It's like building with great big Legos. The inside walls will be covered with plaster. When people first hear of strawbale houses, they often conjure the image of sleeping in a tinderbox. But because the strawbales are tightly packed in the walls and covered with a carapace of stucco, the house is tremendously strong and fire resistant. Fire can't burn without oxygen, and the dense strawbale walls result in an airless environment.
Cost is also a concern in building any house.
Geisen and Corbin organized the workshop of curious volunteer laborers to alleviate some costs. What makes the house affordable for Ken and Laura is that Ken is able to get involved with all the building in spite of the fact that he's a cabinet maker. It also allows us to get all the strawbale-related stuff through workshops and contributions of family and friends and so forth who might not have any building experience at all. The bulk of the people involved with the workshops don't have any construction experience whatsoever, and they don't need it. In fact, they're probably better off without it.