Seed Home 2 Strategy
Contents
Target Audience
- At the most fundamental level, there is the technical skill necessary to build a house. Specific parts include foundation build, for which we can specify rigorous procedures. We can specify the plumbing rough-in exactly, followed by walls. Then utilities and finishing. For a build that takes 400 hours of time ($10k labor at standard carpenter rates), we should be able to train new individuals easily. The target market here is upskilling low-skill workers, for which they should find value in terms of 'moving up in management'. The promise here could indeed be starting one's own construction business, so that the low skilled worker moves up to entrepreneurship and responsibility.
- Tech School Track - Diversified Builder. 3 months. Thus emerges the basic track: skilling the unskilled worker, which may come from the blu collar class but also from the educated class who is looking for practical skills. The call there is, "Do you want to learn to build things, with practical skills, beyond your study texboooks?" Or simply reaching out to workers from trade schools, where we can talk to guidance counselors regarding placement. Trade schools and hackerspaces may be a place to advertise for the 'new talent.' Unlike regular trade school, we focus on progressive methods, including renewable energy, sustainable building materials, onsite waste processing and materials production (plastic lumber, fuel pellets, compost, hydrogen), and learning how to be an effective person. This track is something that anyone considering tech school may want to consider.
- Tech School Track - House Designer. 3 months, can be taken at same time as Builder track. We can offer a designer track. This involves doing redesign, and preparing construction documents using open source CAD and visual design software. This is about detail-orientation - preparing construction details, and doing basic engineering analysis, minimally with tables as opposed to any first-principle calculations.
- Note that one may take the Builder track only, or House Designer Track only, but we encourage candidates to start with building and definitely upskill to the design aspect - considering both at the end.
- Next in line is the Enterprise Track. This now gets into night school, with an intensive course that can be taken at the same time as the Builder/Designer tracks. This is only for very ambitious individuals who want to maximize their learning and earnings. which once again should come after the Builder and Designer tracks. The enterprise track now delves into financing, marketing, customer acquisition, and management. Once the candidate learns to build and design regenerative solutions for housing at scale, they are in a good position to expand this effort to start an enterprise. We have a track that teaches people the enterprise side. We also create cost structures that are more favorable than industry standards - paying better than market rate, while encouraging others to do the same.
- Next is the Distributive Enterprise Track, where we funnel people explicitly into ongoing R&D using our methods. This is where we hire the candidates to work for us. The work involves fulfilling housing orders through the entire chain of production to the point of occupancy. The Distributive Enterprise Track is a 1 year program, pending successful completion of the Tech School tracks of Build/Design/Enterprise. This track focuses on collaborative literacy for effective teamwork to change the economy to a collaborative one.
- Next is the OSE Fellow track, which is after the Distributive Entperprise Track, and can be applied for 3 months prior to the end of the Distributive Enterprise Track.
Collaboration Stretegy
- A group of highly-skilled super-performers can execute tasks in no time, about 10:1 output of an average person, at 10x-100x quality of an average person. We ahve observed through the years that such people produce contributions that move the project forward, with notable examples of Isaiah Saxon, Tom Griffing, Michael Altfield, Brian Beck, Jean-Baptiste Vervaeck, mentors, and countless others. The key is tasks that fit the interests and skill sets of individuals. The disadvantage is that this process is somewhat opportunistic. Point contributions are great - but a world-changing product reuquires the continuity, intensity, and persistence at a much higher level.
- The key is a compelling narrative, clear identity as a start. See Rules for Supercooperators. This can be brought about by proper leadership. But execution - relies on a shared narrative of supercooperation: how to actually do it. Thus, forming an identity around cooperation: what are its challenges and possibilities, and a true appreciation for its power to reinvent the course of human history and to put an end to violence. The key is personal growth to a high level of self-esteem. Thus the idetity forming must be brought about by clarity and strong leadership, coupled with clear protocols for actually doing the work. It must be hard enough, that only a group effort can accomplish it: not a bunch of entities competing for resources.
Simple Enterprise: Task Queue to Change the World
Summary: we hire people, very selectively as Fellows, or less rigorously as Buildlers, and provide a transition plan for incentivizing their continued performance. Retention may be an important issue, but the solution may come from a right mix of individuals who are selected for ethics and psychological integration, and who are paid really well, but who contribute to world transformation because they are trained to keep a higher vision in mind.
Simple program milestones are:
- Revenue model of $25k net revenue per Master Builder per month, based on a 1 month build, with $80k materials cost, and sale price of $130k for a 1000 sf home. This is the data collection right now that we are working on. If Master Builder takes 200 hours to build, with a $25/hr assistant for 200 hrs ($5k), then the Master Builder commands a $225/hour equivalent. There are significant costs associated with equipment, which can be addressed by open source equipment, making high hourly revenue a reality at around the $200/hr point. This comes to $5k equipment costs using off-shelf equipment, but should be 20% of this if open source equipment is used. These are theoretical values that the model is expected to garner, assuming $20k land costs, and $20k utility connection, legal, and impact fees. This omits design, plannind department submission, and engineering costs based on open source design and calculations. See Seed Home 2 Calculations. The requirement on the Master Builder is significant - because if the Master Builder is doing the work themselves, they have to understand dealing with customers, design, construction, organization, and enterprise aspects. This is under a small business operation where the Master Builder does the work by themselves, with minimal assistance. Once full division of labor is counted in this model, then the builder's revenue should drop to 20% of the soloprenuer value, from $45k, to about $9k for the job.
- Pending success of a $25k/month net revenue model, we will have discovered a method to bootstrap fund development. $25k/month can be the case where $50k revenue is obtained with a 2 month total. This depends compkletely on the actual build time data - how effectively we can build, and what product value we obtain in the given time.
- Success minimum of $50k/month is the optimal milestone that can address 'solving housing' pending quality of the product and the actual build time. Non-OSE builders (standar speculation houses) gross profit average is $1M net [1] at 6% profit for spec builders. For $50k profit, a spec builder would sell a house for $883k. For the OSE model, the revenue should be 38%, but that is for actually doing the work. Thus, the open source worker model should come out to 6x the industry standard, which is reasonable in terms of the efficiencies gained.
- So in summary, the revenue projections for OSE Fellows would be significant, but they would have to be based on highly trained individuals. This is the value that OSE aims to provide. Otherwise, the site adaptation costs, marketing, customer service, financing, and other costs go go someone else. OSE's model must involve financing in some way for customers.
- The difference between OSE Fellows and others would be the expectation of significant revenue. Good candidates may be hard to find, but we can simply call out for the best. We can train simple builders at 25/hr starting. That may be the onboarding route.
- Perhaps the best route would be hiring of the OSE Fellows, where keeping them on avoids flight risk. We offer the marketing, R&D, sales, design infrastructure. Perhaps the best idea is that we guarantee to hire the individual, but they will have to pass qualificiations. So they have to come up with the money up front, but we guarantee to hire them based on revenue from the Seed Eco-Homes.
The revenue projections simply need to be proven at this point, that is the next step.
Rationale
The Master Builder being a jack of all trades using open source design allows for high revenue efficiencies. This is the model that we are testing: industrial productivity on a small scale. The promise of such a model is increase of revenue from 20% to 80% of the operation - or about 4x. This allows for economic surplus, and thus psychological integration of the participant.
