Apr 22, 2009 3:07 pm US/Eastern
Green Scene: 100K House Finished in Philly
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
This Earth Day, we went to see a green project born in Philadelphia. It's a house built with the goal of spending only $100,000 in hard construction costs. If the planners get their way, you'll see a lot more of them.
When we stopped by Philadelphia's first 100K House in January, it looked a lot different than it does now that it's almost finished.
"We're excited to be almost complete," said Chad Ludeman of the builder, Postgreen.
The 100K House in Frankford, built using $100,000 of labor and raw materials, is not just affordable, but three times more energy efficient than an existing home, which is why open houses were filled here and buyers have moved in.
"I think mainly people really like the simplicity of the homes," said Ludeman. "And obviously the energy efficiency really stands out and it's easy to explain that when you walk through. It's like one large HVAC zone in the homes."
But even the construction of the 100K House was not recession-proof.
"A lot of the supply houses are really low on inventory right now," said Ludeman, "so a lot of things that used to be picked up in a day are now custom order, and it takes two, three or four weeks to come in."
Postgreen, the brains behind the 100K House, are expanding their blog and are launching a new website this summer that will allow people to customize their own Postgreen homes. They hope to build 40 to 50 more in the future..
"We did definitely learn a lot the first time around. We'll probably learn a lot the second time around," said Nic Darling of Postgreen. "We figure by house fifteen, we'll definitely have it down."
RELATED LINKS:
The 100K House Blog
www.100kHouse.com
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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