Community Action Partners

https://www.capstjoe.org/services/

Dear CAP,

I am the founder of Open Source Ecology, and the city with Clint Thompson is donating a lot to us for building at 1602 Messanie St. We are planning to build 3 Seed Eco-Homes in the next few months. We are a 501c3 education/workforce development organization based in Maysville, MO. The house costs $60k in materials, and comes with 5kW of photovoltaics in its standard model.

We designed a very simple house that can be built DIY or by professionals. We are starting an apprenticeship program next year for builders. We build as a crew of 24 people using swarm build techniques (modern Amish), so that each house takes only 5 days, site-built from scratch. Or, the modules can be built off-site, like manufactured housing. The build model is flexible, robust, and simple so that people can participate with minimal training. 

Is there a way we can collaborate? Specifically, can we use your services to develop a work crew for our proposed build in November? We are getting the engineering done right now, and still aim for November though that is a tight schedule. We can pay workers, and our goal is to assemble a crew of 6 skilled (we have 4 on our team so far) and 18-24 non-expert builders. We would like to replicate this build model and train people in St. Joseph to take over the enterprise for St. Joseph. Our goal is to disseminate widely, all of our designs and business models are open source. You can call me at 816.866.3217 if you'd like to talk.

Thanks,

Marcin