Chile Forum

This article has reminded me of a goal I had in college: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/great ... gewanted=1

I wonder how much you could build a timber-framed cob house for here in chile... i imagine rocks and boulders for foundation would be cheaper given the proximity to quarries.. labor would be cheaper for doing the framing, then you could do the rest by hand. Well, maybe not the electrical wiring and plumbing

I wonder how much you could really do all on your own? A fascinating and fun project to have...

We have a client building a earthbag house in really remote spot in the Patagonia.

Couple of links to what i am talking about:
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&s ... e&resnum=4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthbag_construction

At least in our experience one of the big problems is the labor, so labor intensive designs of any sort of are questionable. Yea, labor might be cheap in Chile, however it is not just the quality of the unskilled labor but the reliability of it. If you only get say 6 hours or less a day worth of work out of a laborer, you need to hire that many more labors to compensate. With the cultural management issues on top of it, just adding more people does not necessarily get things done faster. You see the problem?

For example, in the Patagonia no one will work even in doors on a construction project when it is raining. It rains about 9 months out of the year in some areas. Thus, the building season indoors and out is very short.

Another case in point comes from a special on Quellon unemployment the other night on TVN. Unemployment is running over 60%. They interviewed the city manager that said she had lots of government money to hire people part time now for improvement projects, but no one wanted to work because it did not pay as much as the Salmon industry use to. Yea, the Salmon industry is over, gone, never returning to Quellon; but, people now will not work at anything that does not pay as much.

Most of the big contracts for things like highways in certain parts of the country are all labor from Santiago. They won't even mess with trying to hire and manage the local workers on construction projects.

Now it is different in different parts of the country, but you need to factor in the labor issues anytime you hire for something like this in Chile. Thus, my inclination towards designs that with less labor. Simple stuff might work, but it would need to be tested carefully and have a backup plan if the workers become your biggest liability.

I saw this article in the NYTimes just today. Amazing and beautiful home. I did a homebirth in April for a couple that were building just such a style of home in Melipilla. In fact I went up to see it just this week. They are still working on it (the 'work in progress' style of house) but they have the basics done enough to live in it now. It is an amazing house. I dubbed it the 'hippie ponderosa'...ha. It is huge with stunning views in all directions. The base is tires, and the walls are straw bales and mud/adobe. Most of the wood throughout is recycled. Doors, windows and other accoutrements as well. What a neat concept. Not sure how much they have invested thus far, but they are careful with their money, so probably way cheap compared to traditional home building.

Charles, I think you might have almost crushed an idea I have been researching as a long term goal. Essentially a self-sustained concrete Earth sheltered home in the Patagonia. I'm sure I could handle the headache of getting proper waterproofing, transport of needed materials, and make sure the concrete shell is sound. However, I don't think I could handle poor work ethics. I grew up on a farm in a very wet area so I fully understand how important it is to capitalize on dry days. Is it common to import labor from various regions of Chile to get around that for residential projects?

I'm sure the market will be much different by the time I'm at the position I want to be to start building, but a social equilibrium is not easily shifted and I expect it to remain unchanged.

You just need to plan accordingly. As a bus driver in the Patagonia once said to a guy that was trying to rush him, "Senior, if you are in a hurry in the Patagonia you are wasting your time."