Cob: Formal Proposal

[Jeanne Leimkuhler]

Pack,

To back up what John was saying, I also think you should be realistic 
about how much time and energy this project will involve and make 
sure you pay yourself in your grant proposal. My husband and I were 
filled with the same enthusiasm four years ago. We didn't have land 
to build on and were just itching to get something going. We 
convinced a local community to let us build a 200 sq. ft. cob guest 
house for them. The budget seemed high at $2000. Over the next three 
years this project consumed our lives. Every weekend from april 
through november was spent working on the project, organizing 
workdays or feeling guilty about not working.
Although we learned a lot and exposed many people to building with 
cob, we have still not finished the project and are now planning on 
turning it over to the community to complete. They will most likely 
knock the cob off and use a different material to complete the walls. 
What we learned was that when you are building for someone else and 
not being compensated for your work it is very difficult to keep the 
momentum up over the long time frame that it takes to complete these 
buildings.
Incidentally the budget was upped to $3000, but it looked like it 
might have taken more like $3500 to complete. This is for an 
approximately 200 sq. ft. cob building with a rubble trench 
foundation, 2 ft. sandstone plinth, one recycled door,seven scratch 
and dent windows (about $80.00 a piece), earth floor, fireplace, 
electricity, no plumbing, and a metal roof. We used many recycled and 
found materials for this building. The big costs were for a back hoe 
to dig the trench, having rubble, sand and clay delivered 15 miles 
out of town, new windows (requested by the community), and the metal 
roof. I know that it is possible to build structures for much less 
but when you are building for someone else, you don't always get to 
choose your materials.
We are also on a building committee for a cordwood hermitage that is 
being built by a quaker group. The structure is 12'x 16' and is 
estimated at $15,000. This includes $900 for wood and $4000-$5000 for 
labor to build the timber frame. I don't have the full budget here, 
but it will be off the grid and have an indoor composting toilet, new 
windows and doors, a porch on one side and deck on another, a wood 
roof and a corner post and dry laid stone foundation.

I find your project very interesting and would like to know how it is 
going. please put me on whatever list you form.

Keep the momentum going.
Jeanne