> How much more does it cost to build this way?

Before Nopal, we consulted and built many projects and know every build is unique. Different projects value different aspects.

So to help answer this question, we’ll examine a few types of homes we’ve seen built.

Code Minimum House

This house is built as cheap and fast as possible. Often these barely meet code. So how do we rank this type of home?

Build Cost: Good. Out of all the homes we’re comparing this one is the cheapest.

Operational Cost: Lacking. While this isn’t the most energy efficient in the bunch, it is going to have the most predictable maintenance and home failures.

Health: Bad. There is no air filtration and air quality is going to depend on the current weather.

Bolt-on High Performance House

This house is built using traditional methods. You could mistake it for a code minimum on first glance. They opt for spray foam and miss important air sealing details.

Build Cost: Bad. These homes often end up twice as expensive as the code minimum.

Operational Cost: Terrible. By opting for spray foam they’ll need major repairs every ~20 years, each time degrading the performance.

Health: Bad. Foam is toxic and flammable.

Nopal Home

Because we use our baselayer that seeks to use off-the-shelf part that are human movable, it ends up being remarkably cost effective while punching above the passive house standard.

Build Cost: Okay. We aren’t the Code minimum but we are significantly cheaper than the Bolt-on.

Operational Cost: Amazing. That’s all there is to it.

Health: Amazing. From a Zehnder to acoustic absorbsion ceiling to natural materials.

Lonjevity

Nopal homes are built to stay performant with minimal maintenance for 70+ years. Repairing the home is possible with minimal effort and waste compared to the other types listed because of our baselayer

Bolt-on high performance and code minimum homes have more serious points of failure. In our experience 50 years is a long time for these types of homes before major remodel or a complete rebuild is needed.

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