Are you just in need of quick shelter or permanent shelter?  I system of SIP panels can be used with little work and equipment to put together.  They are created in a factory and assembled on site.  These types of home can be done for vary reasonable cost and can be everything from fancy to as plain as needed to keep cost down.   If you design vary simple you can get several homes on one truck and deliver them and set them in one day.

When time and money are short siding and roofing can be done with spray on rubberized coatings that seal up the structure.  Windows and doors can be installed in the factory.  The insulation factors are great and when air sealing is done on the sub finish they are easily heated and cooled.  Electric and plumbing can be put on the inside walls of pre-installed in the wall systems.

The design and costs are all affordable if done right.

Let me know what I can do to help.

George

Hi George- thanks for sharing your experience. Do you know, where I can get some design specification and cost details? I am inclined to permanent affordable structures.

Hi George, you might want to explore solutions that are currently applied in the Phillipines by BASE Ltd. (http://www.base-builds.com/about-us/). Convincing project set up with holistic tests (mechaincal propoerties, fire, LCA etc.). A preliminary paper regarding the sustainability assessment of affordable housing materials attached. More to come in the upcoming weeks. Best, Holger 

Ask yourself what the indigenous housing looks like. Then ask what you can do at the margin to help people accomplish assembling what would be a version of indigenous housing. For example, if the terrain is rocky, people might most of all need help "digging" privies. Perhaps a backhoe is needed or maybe some dynamite. Water supplies are key also. Finally, think about how these structures are to heated. Underlying the housing are property rights. Make sure that you take care of that first.

Thanks a lot...will consider

Well, from my point of view, if the house is to be affordable for those who live in remote area, the construction materials have to be abundant and easily accessible locally.

I quite agree with Peter F. Colwell in the sense that traditional houses built by the indigenous people are the most economical, and in fact, they are the most sustainable as these houses respond very well to the local climate. Studies have proven that traditional houses are in fact bioclimatic houses.

How to extract these traditional architecture design and knowledge, and adapt them into the our modern housing system is a big challenge and has been a great topic of research. You can find out more on this topic from an article written by me: Unleashing the Potential of Traditional Construction Technique in the Development of Modern Urban Mass Housing, which is available in my Research Gate website. Thanks.

Thanks a lot Chee hung Foo.. will certainly check...