The $20,000 Home

For most people, architects and inexpensive home design go together like gourmet chefs and Hot Pockets–neither is the better for it. Then again, most people have not been to Hale County, Alabama. In this wet western part of the state, architects, students and volunteers have been perfecting the art of deeply discounted domestic design for 20 years.

The Rural Studio, an arm of Auburn University’s architecture department, has designed and built many pieces of local infrastructure–churches, libraries, Boys & Girls Clubs, even farmers’-market stalls–often using unusual materials, including carpet tiles and hay bales. For eight years, it has also offered visiting students a chance to work for nine months on the supertight end of the business: the $20,000 home.

That is not a misprint. Twenty thousand dollars.

“We worked out, if there was a conceptual mortgage, what people on the lowest of incomes would be able to pay every month,” says Andrew Freear, the genial Yorkshireman who has overseen the program since its founder, Samuel “Sambo” Mockbee, died in 2001. “And that equated to about $20,000.” The students all work together on one house that is later given to one of the area’s residents, a quarter of whom live below the poverty line.

How does one build a house for less than what it costs to buy a midprice sedan? When cutting to the bone, what design choices bring the most life?

Freear and his students have come up with some nonnegotiables. Every house must have a porch. It’s an important part of social life; people can be part of their community without leaving their home. It’s also a cooler place to sit in the summer.

The houses are small, usually 600 sq. ft. to 800 sq. ft., and narrow. This makes them easier to heat and cool; cross breezes are more effective in narrow spaces. Extended eaves, another must, maximize the shade in the summer and keep rain away from the base of the building.

Ceilings are on the high side, from 9 ft. to 10 ft., which are more expensive to build but worthwhile for air circulation. With ceiling fans installed and windows cracked to let warm air out, the homes are comfortable without air conditioning. “The irony is that these are all lessons you can learn from the antebellum homes down here that are 150 years old,” says Freear. “It’s why they’ve lasted.”

That’s another secret of low-cost design: local knowledge. A basement is cheap to build in the Northeast because foundations have to be set deep in the soil to avoid frost, so builders know what to do. Muddy, temperate Alabama is another story. Local builders and suppliers are set up to provide gabled roofs, thus they’re the cheapest. Freear also believes it’s important to acquire materials locally, not just to lower shipping costs and build relations with regional suppliers but also to enrich the community.

At this scale, tiny decisions are crucial. Maximizing light, for example: Can windows be placed so that sunlight bounces off the dining-room table, the bathroom mirror or even the fridge? “For me, that’s design,” says Freear.

There have been missteps. One year the house had no interior walls, just a curtain that could be pulled around the bathroom when needed. The new owner lived alone but was confused by the arrangement. Another house was made with corrugated metal–which, despite being very hip in some circles, reminded the owner of a shed. (Painting it white eased concerns.)

Most years, the studio builds only one $20,000 house, but for its 20th anniversary it’s aiming for eight. Each house requires from $13,000 to $15,000 worth of materials and about $8,000 of labor. The students and volunteers work for free.

Is it really possible to build a solid house for less than the average cost of a wedding? Sort of. Many of the houses–like any renovation–go $5,000 or so over budget. Another lesson Freear has learned: sometimes that’s just worth it.