I spent some time growing up in Mexico. When I was there I became fascinated with how they build things, in particular homes. I think it would make a lot of sense here. I probably wouldn’t build one in the city, but out a bit I would consider it.

Wood is high, shingles are high, insurance is high, almost everything.

Seems like it would be better for a tornado, don’t seem to burn down and no roof to replace from
Hail. I don’t know if You would need home insurance.

I find myself looking a buildings here made of block. Sams , costco, Discount tires.

What they do is:
1. They trench out about 3-4 feet for outside walls.
2. Lay the concrete base in trench and build up corners with rebar.
3. Build the exterior walls, leaving openings for windows and doors.
4. They lay plumbing, then concrete the floor.
5. Then they get plywood and poles. Lay rebar and pour concrete for the roof/ceiling. I’ve seen these made with styrofoam as well.
6. They chip the cinder block walls and lay electric. Patch up.
7. Add second story and windows-doors.
8. They use mini splits for AC.

My Dad's house in Arkansas has cinder block walls, but is covered with sheetrock on the inside, and stucco on the exterior. I'm not sure how the roof is framed, but he has a normal shingle roof. It's very energy efficient.

Google insulated concrete forms for homes.

Old Hispanic boss of mine built his house with concrete walls, swore by it being better than what we build here. Painted concrete floors, and a tile roof. No idea what the electric bill looked like but he said it’s cheaper than wood and insulation.

Seen a lot of homes in America, Mexico, Costa Rica, Israel, Asia....

My opinion is your "home" really means nothing. It can change in a heart beat.

Your home is your family.

I was happier when I had less, and lived in a cinder block house.

My grandfather personally built their house in Sansom Park out of concrete in the 40's or 50's. Never had AC, only a swamp cooler in the middle. Fun fact - the planes from Carswell AFB once upon a time used his chicken coop to help line up for landing.

My buddies camp house at the lease is a cinder block structure. There is no insulation whatsoever on the interior, so it's not exactly efficient at staying cool/warm.

My neighbor built his house with the split face block. The frame is like a metal building less the wall purlin with a metal roof. Wood studs for the sheetrock and spray foam. He screwed T&G pine to the ceiling, looks great but creaks and pops alot due to heat expansion.

When I lived in Florida, I lived in a cinder block home. It did seem to help keep things cool in the summer.

Tilt wall sweats to bad. I hate pier and beam, cinder block is ok, but still has similar issues as tilt wall concrete.

No thank you. The newer concrete insulate forms is an interesting concept.

When I lived in OKC my Dad had a friend that built a home out of wooden ammo boxes that he got free from Tinker AFB. He dug into the side of a slope, laid a foundation and filled the boxes up with dirt from the digging for the outside walls. He then put a cement roof on it and covered the top up with the extra dirt. The front of the house had regular doors and windows and with a brick facing. Looked great on the outside and the interior looked just like a normal house except no windows. The friend said electric bills were low for a/c and heating and he had a very comfortable tornado shelter at the same time.

ICF blocks - like Greensburg, KS. I guess you could kind of do the same (but opposite) with foam filler in the cinder blocks. Go to about 1:57

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cGFIVJkoAc

Worked in precast concrete industry all my working life and for the life of me do not understand why insulated precast panels have not taken over the housing industry. Way to many advantages to ignore.
.

What happened with the 3-D cement homes from a few years back?

I’d live in a Teepee if I were single

It worked for over 10k years

Interesting concept. Build them out of beer bottles.

Heineken Tried

Search for info about Earthship construction.

Just looked at some houses using them. Interesting.

Would like to hear more about where you saw them being used