Hi Jana, I have never built a cobin that large I usually just do between 120 ft.² and 200 ft.² which is legal limit you can build without a permit. It usually takes me about 6 to 8 weeks total to build this depending on availability of materials, drying time and how much help I get. What would probably take the most amount of time would be doing the roof and any intricate framing you do with. Decorative features such as bottles and sculpting. My general cost when I charge is roughly $100 a square foot for labor and materials so if it is a 120 square-foot structure I would charge 12 K for everything. I probably would not charge 40 K though to do a 400 square structure as that seems to be a lot. It would probably be somewhere around 22K for labor and materials. All my projects have variables. And I don’t have a set price I can give you. It also depends on the skill level of your helpers a good Carpenter with the right tools such as a job and all the drills they need could probably frame a round roof and a couple days whereas someone who is doing it for the first time may take a week to do the same work. I have tried to give as much guidance in the course on framing out the roof so hopefully you have found that to be helpful.

You can definitely do this with a metal roof. It just requires lots of cutting of angles if you are doing it round. It may be easier to do a metal roof if it is rectangular.

The link to join is in the calendar

Awesome Devon! So glad you are with us here!

Hi Cherida, if you are referring to the drying time of a Cob House, you are correct they do take a while to dry. That’s a reason why I like to frame the structures with the pallets and cover those in an Earthen plaster, then only takes about a week to drive before it gets the finished plaster. It might take longer to dry on the inside and the side opposite the sun, but they definitely try faster than a typical Cob House. Adobe can also take a few weeks to dry in the sun before they can be used.

@Cherida Creebsburg yes I’ve done this in the tropics as well and sometimes when there’s intense heat, it will dry faster.