Constructing your home to work with the earth has benefits that far outreach just the cost. Earth-ships are designed to use the soil as natural insulation, and to catch storm water, maintaining an optimal temperature while keeping the utilities costs low or non-existent. But from the attractive initial cost of building an earth-ship, comes the dilemma of actually building it—implying that one has the DIY skills to pull it off. 

Earth-ships are designed to use the soil as natural insulation, and to catch storm water, maintaining an optimal temperature.

The Florida based company, Green Magic Homes, has designed a prefabricated earth-ship to solve this problem, opening up the initiative to anyone with the capacity to use a simple drill. This eco-friendly “Magic Green Home” is delivered to your doorstep as a series of laminate wall panels, with small holes that run along the edges allowing you to quickly drill the sections of the home together. According to Inhabitat, “Composite ducts and channels for electrical wiring and water pipes as well as mechanical ventilation ducts can be added to the shell at any point.” The outer shells are also completely waterproof.

This eco-friendly “Magic Green Home” is delivered to your doorstep as a series of laminate wall panels, with small holes that run along the edges for easy assembly.

The outer shells are completely waterproof.

The prefabricated vaulted panels (walls) are also designed to be covered in soil, for vegetation to grow out of. Although many traditional earth-ships are built into the ground itself, this design flips the process so that the ground is built on to the walls of the home.

The prefabricated vaulted panels (walls) are also designed to be covered in soil, for vegetation to grow out of.

The designs span from a simple one room set up, to an all out earth-ship mansion. The benefit of the snap-together sections of the home, is that one is able to expand their living space over time. As far as cost, the homes are going for $34.74 US per square foot, meaning that for a 400 square foot home, you’re looking at just under $14,000. Green Magic Homes also offer Gazebos for a bit cheaper, at $25 US per square foot, or approximately $10,000 for 400 square feet—however these are more open-concept and drastically less practical to actually live out of.

The designs span from a simple one room set-up, to an all out earth-ship mansion.

All in all, the Green Magic Home is a sort of an “earth-ships for dummies,” where the benefit mostly lies in the design that is stupidly easy to assemble, and to expand. The cost is also attractive, considering you could effectively snap together your own home for the same cost you might pay for a year’s worth of rent in a city. Lastly, you essentially get to live in a hobbit-house, which is cool anyway you spin it.

The Green Magic Home is a sort of an “earth-ships for dummies,” where the benefit mostly lies in the design that is stupidly easy to assemble, and to expand.