One thing I left out of my calculation the housing unit costs the other day in the interest of simplification was the efficiency of the building, but I probably shouldn’t have because it’s a huge factor. David Baker pointed out in a comment: One thing, if the 800 Square foot is cost for the building… Continue reading Building Efficiency and Housing Cost
Category: housing
How can we build cheaper urban housing?
There were a number of suggestions from readers, via both the blog comments and Twitter, on how we could build cheaper multifamily housing. Here are a few ideas with my thoughts: Prefabrication – Most large projects already take advantage of this to some degree. Many contractors pre-frame wood walls in a factory and crane them… Continue reading How can we build cheaper urban housing?
“Why can’t developers build housing in San Francisco for the people who need it most instead of for the rich?”
A question I have heard a lot lately is “why can’t developers build housing for the people who need it most instead of for the rich.” Let’s look at what a typical multi-family development project in a reasonably central part of San Francisco would cost to build (in a very simplified way). I’m assuming an… Continue reading “Why can’t developers build housing in San Francisco for the people who need it most instead of for the rich?”