How Much Does It Cost To Build A Cob House?

A home is an inspiration for many people. If a home shares some owner characteristics, then the home will be considered more than just a house.

Many people looking to build a special place for their family tend to create a home that reflects their personality. A Cob house shares the natural side of the world; if you are looking to build a 100% natural building material, then a cob house is the perfect model made for you.

In the market, Cob house is known to be the most eco-friendly construction material that offers strength and durability without harming the environment.

Cob is a mixture of sand-sub oil, clay, straw, and a few angular stones or gravel. Combining all of them creates a unique property.

The rising popularity has many people asking questions about it. This article will go through all of them, so you will have a clear idea of what it is and how much they will cost?

How Much Does It Cost To Build A Cob House?

A decent cob house built can range anywhere between $4000 to $10,000. Other variables are at play, and they can change the price to the high zone or keep it at the lower end of the deal.

The cost of the building depends on the climate conditions, locations, and the size of the house. When you go to the basics, the cost of a cob house will lie between $2000 to $5000.

The final cost will not be under $5000 as you start to add more fancy interiors with unique designs that stand out. But if you compare the price of a cob house with modern construction methods, the cost is far less on the traditional construction site.

A small cob cottage can take $30,000 to build. Moving up the ladder, a three-bedroom house can cost around $60,000.

Cob house Costs Breakdown

To get a full sense of how much it will cost to build a cob house with all of its essentials. This section will go through the cost of each element of a house. Skipping on some of them might lower the cost and, at the same time, can make it bigger.

  • sand (30 tons total) – $507
  • gravel (13 tons total) – $177
  • galvanized wire – $30
  • raw linseed oil (for the floor) – $72
  • EPDM pond liner $622
  • polycarbonate for skylight $400
  • Straw – 16 bales– $36 
  • black walnut scrap lumber – $100
  • misc. lumber – $20
  • windows – $220
  • electrical – $28

Only two of the individual items will make a dent in your wallet of them. One is an EPDM pond liner, and the other is polycarbonate for a skylight.

Time such as clay roof rafters can be harvested without making a purchase. If you have a good source of them, you can avoid the cost. Adding more will rack up the cost, such as kitchen bathroom facilities.

Cob house Material cost

Most of the material used in cob houses can be bought or harvested by yourself without spending a dime.

Natural material is famous for its affordable price tag. Material such as clay can be harvested from your land.

The material for the cob house will stay between $3,000 to $6,000. The price can get bigger once you add other elements of a house such as a roof, finishes, windows, doors, etc.

Cob house Labor cost

The final cost will be how much money you will pour into the labor work. At the same time, you can certainly take up the work on yourself and carry on with its activity day in and out.

You will not need professional experience in the housing project to build a cob house. But if you don’t have the time to spare, you can think about adding labor to the project.

They make things much easier without having you put too much effort,

One of the reasons people are attracted to this type of house is the inexpensive aspect and simplicity of the building. The house itself will cost you little to nothing compared to the traditional construction cost.

You might be interested:

One of the advantages of cob houses is the on-site material, making this building a sustainable form of building in the market.

There are over thousands of building techniques in the market, but most of them follow a complicated structure.

Cob house follows a much earlier simple route, making them more applicable for newcomers. You will not need any prior experience to build one.

Durability and reliability of cob house

If you look at the cob houses that were built in the past, you will get a sense of how lasting they are in the world.

Cob is strong and durable, as the oldest cob house dates back to 10,000 years. That tells you how long they are going to last if built properly.

Cob house standing power depends on the maintenance of the roof. If it is maintained daily and looked after properly, you can be assured the quality of the house will stay intact over the years.

Conclusion

Cob house is synonymous with the inexpensive and simple city. These are the two major factors that attract this way of living.

You don’t have to blow up your finances to get a cob house built in any location. Most of the material can be harvested instead of buying it out. At the same time, you do have the option to buy it if you can not find a decent source for the required material.

The labor cost is also another factor that depends on the owner. Most people take the work without including any foreign labor. It is simple and easy to follow the steps required to build a cob house.