Building Affordable Homes Out of Discarded Materials
by Jesse Fox, Tel Aviv, Israel on 03.21.08
Dan Phillips builds homes. But, as the Texas Country Reporter notes, there is something a little bit weird about Dan's work. The design is a bit unconventional, and so are the materials. In fact, Dan's houses are built almost completely out of discarded materials of all kinds, from picture frames to dishes.
"Every town has a crushing need for affordable housing, all across the country!" says Dan. And when he says affordable, he's not talking about a $140,000 house - but a $20,000-$50,000 house. His "Homesteading Initiative" is helping the working poor in Huntsville, Texas achieve the American dream by helping them build their own home in a way that they can afford. According to his calculations, enough good, usable materials are thrown out in his town to build one small house every week.
The only criteria for prospective new homeowners - $500, no bad credit and a steady job. As for his building philosophy: "Use mostly recycled materials. Hire only unskilled labor. And keep it small.”
For more on Dan Phillips' work, check out his blog, Brigid's Paradigm and his website here.
Via:: Materialicious
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WOW!... Speachless...Gave me goosebumps. :)
I have to say:"VERY GREAT JOB DAN!"
PS. Glad to know you have nothing agains't pickles!
This is who I want to be when I grow up!!!! This is amazing and so eloquently put into words what I have been wanting to do/say for a long time. We need more Dans in this world!
If only there were more people like Mr. Phillips then perhaps we wouldnt have to deal so much with waste. We can really make something out of waste if we think of golden ideas.
Something similar was done here in the province of Québec for three series. It was called "Rebut global". The first one was a house built out of recycled material for 15000$ and it was pretty nice.
This is great, however won't work in 99% of the areas where a thing called permits are needed.
I think this is really fantastic, however I do have one issue with it. He requires that the homebuyer "have no bad credit" which is exactly what keeps a majority of the working-class from becoming homeowners. With the high cost of rent, outrageous utility rates, and good paying jobs harder to come by it's rare the average working-class citizen has good credit. They live paycheck to paycheck. Even if they have a downpayment and are currently paying rent that's much higher than a mortgage, their credit rating keeps them "homeless". Believe it or not, we were once turned down as volunteers to help clean up the state forests because of bad credit (we were told the last volunteer with a bad credit report stole supplies from them - go figure). I think the whole credit rating system needs to be reworked so that honest hard-working people can purchase homes (and volunteer LOL).
I saw a lot of similar projects growing up in Seattle, although I think they actually used skilled laborers. I think the idea is really great, and I love the uniqueness of the houses. I agree, though, with the concerns voiced above - "good credit only" excludes some people who need help the most, and where I live you need permits to build. Not to mention I want a licensed electrician to do my wiring. And I refuse to live without a dishwasher. But I think it's a great point of inspiration for people who do have the opportunity to build their own home. Who wouldn't want free materials?
This guy is obviously an expierienced builder. You need permits in most places, as far as I know. Im sure that they had to have everything inspected other wise the cost would be even lower..for stuff found in the dump. In my opinion this is a great idea and yes there should be other evaluating systems besides good credit..maybe excellent rental history??
I think that everyone can learn from what Dan is doing, talk about an amazing soul. Mad props to him, and here's hoping he decides to make a trip east. i would love a house like this!