Cob: how do folks handle other responsibilities during building?

[Tom Fetter]

Most folks look to this list to help with technical issues about their 
building projects - or to dream about projects they'd like to do.  I can't 
help but feel like lots more of us could actually get dirty if we could find 
a way to balance the building process with the rest of our lives.

If building just the walls of a cob house is a full time hands-on project 
which takes months at a time, how do folks keep their families fed, clothed, 
housed and happy during the process?  My family and I wouldn't be willing to 
camp for 5-6 months 'till a smallish house could be closed in - but that's 
the only option I've seen discussed on the list!  Not all of us are 
interested in or currently able to do the back-to-the-land thing this 
implies.

Another point -- one of the reasons that we're wanting to build is that we 
need more space.  We have 3 kids including a baby, and our current 1100 
square foot 2 bedroom house won't hold us anymore.  Working full time for 
months without a salary, and finally moving into something equally cramped 
just wouldn't be on!  I'd never be able to "sell" that to the family, or 
justify it to myself.

So to put it more bluntly - cob as a building technique won't become more 
broadly used if people like me (single earner family, wife and 3 kids) can't 
finesse our lives around it.  So far, I haven't found what I need either to 
convince myself or my family that however good the resulting house would be, 
during the process we wouldn't be destitute, emotionally unstable, or both!

I'm being flippant, but in my "other" life as a Social Services researcher, 
I'm very aware that being unavailable for relationships, whether because of 
personal depression, workaholism or whatever, is a major risk factor.  The 
most recent work on brain development shows how critical this involvement is 
especially for babies and toddlers - being unavailable physically affects 
the developing brain structure and chemistry, and is associated with a raft 
of social ills from poor school performance to antisocial behaviour and 
violence.  My house isn't worth that!

So folks, what have the veterans of the process learned about how to do this 
type of project without ending marriages and causing juvenile delinquency?  
Scrabble together a large enough nest-egg to build and live without a job 
for 6 months?  Inherit?  Keep one partner working at a truly lucrative job 
while the other heads up the building crew?

All stories gratefully received!

Tom Fetter
Coordinator of Research and Analysis
Premier's Task Force on Children at Risk
Government of Alberta


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