Hosting a Workshop

We enjoy teaching workshops on sites other than our own in Jacksonville, OR. We have taught House Alive workshop in Washington, California, South Dakota, Spain, Mexico, Panama and other places. We are keenly aware that there is a lack of workshops in the mid-west, the east-coast and across the globe, and, rather everyone having to fly to the west coast of the USA, it seems wiser for teachers to visit other places.

Hosting a workshop can be very beneficial and enjoyable. You can get a good start on a project, such as a small cottage, while spreading the knowledge of natural building in your area. You also benefit from the design and construction experience of our team so that your project has a greater chance of being successful. And last but not least, you enjoy the uplifting energy of forming a temporary community on your land, usually filled with hope and enthusiasm.

However, many people underestimate the work and preparation it takes to host a workshop and hence, this information to explain how you can qualify for hosting a workshop and how to go about the preparations.

The site

A good workshop site needs to have the space and infrastructure to function as a workshop site. It requires:

  • Comfortable, level camping spots for about 12 tents
  • Hot showers, toilets, washing and cooking facilities, and enough water for building (cob takes a lot of water)
  • Electricity for tools and slide presentations
  • A kitchen, big enough to feed 20 people (including pots, pans, plates, etc.)
  • An outdoor meeting and dining area
  • An indoor meeting and dining area for when it gets cold or wet

The project

Not every project is suitable for a workshop. Here are some things to consider:

  • The project has to be small enough so that many aspects of the building of a house can be taught during the workshop.
  • The location has to be suitable for a building, so no swamps, river beds or mountain tops.
  • A good portion of the materials need to come from the site itself or nearby.
  • We prefer building places that are very public, or places that people will actually live in, rather than things such as private yoga studios.
  • We can’t stress enough that the purpose of the workshop is not to finish the building. We can not tell beforehand how far we will get as there are too many variables, such as number of participants, their working ability, weather, size of the project, quality of materials, etc. All we can promise is that we give your project a decent lift!

The food

The food is an important part of the workshop experience and requires a lot of care and attention. The host is responsible for hiring a full time cook with credentials in cooking for larger groups (previous experience and references required!). The cook will have no time to participate in the workshop and needs to be fully dedicated to the work of providing excellent meals. The job can be split up between different people and cooks may volunteer their time, rather than getting paid.

The food needs to be fresh, plentiful, tasty, well presented and vegetarian (with options for vegans).

The cook will be compensated $3 per meal, per workshop participant (includes the instructors, not the host, host family or kitchen staff) for purchasing ingredients. The $3 per meal may or may not cover the total food bill. However, that is not the issue. It should be considered a serious contribution to the cost of cooking. It is based on our food cost when we do workshops at our home site. For menu ideas and suggestions, feel free to contact us. A complete menu needs to be submitted to us for approval, at least 2 months before the start of the workshop. Sometimes we have an early “light breakfast” in addition to a full breakfast later on. Compensation for that will be $1. We often also ask for a fruit or other light snack in the afternoon for which we will compensate you with 50 cents.

The preparations

The following things need to be in place before the workshop starts:

  • The site needs to be level and prepared for the project, according to our specifications.
  • All the materials need to be on site, including sand, straw, clay, windows, doors, wood, electrical wire, roofing material, etc., all in appropriate amounts for the size of the project.
  • The rubble trench foundation and the stemwall need to be finished according to our specifications. This is usually a serious project and the host should plan on at least two weeks of labor to get this done.
  • All the infrastructure as described earlier needs to be in place, such as shower(s), toilet, kitchen, etc.
  • There needs to be an adequate number of simple tools on site: We usually need about 6 shovels, 2 wheelbarrows, 25(!) buckets, 3 hoses and some simple carpentry tools (saws, hammers, nails, etc).  We will provide additional tools unless we have determined otherwise.

Other requirements

  • The host, or the person preparing the workshop must have taken a cob or natural building workshop from us or any other comparable school.
  • The workshop needs to have one person participating full time, at no cost, who will be responsible for finishing the project. This does not need to be the host.
  • The host is responsible for recruitment of local participants. We may also post the workshop on our website. However, there is a great benefit in training local people as the forming of a natural building community takes place, plus there is a greater chance that people will volunteer after the workshop to get more experience and to help you finish the building!
  • In the context of requirement 3, we require that we have at least 4 deposits from people living within a 2 hour drive, at least 3 months before the workshop. If this is not the case, we reserve the right to cancel the workshop.

Financial arrangements

As a general rule, all the workshop fees go to House Alive. The host will get help with the cost of the food as earlier specified. All the cost for the building materials will be paid for by the host. If the workshop is not listed as a House Alive workshop, it may be considered a private workshop, where the House Alive staff is hired as teachers/consultants. In that case the host is responsible for all the preparations and recruitment of participants. The host may or may not charge for the workshop. The cost per teacher is $300 per day, plus travel days and expenses. We require at least 6 students for private workshops and no more than 12 per teacher.

Applying to become a workshop host

If you interested in hosting a workshop, please let us know through email. Feel free to comment on any of the issues addressed above.