trip to the hardware store on a Friday afternoon, and complete your small home by Sunday evening.

Teaching Benefits

Another benefit of the Modern Cabin Concept: while it would be similar in construction style/design/techniques to the Seed Eco Home, it would have vastly reduced scope. It could therefore serve as a much easier, faster to complete workshop goal for future workshops like the Builder Crash Course.

While previous Builder Crash Courses have taken SEH builds to near completion of the framing, foundation, and parts of rough-in or insulation in the past, a Modern Cabin could use the same techniques (modular design etc.) to finish the entire structure in just a handful of days, even with a much smaller number of people.

Since the scope of a singular Modern Cabin would be pretty small compared to a SEH, the number to be constructed could easily be scaled up to accomodate workshop sizes. If only 5 people show up to a particular crash course, they could build 1-2 cabins. If 50 people show up, 15-20 cabins might be built.

It would be a much easier goal to "complete" such a Modern Cabin to 100% including interior compared to a SEH build, even for participants starting at very novice skill levels. This would ensure a satisfactory feeling of having achieved the course goal for everyone.

Since the building design & style of the Modern Cabin is almost identical to the SEH, skills learned would translate directly to a SEH build, either in a follow-up course or when building one's own SEH independently. Materials, tools, designs, and techniques would be familiar and merely expand in scope and detail. E.g. different sizes of lumber & sheathing, addition of more specialized tools, and simply having to build way more modules overall due to the scope.

An additional teaching benefit: there wouldn't just be 1 instance of some of the systems in use, like electrical or potentially water (if those were included in the build, they could be optional stretch goals), if multiple cabins were built. If teams of e.g. 3 people built each Modern Cabin, nearly everybody would get a chance to participate in nearly every part of the build. In the SEH build, certain parts simply don't allow for more than 1-2 people to work on them per build. Examples in the most recent Builders Crash Course were the breaker panel and the heat pump (although building 2 offered double the chance for participants to work on those) as well as drain and water inlet (PEX) pipes.

Build-Your-Own-Housing

One practical & rewarding experience would be for course participants to build their own housing in the first few days or weeks of an apprenticeship or similar longer-term program.

They would shop up and stay in existing accomodations for a few days or a week, learning the most basic skills & tools required to build the Modern Cabin. Then, as one of their first projects, they would build their own accomodations, possibly in teams of 2-3 or even alone, and move in just a handful of days later.

This would provide an amazingly satisfying feeling of achievement and liberation to participants, and free up the common dorm-style housing for others that have yet to arrive.

Cost

This is all rough estimates for a 10x12 cabin. <$1,000 would be great, but seems unlikely at current prices. Maybe in the future with OSS materials from a sawmill etc.

Walls

2x4s: $165

OSB sheating: $175

Insulation: $200

House wrap: $44

Metal siding: $630

Floor

2x4s: $45

OSB sheating: $60

Treated plywood: $200

Insulation: $36

Underlayment: $48

Vinyl flooring: $240

Roof

2x4s (w/ strongbacks): $65

OSB sheating: $60

Insulation: $36

Metal roofing: $185

Door: $265

Window: $140

Total: $2,594

Despite being cheaper than the pre-built cabin kits already, this includes much more: besides the sturdier construction, it also includes insulation, a foundation (not included in the kits), a metal roof & siding, and vinyl plank flooring.

The total cost could potentially be brought <$2,000 with some savings, e.g. by going with cheaper materials.

Fasteners are not included in the cost estimate for now, but would likely add another few hundreds dollars.

A basic solar/12v electrical setup could be added for about $500.

Irresistible Offer

I am highly motivated to work on the Modern Cabin Concept project. Having both stayed at the HabLab and visited it as a non-resident during my 2 crash courses, and having assembled one of the cabin kits, I am quite familiar with the demands and challenges as well as potential solutions.

On top of that, I intend to purchase some land of my own. To have a place to stay while building out a real, full-size house there, I intend to construct a cabin first.

I believe that the MCC would be a valuable addition to the OSE solution to Housing.

It offers:

• Cheap, easy & quick way of establishing a small yet comfortable home anywhere, even off-grid
• Flexible, affordable, and privacy-capable living quarters for students, workers, workshop participants, or similar
• Smaller scope workshop goal that is suitable for novice builders and small teams
• Introduction to the OSE building method with similar tools, materials, and techniques as are used by the Seed Eco Home
• Satisfying first "win" when apprentices build their own accomodations from scratch

In order to design, plan, and prototype the Modern Cabin Concept, I suggest a 6 month project collaboration to establish a Minimal Viable Product or v0.1 of the cabin.

Goals:

• Brainstorm & price out a few configurations to see what budget & creature comforts can be included
• Pick one of the options that seems the most practical and useful
• Ideally, it would be something like "1 pickup load from the hardware store, 2 people, 3 power tools, 4 days, under $2,000"
• Create a CAD model, BOM & cut list for it
• Build at least one prototype, e.g. at FeF or a nearby intentional community
• Document & review the construction process to gather a round of initial feedback and potential improvements
• If applicable, construct RLF "classroom" kits to teach basic techniques

Schedule

• 6 month project, starting in February 2026 (depends on SEH6 build status, maybe the next Builder Crash Course, ..)
• 2 days a week work on SEH or similar construction to finance the program
• 3 days a week R&D, prototyping, and building the MCC
• The 3 days would consist of collaboration with OSE, independent research, design & prototyping, and eventually building of the first cabin
• GVCS development could be targeted on demand, when certain tools or materials are required or would heavily benefit from Open Source solutions. That being said, I estimate most of these to require very serious development time, so it's unlikely that we'd develop & build a full sawmill during the 6 months
• Vacation flexible: reasonable amounts can be worked out, during which neither work occurs nor stipend is paid, so it's just "no-op" downtime

Tuition & Stipend

• Housing provided (FeF?), possibly soon in a Modern Cabin?
• As I have specific diet requirements, no food needs to be provided, I'll take care of it myself
• A stipend of $1,000/mo for food, gas & tool money
• The 2 days of work plus a bit of "grant" money from OSE should be able to finance the project

Hangar + RLF condition

• Due to the small size of the MCC, even the RLF should be enough as a workshop. I estimate 1-2 bays being used for modules.
• We could build the prototype cabin in the Hangar if space permits (builder crash courses will take up space?) and the weather calls for it. Otherwise, cabins might be constructed at the desired target location after modules are built in the RLF

Production infrastructure requirements

• Once a reasonable level of quality, process & price is established we can turn it into a v1 (production ready)
• With a polished production process, each RLF or Hangar bay should enable a team of 2 to build all MCC modules in a day
• Assembly would require a certain amount of height, not sure if the RLF is tall enough to accomodate a fully built-out 8ft tall cabin on floor modules?
• If not, could assemble in Hangar or outside, then load onto trailers via telehandler
• Alternatively, completed modules & materials could be shipped to the target site in a pickup or trailer and assembled on site

Materials budget

• OSE would provide workspace & materials for prototyping. I have many of my own tools, but OSE could provide some more specialized tools - then again, keeping it simple on tools is part of the idea to make it easy to reproduce.
• I estimate that we'd spend maybe 2-3x the cost of a single cabin (i.e. $5,000-$7,500) on prototyping various aspects of the MCC. E.g. we could test out different types of foundations, materials, insulation, electrical, etc. in materials for R&D&P

Service Project

• Once design & plan are established, build a Modern Cabin for someone. This could either be "the prototype" or an additional cabin.
• Could be a community project where they pay for materials and we donate labor, or, if materials are donated, possibly for someone in need

Conclusion

I'm quite excited about developing the Modern Cabin Concept. I think it solves the problem of privacy-focused yet affordable living quarters faced by rapidly growing communities like FeF or other intentional communities. The ability to be built rapidly on-demand even by very small crews allows for flexible expansion in such communities. Its off-grid design also enables SEH builders to quickly move onto an undeveloped piece of land, to hit the ground running. In addition, it would be a valuable teaching tool for smaller scope workshops, arriving apprentices, or participants with less experience.

MJ Comments

(Answers from Goto interspersed)

Gimme some data points on clear specification, and success metrics on both the design front and the enterprise model front

Success metrics on design: I'd say staying around the $2,000-3,000 range, depending on configuration, with big box materials (could be cheaper w/ open source materials of course). Ease of building, complete finish time "in a long weekend" so say 2-4 full-time days. All while maintaining similar standards in construction & interior quality to a SEH.

On the enterprise front: I don't know much about enterprise and haven't thought of it. I suppose on the "cheaper or better" basis we could say these cabins could be sold for the same price ($5k+) as commercial ones, but they'll be much sturdier & nicer. Coming up with & testing enterprise models could be part of the 6 month collaboration? E.g. maybe people love shipping finished modules & precut stuff to site, maybe they hate it & prefer onsite install by us. Maybe there's demand for both, depending.

Clarity on enterprise model so we can even assess whether the thing failed or succeeded? Is the enterprise one for onsulting for self-build, turnkey packaged kit, drop shipped kit + you go to the store yourself, finished build delivered on a trailer, completely finished kit with foundation? Or, an education kit - a 'cabin trainer' like the various training kits that go into the Rapid Learning Facility?

I think the "cabin trainer/RLF" part is viable independent of any commercial/enterprise success. The other parts, I'm not sure yet - like mentioned above, figuring out a business model could be part of the 6 months?

The options you mention are definitely all interesting:

• Build it yourself following open source instructions (maybe consulting/helpful calls for a couple hundred bucks?)
• Drop ship kit & assemble yourself
• Finished build delivered on trailer (with or without foundation/installation?)

Is the current cost of $2500 acceptable? Is the goal to include up-front capitalization, such as CEB, turnkey Norwood sawmill, or 3D printing which can reduce the costs drastically? For example, we can replace treated lumber with plastic lumber for the foundation.

I think that replacing big box materials with open source materials would be great, both in terms of independence but also potential cost savings. That said, the average person downloading the open source instructions could be anywhere and might not have access to that, even if we had our own sawmill at FeF.

Since comparably-sized but way lower quality/no finish cabins go for $5k+ easy, I think that $2,500 is still a great deal for what you're getting. If we can shave off cost even more by open sourcing materials, so much for the better. It'd be an advantage for producing such cabins for FeF housing, for the "cabin trainer/RLF" aspect, and if we sell & ship them to other places.

Value proposition: What product is this trying to do? On one side it is an example of the OSE style modular and efficient build. Is that all there is, or is there another core value that we are pursuing? Is the proposed value one of a killer interior design? What is the interior finish detail?

I think the other core value, besides the learning/training aspect, is solving cheap/temporary housing in group settings like intentional communities. I think there's currently no obvious answer and people do various things like containers, old RVs, dorm style housing.. I think a modern cabin would be a pretty good & easy solution for the problem.

Since the cabins would be pretty small, I don't know if you could impress with a "killer" interior design. I've mocked up a little floor plan in Sweethome 3D and it basically fits a bed, a small desk & chair, and a wardrobe or shelf. Not much more space. That said, I think it's like a "cozy little room" which is the intention.

The level of interior finish I would assume to be solid & decent but maybe not extravagant. It's a cabin after all. What I'm imagining right now is basically similar to the SEH minus some of the fancier/more intricate things. E.g. same metal siding, same type of doors/windows, same vinyl planks. Furniture could be included or not, not sure which is preferable. This could be a package you can add, or bring your own furniture since it'd be pretty basic, no kitchen islands or huge double vanities or anything of that nature.

Since it's a cabin, not sure if drywall + painting is the optimal interior option? Cabins are often finished with wood, tongue & grove etc. It certainly would fit the rustic style, but is it actually easier and cheaper? We could try to math it out or just build one of each and see.

Documentation Plan - can you do a FreeCAD Modern Cabin Design Workbench and Estimator? This would be relevant for upgrades, additions, and would be excellent teaching material.

Plan is definitely to create a FreeCAD model. Do you mean a specific workbench? I'm not very familiar with how workbenches are designed (yet) so not sure that makes sense, wouldn't it just be a "building" or maybe "OSE style building" workbench? Also, what do you mean by "estimator?" Selecting options & it estimates a price for you?

Compare kit cost for 2x6 vs 2x4. Is 2x4 worth it, if 2x6 could lead to a permanent structure? Is there any other way that you can think for scalability/expansion if 2x6 is not used? 2x6 also allows stacking with telehandler to 4 stories. That is compelling for the 10000 EPCOT, ie, a turnkey civilization.

Valid point, the 2x4s would probably only save a couple hundreds bucks over 2x6s. I was going for price, but we might have way more options by spending $100 extra on 2x6s. This is all stuff we could think through, math out, or try during the 6 month program.

Specifications and Outcomes

• Clarity on cost for model chosen
• Clarity for build time if selling kits
• Clarity on automation model - is this just for manual build, or are getting serious about 3D printing, where right now we could 3d pring modules 4x4 foot in size? Is it worth investing in the 3D print infrastructure or is it about big box stores?

I think figuring all these out, thinking through trade-offs, and mathing out the exact cost would be part of the program. In short, much of it would be the discovery process of which version to build, and not just the engineering or design of that specific version.

E.g. maybe this is intended as an easy thing everybody with a cordless drill & access to a big box store could build. A decentralized, easy entry point into open source building. Or maybe we could design it in ways that make it much easier or cheaper with more complex open source methods like 3D printing. Maybe these are easy substitutions, and maybe big design differences. I don't even know, that'd be part of the discovery.

If low cost housing is key, what is role of CEB? Can this be where a kit is framed, and we use CEB infill for walls?

Similar to the above answer: we could figure it out. I have never even built anything with CEB, so in my mind it's all wooden framing like the SEH. But we could build one prototype with CEB infill and see how that works? I do love CEBs as an idea due to making your own, local material. Plus the building qualities (thermal mass & noise reduction) in the HabLab are impressive, so would love to try it out.

If low cost housing is key - do we want to consider sawmill and self-milled lumber at this time? OSE would gladly get an off-the-shelf automated sawmill ($25k) so we mill the necessary wood in a day. So: are we optimizing cost or ease of build? With off-the-shelf parts, there is not much to optimize on cost. It gets interesting from the cost perspective once we consider materials production

I think this would be great. Sounds like we could just substitute lower-cost lumber from our own source then, driving down the price. That said, I think that making it accessible with big box materials is still a good goal. If this allows us to drive down the price from e.g. $2,500 to $2,000 or $1,800, that's awesome, but we should still keep it affordable for people without access to such a sawmill.

What is the role of Quad Modules integration - is this about optimizing for integration of such modules so that the design/build is absolutely optimized?

Due to the small size of a cabin, I think it'd be a neat example of having exactly 1 quad module, and everything else be just a dumb module. You don't even need a utility wall like in the SEH, there would be at most a single faucet/drain, if that. In terms of electrical, might not even need any outlets if we power it just with a commercial off the shelf power station. Although a wired overhead (12v?) light and switch might be nice. We could explore all those.

What is the goal for 6 months? First prototype? 3 prototypes? Beta release ready for early adopter sales? Turnkey product for one-click buy on a website? How far into the productization are we going in 6 months?

A big goal is "discovery." There are lots of variations and options and methods. E.g. 2x4 vs. 2x6, how to do the foundation, how to do the roof. How complex in terms of water & electrical? Optimized for ease of build/access at big box stores, or more specialized? I think this will lead us to figure out what the actual goals for such a cabin are, e.g. cheapest possible vs. more flexible/EPCOT building block vs. teaching tool vs. easy way for newbies to get into open source building on their own..

Once we decide on a good variant that makes sense for our goals, I'm imagining 1-3 prototypes. Honestly I think the pure build times won't be that long, but documenting and trying stuff out always takes way longer.

We could also do exploration into the enterprise aspect of it, if that is one of the goals. As I mentioned, I hadn't even thought of the enterprise part yet.

Definitely want to be able to give beta access to early adopters like local intentional communities.

Who is signing up for the team?

Me (Goto) and I'll try and recruit at least one other FBCC alum, maybe two.

Is the OSE Cost here $1k/month stipend, plus materials?

Yes, $1k/mo stipend per team member plus materials.