Check Out Luke Crosthwaite’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Luke Crosthwaite.

Hi Luke, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was raised in a very unique situation, on a large working cattle ranch and son of a horse trainer and rodeo cowboy and a Las Vegas showgirl

life on the road at times was divers and living conditions came from a place of creativity…

when youre out in the way out west doing cowboy stuff with limited tools, materials etc you have to get creative and use what you have. I am also a musician so improvised problem solving is an algorithm that I seem to be attracted to. this leads to seeing life all together “differently” at times for me I feel more like I was dropped off on another planet because most of our ideas are the furthest thing from sustainable!

I never thought it made sense that you have to get a job and make $100 bills to roll up and cram in to a gas tank on a vehicle (which you pay taxes on) to go to the grocery store to buy an apple that was trucked around the country that was also sprayed with some pesticide….my thoughts are more PLANT THE APPLE TREE! one time effort produces a lifetime of apples but we live in this strange society where every thing is single use disposable and soulless…

Horse trailers, shipping containers, the ground….all places I have slept in my adventures and when you go with out a house for a while you learn to appreciate one lol!

So I wanted to build something “Sustainable” so my passion for helping people could become a way to earn a living, I am not the kind of person that can do a meaningless “Job” I just cant! I need to have a purpose in what Im doing and I wanted to be remembered as someone who made some kind of positive impact even if a small one.

Ranches have lots of trees (the ones in the mountains anyways) and I have had to manage land for cattle which also needs to be a sustainable process.

So after watching how logging works I couldn’t help but feel like using trees as our main source of housing is maybe not the most sustainable thing ever.

I had a crazy idea to build with shipping containers and I created a website and it didn’t do anything but cost me money and I almost gave up on the whole idea! Then when I was installing a floor my self on my hands and knees at a project I got my first call and landed my first project which was a multimillion dollar project. From there things just kept escalating and I was blessed to find others that have similar ideas and before I knew it I was managing over $10 Million in projects all related to containers from Luxury to Affordable housing!

I wanted to take my houses a step further so I went down the Gardening rabbit hole and like a mad scientist I made a Home that Grows Food! by paring container homes and grow tech like Hydroponics and atmospheric water generation we can make totally of grid self sustaining homes that leave the home owner NOT reliant on Walmart to eat.

From here my goal is to produce Teacher housing by creating a more cost effective design per square foot and you must be a teacher to qualify to buy in the community. all with an emphasis on keeping the organic farming techniques in the community!

Key point-my business model is what lets me build all around the state!
I am disarmed so to speak from being a predator in a “retail” environment always looking for my pay check in a “Mark up” instead what I learned was sine these Projects are all so widely different and unique I am not the “Container guru” meaning I operate as a consultant ONLY so the customer pays me directly for my services which lets me have full transparency and show them my actual hard costs! NO ONE IN THE INDUSTRY DOES THIS most people want to pay 5 for the dry wall and charge the customer 10
I dont have to suffer through any of that and my customers are HAPPY, my subcontractors are HAPPY and I am HAPPY building sustainable homes that will out last any wooden structure.

FUN FACTS my steel buildings are cheaper to insure! fire insurance will see huge savings! where other homes can not get fire insurance!

The lack of organic matter (wood) means with minimal paint maintenance the homes will be handed down for generations with no need to replace roofing or facia boards or all the things that rot and need replacing over time on traditional homes.

The dense nature of the designs make them very well insulated and very efficient to heat and cool too!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No! everyone told me I was silly and it will never work, said id never get permits etc etc

I did everything and more than anyone said I would with containers!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a builder yes but I really am an artist who is commissioned to create works of art that live and breathe and house human beings!

What’s next?
continue to help people by empowering them them to house themselves and feed themselves sustainably

Pricing:

• per design
• 250 per square foot
• 350 per square foot
• 450 per square foot

Image Credits
licensed contractor ROC333928