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Well, it's certainly "minimalist" and it's a very nice web site, with great photos, but it's quite a stretcher to call that a "radically new concept". We've be
by oblib 10y ago
Well, it's certainly "minimalist" and it's a very nice web site, with great photos, but it's quite a stretcher to call that a "radically new concept".
We've been making these here in the Ozarks for generations. They're not considered very hifalutin though. They're called "Hunting Shacks" here. Most have a small wood burning stove inside them and used barn tin for the roof (for style), but the design is the same and darn near as old as the mountains we live in.
- jsmthrowaway 10y agoThe radically new concept is extracting $28,000 for a lean-to design, then barely warranting it for five years. That's just insane. Depending on how swanky the materials, you can build one of these yourself with a couple truckloads of stuff from Lowe's for less than a quarter of that, including laying a polished concrete pad for it. Note that I'm not saying "hacker culture just compile your own," I'm merely trying to find where the additional cost comes from. They handle the contractor and the plans are already drawn and approved, so that's probably part of it. But still, $28,000? Is Japan that expensive?
- ashark 10y agoWhat the Tiny House and container living and related movements have taught me is mainly that people will pay a premium for small living spaces that aren't considered "for poors", even if they're worse than, say, a single-wide or a smallish a-frame.
- IgorPartola 10y agoIt's the Soylent oven Ensure effect. Same product, different target market.
- Gracana 10y agoSoylent and Ensure have different ingredients. They are made for different markets, yes.. But their price is similar. I think you should either rename your effect or rethink its meaning.
- coldtea 9y agoI guess his effect doesn't rely as much on the price difference but on the artificial market differentiation (whether the price is the same or not) for what is essentially a very similar product.
- IgorPartola 9y agoThat's exactly it. It's not about the price here but about the fact that one product is hip and cool and one is not.
- IgorPartola 9y agoJust like Toyota and Ford have different components. Ensure actually does have a very similar offering to Soylent even if the ingredients differ a bit.
- tyingq 10y agoDoes seem kind of high. Pre fab small cabins seem to range from $3k to $8k here in the US. Not cedar, but if the expectation is a 5 year lifetime, that's not really needed. The price multiple for it being a bit more stylish seems steep.
- aaron695 10y ago> barely warranting it for five years Do cars or anything else often have warranties longer than 5 years? Does a regular house have a warranty longer than 5 years?
- jsmthrowaway 10y agoIt's a hint that they do not consider the materials very survivable. Five years is an awfully low lifetime for a permanent living structure, particularly one a contractor had a hand in building. Better to just not offer the warranty than offer five years, in this case, since one wouldn't expect to have to rebuild their home's frame three times before their kids graduate high school. I get that the intent of this product is different, but not different enough to make the warranty not stand out.
- dragonwriter 10y ago> Do cars or anything else often have warranties longer than 5 years? Yes, many products have lifetime warranties; cars typically have shorter "bumper-to-bumper" warranties (though, yes, some are longer, too) but very often have key-component warranties that are longer than 5 years.
- ams6110 10y agoHouses can come with warranties, more often they are called "maintenance plans" and are really just insurance. You pay for them if you have one, either directly or it's built into the price.
- kalleboo 10y agoIKEA has 25-year warranties for their kitchens (which I guess counts as part of a house?).
- ams6110 10y agoA product's price is mostly a function of demand, not the cost of its raw materials.
- twelvechairs 10y agoWell, demand is only there if they can differentiate from the cheaper options.
- coldtea 9y agoYou'd be surprised. Lots of the higher priced products have only marginal (if any) differentiation from cheaper options, sometimes only the brand being it. That's how you can have $400 plastic "brand name" glasses and $30 "non brand name" glasses that are made in the same chinese factory, with the same plastic materials and quality control, and both owned by the same parent company (e.g. Luxottica). And let's not get into clothing and wine.
- coldtea 9y ago>The radically new concept is extracting $28,000 for a lean-to design, then barely warranting it for five years. That's just insane. Not to people for which $28.000 is what $2000 is to you and me, which is the intended audience.
- jedimastert 9y agoMy landlord had one guy make a 9x10x8 building like that in our back yard for about $2000. If there were insulation and drywall in there it'd be up to code to live in
- strainer 10y agoIt can be a new living concept when equipped with modern gadgetry including low power electrics, and of course mobile computing and communications.
- Sir_Substance 10y ago>Well, it's certainly "minimalist" and it's a very nice web site That website is a monstrosity. You get a blank page with javascript off. When you enable it, it takes about 7 seconds of pinwheel to load anything, at which point you're suddenly assaulted with high volume mood music.
- whytaka 10y agoWhenever a website makes my laptop burn up it makes me angry knowing that it's effectively shortening the lifespan of its battery. I hate websites like this.
- luckydude 10y agoWhat you said. Hated the website. When it's all glitzy like that I pretty much check out. I'm more of a fan of the nerdy crappy camera angles but they are showing you how to do something on the cheap. There is a guy on youtube who has helped me repair our subarus, he's awesome. This website was the opposite of that.
- a3n 10y ago> When you enable it, it takes about 7 seconds of pinwheel to load anything, Huh. I should have waited two more seconds, I didn't think anything was going to happen. I wonder how many people (like me) think "something's wrong" and move on.
- balladeer 10y agoI don't know what they were trying to show. I think I waited till 30 secs or so and all I could see was pastures, streams, mountains, and greenery. Then I realised it's one of those "minimalist" website and gave up. Googled for images and it turned out to be good old cabin in the woods, maybe readymade.
- baobrien 10y agoand it transfers around 70-80Mb if you let the background montage play through
- 10y ago
- protomyth 10y agoFor $28k they want you can get a hunting shack with stove and toilet. I am continually amazed by the tiny house economics.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- Scoundreller 10y agoLet alone how much of an RV that can get you. Which won't require you to have any tools on-site/available contractors for its construction.
- jessedhillon 10y agoIt's almost as if marketing has a purpose.