So more than 20k.

Plus land. How much does the land cost?

According to the article[1], it's in a development area with "million dollar homes", so I'm guessing (based on similar developments near me, also in the Atlanta area) around $200k for a half-acre plot. So in reality, it's a $220k home for "poor people".

Granted this is the pilot program, but it's nearly impossible to find decent land in the right location and conditions to build a home upon for under $20k/acre, at least here in Georgia. So let's say you're lucky enough to find a five acre plot (the minimum for what this kind of home requires to comply with zoning laws near me) for $50k. You buy this kit for $20k, take a leave of absence from work for six weeks to build it (~$6k, if your blue collar job doesn't give you paid leave), hire a licensed electrician ($8k) and licensed plumber ($10k) to handle those jobs because it's not included in the kit and building permits require licensed work. Now we're at ~$94k for a home that will not be as nice as a traditional home that costs the same. Not to mention, $94k is at the upper end of what someone with a $50k/year income can afford.

I get the intention behind the program, but right now it's no different from any other "sustainable initiative" out there: It's a great theory but only applicable in near-perfect conditions or as a prototype.

All of that said, I'd love to tear down my house and build something like this, if only the zoning laws here would allow it.

[1] "The development near Atlanta might at first seem like an unlikely place to build the pilot homes—it's a lush planned community that includes million-dollar houses."

But given the cladding and roofing in the photo's, I'd imagine a 2 man crew could build a house in roughly that many working days. Probably less.

When I was working as a builders labourer, we'd show up on-site with the concrete pad already set. Take ~ 1 day to stand-up the frames. ~ another day to stand up the roof trusses, ~1-2 days to put the roof purlins and any internal gutters in (the buildings shown won't have those). And another day or two for putting tar-paper on the roof, tyvek around the frames, and general tidy up

A contractor would take ~2 days to put the roof on.

~1/2 day for the electrical pre-wire. ~1 day for the plumbers and drainlayers to pre-place everything

1-2 days to fit the windows and doors.

The style of exterior cladding shown is comparable to the roof, so another 2 days. (Most of the houses I worked on had brick cladding over a timber frame, which took ~4 days for a single story house)

Plastering, (2 days) Painting (1 day), electrical post (~1/2 day) plumbing post (~1/2 day). Cabinet work (1 day) carpet (2 days)

So ~19.5 days to build a conventional house.

We can eliminate the carpet straight off.

If we use structural insulated panels we can eliminate the cladding, roofing, papering, and time to install the purlins. That's ~7 days saved right off the bat.

The depicted houses are on concrete block stilts, which will need a day or 2 to build, and there needs to be some extra time allocated to building and insulating the elevated floor, but I don't really see why that has to be hugely expensive.

The depicted structure is small, and doesn't appear to have AC. the foundation, plumbing and drainage don't look like they require extensive use of excavators (although you will need some for the drainlayers at least).

So with 2 people, plus the drainlayer contractor and his baby excavator, I don't think they're all that far off a reasonable construction cost.

It's been discussed on HN half a dozen times. "Extraordinary claims" is a context-dependent idea.