What type of home would be the cheapest to build?

[GerardBeal]

I have 16 acres paid off, w/ well, septic, and electric will be about $2k to hook up.
I initially was considering a cordwood, or possibly earthbag style home. I still like cordwood the most but I've recently started considering barndominiums or ICF. I will be coming into a good chunk of money soon hopefully mid 6 figures and plan to start building as soon as I get it and have the house, land, water taken care of and hopefully enough for a decent solar backup w/battery bank. What would be all around cheap and energy efficient? I'm in the Midwest where we occasionally get a tornado, none too bad in my area in 100yrs, and some snow but I wouldn't consider it a major concern like some parts of the N/NE.

[jsahara24]

I don't know much about cordwood or earthbag homes, but it seems like you shouldn't have a problem getting it done with the $ you are getting....Are you planning on building it yourself or hiring it out?  How many SF?  

[MountainDon]

Hmmm.  The first thing that came to my mind after reading the subject (keyword: cheapest) and the posted message (Tornadoes) was that those two words may be at odds with each other. I've not looked into tornado-resistant construction much, however, reinforced concrete has been mentioned the few times I have looked briefly. That won't be on the list of cheapest methods or materials.

I don't know much about cordwood other than it seems to be labor intensive and if or when the wood shrinks there may be drafts. There is a member here who many years ago built a cordwood structure. One link, a search on the forum will likely bring up more.

As for myself, I am interested in saving money. I have learned over the decades that the cheapest right now is quite often the cheapest in the long run.

A concrete wall structure can be made to be very energy efficient. Lots of decisions to be made, such as is it better to insulate on the exterior to place the concrete thermal mass inside or better to insulate inside?