Mike Reynolds has often suggested that the cost per square foot for an Earthship is about the same as the local cost for a conventional home of similar size. Where Earthships have reduced costs for most of the main building materials, by using waste products, they typically invest more upfront in the services for the home (Rainwater harvesting and PV solar generation capabilities etc) hence the costs balance out.
HOWEVER you need to look at the total cost of ownership for an Earthship and remember that once it is up and running there are arguably no utility bills and an anecdotal US$100 per year on gas for cooking fuel (and even that can be reduced to zero!). Of course it goes without saying that just looking at the bottom line costs of housing and things like GDP, got us here in the first place. With an Earthship the cradle to cradle view of understanding the ‘costs’ of this home is better known and better off in the short and long term.
BRANZ (Building Research Association of New Zealand) recently published some “Average Build Costs” for New Zealand.
| Standard, Basic 3 bedroom house in Wellington | NZ$1200/sqm | Average size 140sqm = NZ$168,000 |
| One-off 3 bedroom house, some customised features, modest quality | NZ$1400/sqm | Average size 160sqm = NZ$224,000 |
| Executive, 4 bedroom architecturally designed house with high quality materials | NZ$2000/sqm | Average size 240sqm = NZ$480,000 |
I heard the Earthship in Ngaruawahia cost about $40,000 to build …. self built of course.
I believe anyone can build their own house with the right amount of desire & determination.
It’s an interesting one. As you need to determine what the minimum amount of design features are that constitute an Earthship. You could spend $40k on the PV solar system and $40k on the double glazing alone.
I’m particularly interested in this. We have a site on the West Coast of the South Island and in three years we’ll be free to pack up and leave Dunedin in a housebus. We hope to spend time checking out a lot of ideas all over NZ to eventually build an earthship there. Cost is a major concern but we want to get it as right as we can within a budget. If it turns out to no more than a more conventional house though, I’m definitely in.
Well Earthships are meant to supply their own water, power & food, & deal with sewerage primarily I think. I believe the Ngaruawahia Earthship does all these, it has solar panels, food growing inside, collects rainwater & has a compost toilet.
Although the double glazing would be desirable (I’d want it) … I don’t think it’s mandatory for a building to be called an earthship.
I haven’t yet visited the Gubb’s Earthship, but would love to find out how they did it for so cheap.
Perhaps they’re tied to the grid with their solar, which would cut out the huge cost of the batteries…
I think the Gubbs managing to do it for $40k is amazing. It’s fair to say there is a spectrum for Earthships and I’ve seen some a lot higher spec that cost the same as a conventional home and will prove their worth in their running costs and ecological footprint. NB: All new dwellings in NZ now need double glazing, as I understand the building regs.
In Dunedin its different, (as I understand it) any new house that is connected to the grid DOES need to have double glazing, BUT if you get your own alternative power then you can put in the single glazing.
At least that’s what the Dunedin council said when questioned on it in 2010.
With our earthship were going to build we wont be putting in double glazing as its too expensive, not to mention, over seas they put a type of gas in between the glass, do they even do that here in NZ for the double glazing?
Mel – the double glazing (or triple glazing) is critical in the performance of the earthship. As one who currently lives in a house with massive floor to ceiling north facing single-glazing, I can tell you that it warms up a treat in the sun but the temperature plummets when the sun goes down. Yes you can get gas filled double glazing in NZ and you need to understand that the upfront costs for an efficiently insulated earthship, far outweigh the operating costs of heating the home. It would be a massive risk to only single-glaze an earthship and I’d hate to see you disappointed.