[Greenbuilding] Cost of Building-General

[Chris Green]

Rob Tom wrote:
> If material costs are sky-high, hopefully designers and builders will be  
> compelled to build more efficiently and with more respect for the  
> materials that they do use.
>   
Hear, hear. I agree.
> Buyers will hopefully think twice about building humongous crackerboxes  
> and renovators & interior desecrators will hopefully give more  
> consideration to keeping and re-using existing rather rip out and replace.
>   
I was involved in planning a building project at the beginning of 2006, 
and was amazed to learn that the mortgage broker involved was trying to 
talk the property owner into up-scaling the project. That would mean 
more costs all the way around for everybody concerned. And more income 
for the broker, who was obviously working on a percentage. It's looks 
like it's easier to get a loan to build a lakeside McMansion than a 
lakeside tiny straw bale house.

Cheers,

Chris Green.