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[ Modified Sat Jun 26 16:05:03 PDT 2004
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Cost. Seasteads are made out of concrete and rebar,
which are incredibly cheap building materials. Boats are made
to be lightweight, so they are usually made out of much more
expensive materials (steel). Our cost estimates and knowledge
of boat prices are both rough, but from the limited data it is
not clear to us that boats are less expensive.
Our seastead design is on the order of $35 / ft2 (interior area), $100/ft2 (solar area), including
infrastructure. Some brief research suggested that used cargo
ships cost somewhere around $100/ft2 of deck space, without all the
expensive sustainability infrastructure. If boats don't offer
a cost savings, they are much less attractive. It might be
that very large ships are cheaper, but again you have the
problem of how to start small.
Source: http://seastead.org/commented/paper/faq.html#Cost_Seasteads_are_made_out_of_concrete_and_rebar_
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[Mon Sep 20 00:30:30 EDT 2004-263] Joel the Joel (NOSPAMjdgrov@yahoo.com.NOSPAM):
On your cost estimates - for some crude comparison, typical rule of thumb for residential new construction in southcentral Alaska is $100/sqft, and unfinished areas like garages come to at a bare minimum $35/sqft. This is slightly higher than points south due to:
-transportation of materials
-need for frost foundations (conventional 4' deep)
-seismic design (seastead reqs would perhaps be similar due to dynamic environment)
-significant insulation requirements (not as burdensome for the seastead)
Obviously, there's myriad differences between the seastead and the wood frame house so the validity of the comparison is limited. But once the floor is in place (I would think spendier for the seastead than the house) many of the finishing acoutrements are similar. Plumbing, electrical, walls, ceilings, windows, etc. Actually, many of these systems may well end up being more expensive, because you will be building the entire utility, not the end user fraction thereof. You have water treatment, sewer treatment, electrical generation, etc. to consider, whereas a house just plugs into existing utilities.
Another factor is lack of experienced construction crew. I have talked to some concrete guys who have built ferrocement boats, and they would probably be able to pick up your design and run with it, but the first time building something radically new is always spendy.
My WAG for your final cost is $3-500/sf interior area at a minimum. But please prove me wrong!
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