But, getting a mortgage to build an alternative style of house is still all but impossible.
Code in most places still isn't up to snuff on the issue of natural building materials, and the like, as well. New Mexico is one of the better locales, as it has specific code coverage for adobe, earth bag, and a few other kinds of natural building material and design. You still need to have an architect sign off on it, most likely, but it's plausible to get a weird house built in much of New Mexico without a tremendous amount of money/time wasted on code compliance.
I've been researching this, as I'd like to build a house with my own hands, and figured if I was going to do it, I'd want to do something interesting. New Mexico is among the most friendly states in which to do that, but some other states and counties are viable, as well. But, again, banks don't really like weird houses.
Code in most places still isn't up to snuff on the issue of natural building materials, and the like, as well. New Mexico is one of the better locales, as it has specific code coverage for adobe, earth bag, and a few other kinds of natural building material and design. You still need to have an architect sign off on it, most likely, but it's plausible to get a weird house built in much of New Mexico without a tremendous amount of money/time wasted on code compliance.
I've been researching this, as I'd like to build a house with my own hands, and figured if I was going to do it, I'd want to do something interesting. New Mexico is among the most friendly states in which to do that, but some other states and counties are viable, as well. But, again, banks don't really like weird houses.