Tree House Village Materials & Costs

This page is the open source and free-shared Tree House Village (Pod 7) construction materials costs page. It will constantly update with increasingly more accurate information as we open source project-launch blueprint the complete One Community Tree House Village. The goal of this page is to provide precise materials needs and costs for every component of the Tree House Village. We discuss this with the following sections:

• Tree House Village Materials & Costs Overview
• Why Open Source Tree House Village Materials and Costs
• Ways to Contribute
• Consultants on this Component
• Cost Analysis Details
  • Identifying Primary Areas Contributing to Costs
  • Identifying Primary Cost Contributors within Each Area
  • Energy Infrastructure Considerations
  • Cost Summary as Per Commercial Standards
•  Adjusted Cost Summary – Making it all More Sustainable
  • Materials Savings
  • Volunteer Labor
  • Direct and Replicable Materials Purchasing
  • Adjusted Costs Conclusions, Graphs, and Charts 
• Resources
• Summary
• FAQ

OUR CURRENT FOCUS IS ON THE EARTHBAG VILLAGE
(CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION ON THE EARTHBAG VILLAGE).
HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP WITH THAT VILLAGE MODEL
OR THIS ONE:

HELP US BUY THE PROPERTY | WAYS ANYONE CAN HELP

 

TREE HOUSE VILLAGE
MATERIALS & COSTS

Construction of tree houses can be significantly more challenging than traditional construction. As part of our global transformation approach to Highest Good housing, this page shares our cost analysis for using this building method to construct a commercial-sized Tree House Village capable of housing over 300 people and hosting even more. As we go through the process of constructing this village, we will also be adding here complete details for where and how to buy materials, what to buy, what to look for, what to look out for, and more.

 

WHY OPEN SOURCE TREE HOUSE
VILLAGE MATERIALS & COSTS

One Community’s goal is using open source construction to demonstrate sustainable building for personal and commercial use as easy, affordable, and beautiful. We are first refining and demonstrating the open source strategy and detail of our open source approach with the 3-dome cluster crowdfunding campaign, we’ll then expand this process as we open source the complete Earthbag Village (Pod 1) and Duplicable City Center^®, and then we’ll do the same for this village and the other 5 villages.

Open sourcing the cost analysis for this village and all others is purposed to help people better understand the cost savings that are possible through sustainable building and creation of collaborative and open source teacher/demonstration hubs. In so doing, we hope to make tree house construction easier to understand and implement, more affordable, and more mainstream-popular.

 

WAYS TO CONTRIBUTE TO EVOLVING THIS SUSTAINABILITY COMPONENT WITH US

SUGGESTIONS | CONSULTING | MEMBERSHIP | OTHER OPTIONS

 

CLICK THESE ICONS TO JOIN US THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

 

CONSULTANTS ON THIS COMPONENT OF ONE COMMUNITY

Jagannathan Shankar Mahadevan: Mechanical Engineer

 

TREE HOUSE VILLAGE
COST ANALYSIS DETAILS

Accurately creating the cost analysis for the Tree House Village was a process of applying traditional cost analysis protocols and then researching the areas where these approaches needed to be adjusted to account for the differences when building tree houses. We discuss here the complete Tree House Village cost analysis process and conclusions with the following sections:

• Identifying Primary Areas Contributing to Costs
• Identifying Primary Cost Contributors within Each Area
• Energy Infrastructure Considerations
• Cost Summary as Per Commercial Standards
• Adjusted Cost Summary – Making it all More Sustainable

 

IDENTIFYING PRIMARY AREAS CONTRIBUTING TO COSTS

As per commercial standards (PDF), a rough estimate for the entire project is predicted in the primary cost analysis. An overview of the Tree House Village plan (see Plans Page) aids in segregating the useful 75,000 sq. ft area into 6 different areas based on each area’s purpose and location inside the village. The 6 segregated areas are listed below and clicking each link will lead to the spreadsheet tab for cost analysis for each area.

1. Housing units comprising Residential, Rental and Hostel Units
2. Shower Towers (3)
3. Game and Play Rooms (3)
4. Art & Crafts Rooms (2)
5. Library (1)
6. Kitchens (2)

Here is the summary of these costs by area:

 

IDENTIFYING PRIMARY COST CONTRIBUTORS WITHIN EACH AREA

For convenience in computations and for more accurate calculations, the following 5 independent units are assumed to have significant contribution to each of the 6 areas’ costs:

1. Electrical
2. Plumbing
3. HVAC
4. Material
5. Carpentry/Furniture/Electronics

Each of these unit costs have been predicted across all the 6 areas using the following approaches:

ELECTRICAL

The electrical unit consists of elements responsible for powering an area. A general summary on how a residential electrical system is constructed is described here. The electrical footage cost (base cost) inclusive of wiring, labor, and overhead (a variable cost based on locality) can be obtained from here. For the current locality, the base cost is found to be an approximate $8.67/ft². The cost for various power consuming equipment (useful devices like fans, ceiling lights, etc) are not included in the base cost and are accounted for independently.

PLUMBING

The plumbing unit is generally responsible for an area’s water supply and sewer management system (here’s a resource about this). Area-specific labor and overhead can be input in this web program to get an estimate of the plumbing footage. An approximate $11.42/ft² base cost which includes the cost for piping, location-specific labor and overhead is used for the Tree House Village model. Additional plumbing equipment such as water sinks, bathtubs, toilets, etc., have significant impact on the total plumbing cost and have been accounted for separately.

HVAC – HEATING AND COOLING

The HVAC unit primarily maintains the temperature and humidity of an enclosed area to provide a comfortable living environment. Unlike the electrical and plumbing units, we were unable to obtain commercial and standard base-cost data for the HVAC unit. Consequently, we have used the approximate sq. ft cost of $12.51 as derived in the Straw Bale HVAC Cost Analysis section.

MATERIALS

The cost of building a structure primarily depends on setting the frames for support. This resource article (link) presents all significant parameters to consider while approximating an estimate for building a structure. With reference to this literature (link), a base cost of $40/ft² (inclusive of materials and labor) over a useful area of 75,000 ft² (useful area is the actual build area for the village model excluding outdoor areas) results in $3M for building materials for the structure as per commercial practices.

CARPENTRY/FURNITURE/ELECTRONICS

This unit includes area-specific furniture and electronics cost, a part of which can be customized per occupant’s preferences. For the time being, detailed renders available on our the Tree House Village open source hub were used to estimate costs for the various area-specific furniture.

 

ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE CONSIDERATIONS

The Highest Good Energy plan for power generation and transmission uses grid-tied and open source Wind and Solar to create a net-zero 100% sustainable energy plan. These costs continue to evolve on the Highest Good Energy hub and related open source pages. These costs are not included in the total village cost because:

• Sustainable energy is optional for anyone replicating our designs
• Accurately evaluating them for this Phase II Highest Good Housing construction is not realistic considering the speed at which sustainable energy costs continue to drop
• The details of this energy infrastructure and the “grid” costs are part of the entire One Community Highest Good Housing component and included in the Phase I construction of the Earthbag Village (Pod 1) and Duplicable City Center^® and therefore not limited to the Tree House Village alone

 

COST SUMMARY AS PER COMMERCIAL STANDARDS

To create the final Commercial Cost Analysis for this structure, all of the details above plus 15% were added. The additional 15% of the total cost was further considered to account for any approximations in determining the estimate for this project. With all this accounted for, the total project as per commercial standard approximates up to $6.3M as shown below.

Here is a graphic showing what percentage each area contributes to the total cost:

 

ADJUSTED COST SUMMARY
MAKING IT ALL MORE SUSTAINABLE

After calculating the costs for the complete Tree House Village as described above and with standard commercial materials and practices, we then calculated our actual costs by incorporating sustainable practices and materials. This led to the revised costs that incorporate and include consideration of the following factors:

1. Materials Savings
2. Volunteer Labor
3. Landscaping
4. Direct and Replicable Materials Purchasing

 

MATERIALS SAVINGS

According to the National Association of Home Builders (Link), it is seen that the cost for initial survey, foundation and framing (which accounts for 35.2% of total cost, approximately $32/sq. ft) almost remains the same irrespective of the build material used. Since the Tree House Village is considered to be built above ground level, we do require framing and supports used in the commercial construction, but we will need different structural supports on the trees. With this in mind, we have maintained the $32 per sq. ft framing costs. However, since we are planning to produce materials (mainly wood) on site, we tend to reduce carbon footprint by reducing transportation charges. Considering all this, we have used $4 per sq. ft (50% savings over commercial material costs of $8/ft²) for materials resulting in a total sustainable construction cost of $36/ft².

 

VOLUNTEER LABOR

As per commercial practice, the base cost for electrical, plumbing, and building is inclusive of labor. One Community’s open source project launch-blueprinting model for showcasing DIY sustainability includes open source and DIY approaches and tutorials that will cover these areas and more. This labor and these tutorials will be created by our all-volunteer team of qualified professionals. To account for this, we’ve approximated the variable labor costs we’ll save (depending on location) to 20% of the total cost of the project.

 

DIRECT AND REPLICABLE MATERIALS PURCHASING

For large-scale constructions, the majority of the products that are designed and manufactured by suppliers are commonly marketed and sold through a retailer. It is often easy to under appreciate the intangible costs processed in the supplier-retailer relationship. As part of our strategy to make sustainability easier, more affordable, and more attractive, we will be developing purchasing relationships directly with suppliers that we expect to increase their profit margins while reducing consumer costs when building teacher/demonstration communities, villages, and hubs using our plans. This will also reduce our total project cost while further increasing business for the recommended supplier.

We will add here the resources and contacts for all direct purchasing options as these options are identified, used by us, and proven reliable.

 

ADJUSTED COSTS CONCLUSIONS, CHARTS, AND GRAPHS

The following adjusted cost analysis incorporates the building materials savings and volunteer labor savings discussed above to produce a total project estimated cost of $4.9M. This cost is further expected to reduce once the savings resulting from direct-supplier purchasing can be accounted for.

Here is a chart showing the difference in cost between the conventional and sustainable models:

Overall, it is seen that the cost of sustainable construction is marginally less than commercial construction ” about $1.3M less. We can also observe a small fraction of the commercial costs for labor when applying our open source sustainability model. This is due to the use of volunteer labor. The labor cost for the commercial estimate is 20% of the total project cost. An additional 15% is added to the final total to adjust for details we may have missed.

Summing up, the DIY sustainable village model results in 23% savings for the overall construction over commercial estimates ($4.9M vs $6.3M). Here is a graphic showing the adjusted contribution of each each area to the total cost:

 

RESOURCES

• Calculating costs as per commercial standards – (PDF)
• A general summary on how a residential electrical system is constructed
• Area-specific labor and overhead can be inputted in this web program
• The cost of building a structure from a setting the frames perspective
• Use this page (click here) if you have a resource you’d like to suggest be added here

 

SUMMARY

As part of our global transformation approach to Highest Good housing, we are open source sharing our cost analysis for using this building method to construct a commercial-sized Tree House Village capable of housing up to 300 people and hosting 100s more. By open sourcing the cost analysis for this village and all others, we desire to help people better understand the cost savings that are possible through sustainable building and creation of collaborative and open source teacher/demonstration hubs. These savings, when calculated for this structure as compared to the same structure built with conventional means, are estimated to reduce the cost by about 23%.

 

FREQUENTLY ANSWERED QUESTIONS

Q: Where can I get more information about the Tree House Village, benefits and challenges of building tree houses, etc.?

Please visit the Tree House Village open source hub.

Q: When do you anticipate starting construction on the Tree House Village?

We are first refining and demonstrating the open source strategy and detail of our open source approach with the 3-dome cluster crowdfunding campaign, we’ll then expand this process as we open source the complete Earthbag Village (Pod 1) and Duplicable City Center^®, and then we’ll do the same for this village and the other 5 villages.

Q: Where can I get more information about your philosophies for world change?

Please take a look at each of these additional pages: (click icons)

Q: How do you intend to pay for construction of the Tree House Village?

One Community is projected to easily generate sufficient revenue to construct this village and the other 5 villages once the Earthbag Village (Pod 1) and Duplicable City Center^® are operational. Visit the One Community Highest Good Economics page for details on our revenue streams, rental revenue projections, and other open source revenue-generation details related to this and all other aspects of One Community.