Well my most probable possible future anyway... (You never really know what your life is going to look like day to day) and it looks like this.
I’m talking about tiny houses!
I was browsing the interwebs the other day and I came across a rather interesting video about an assistance program for the homeless in Colorado. It explained how they had made a wee little ‘village’ with about 30 shelters. These transitional housing shelters included one communal living area, a bath house, an office and the rest were very small (around 8x8 - 8x10 feet) one room “houses”. They have no utilities, no plumbing, no electric, only four walls and and a little window. This is fantastic I thought as I watched the formerly homeless occupants tell their stories and explain just how much these little shelters meant to them. You can learn more about this project here.
As the video went on they showed how they were expanding on this concept by building a village of studio houses. I call them studio houses because they seemed to be along the lines of studio apartments, everything save the bathroom in one sectioned off area. They have everything a normal house has as far as plumbing, electric, bathroom, kitchen… just… smaller.
At this point I thought to myself You know what… I could live in one of those. It’s just my daughter and I, and as of yet I’ve no reason to believe that will change any time soon. I’m a bit of a minimalist to begin with, really the bulk of my possessions is my book collection. I try to keep her toys to a minimum; she was quite happy with the toys she had that fit in her 8x8 room in our last residence, a 500 square foot apartment that we were very comfortable in with another adult and three cats.
I could, of course shove us into another small apartment for $600 a month in the city and I will probably wind up doing so for a little while but that is not a long term solution for me. I hate the city. Say it again…
I hate the city.
And as discussed in my last post, I want to homestead. So… Spend the next twenty years renting on land I have no control over while saving to buy a conventional house the conventional way OR spend five years saving and planning to buy an acre or two of land and build a tiny house on it.
Hard choice, no? Haha no. I have sense done some research and found that the average cost to build a tiny house is right around $25,000 - $30,000, and the current average cost of land in my area is around $3,000 per acre, bit more in residential areas.
So say I allow myself up tp $8,000 for an acre or two of land and $22,000 to build my tiny house using reclaimed materials that I have a few years to gather for a total budget of $30,000. If I could save $500 a month I’d have it. Keeping within reason, we’ll say I save up $10,000 in five years… five years is plenty of time to get my credit pin straight and take out a $20,000 loan. It’s perfectly doable!
Let’s break down the costs. I found a nice blog post that breaks down this writers cost of building her brand new tiny home like so
| ITEM | PRICE | NOTES |
|---|---|---|
| Tumbleweed Trailer | $4,850 | Including registration fee. |
| Kimberly Wood Stove & Flue* | $4,495 | Splurged for the aesthetics, efficiency and off-grid capabilities. Read my review. |
| Windows & Skylights | $4,000 | Egress Skylight, Vented Skylight, & 14 Custom windows |
| Structural Lumber, Sheathing, Etc. | $3,000 | Estimated costs of lumber, sheathing, house wrap: Tyvek, & screws: Screw Solutions Starbit Head |
| Portable Solar System* | $2,800 | Goal Zero Solar Generator, Cables & 2 x 90W Panels |
| Siding | $2,200 | Reclaimed siding purchased from retailer |
| Insulation | $1,200 | Rigid Foam. Read my build tips here. |
| Water Heater* | $1,125 | Brand: Precision Temp. Buy Here. Read my review. |
| Compost Toilet* | $900* | Get $25 off with this link. Brand: Nature’s Head. Read my review. |
| Refrigerator* | $870 | Brand: Dometic. 3-way power. Buy here. |
| Roofing | $800 | Onduvilla 3D Shingles. Underlayment: Grace Ice & Water Shield |
| Build Plans | $769 | Tumbleweed Cypress-20 Overlook Plans |
| Plumbing* | $700 | Click here for detailed breakdown of plumbing. |
| Mattress | $450 | I love sleep. Sleep is good. |
| Shower | $440 | Shower tub, low flow fixture, and shower fan |
| Light Fixtures | $400 | Read about my DIY copper lamp. |
| Front Door | $385 | Bought new and trimmed to size. Read more here. |
| Propane Heat Blanket* | $380 | For extremely cold climates. Buy Here. Read more here. |
| Flooring | $330 | Engineered hardwood |
| Propane* | $310 | Tanks, regulator, and piping. Full breakdown on my materials list. |
| Wood Slab Countertops | $300 | And a lot of work! They sure are pretty. |
| Kitchen Sink & Faucet | $220 | |
| Stovetop* | $176 | Propane 3 burner. Buy Here.. |
| TOTAL COST: | $31,160 | “HOLD ONTO YOUR BUTTS!”– SAMUEL L. JACKSON, JURASSIC PARK |
If you would like to follow her click here links you'll have to visit thesource
Now, of course these expenses are extremely relative, but it did give me a nice reference to come up with a budget of my own.
| ITEM | PRICE | NOTES |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation | $3,000 | I don’t want a trailer. A root cellar would be much more beneficial to me in the long run. Lucky for me one of my uncles happens to own a concrete business. |
| Appliances | $6,500 | As much as I would love a wood stove I need to remember practicality. I went to culinary school, I am a chef. Am I going to be able to cook the ways that I’d like to with a wood stove and two little burners? Hell to the no. I need a convection oven with burners. This doesn’t usually fit in the tiny house model but that’s the fun about tiny houses, 100% customizable. The kitchen will be the area of my biggest expense and probably the biggest actual area. A small range oven will do me just fine. Also included in this price are an “under bar” refrigerator and freezer. Having these units instead of under counter cabinets gives me some extra, very valuable, counter space. It also includes a small dishwasher because I want one, and stackable washer and dryers because spending $10 a week at the laundromat might not seem like much but it comes out to around $500-$550 a year. All appliances electric, energy efficient, and brand new. |
| Windows & Skylights | $750 | I don’t need a ton of custom windows, working around clearance energy efficient windows will work just fine for me. |
| Structural Lumber, Sheathing, Etc. | $1,500 | Two words. Reclaimed materials. Cut in half. |
| Solar Power System | $2,100 | I don’t need it to be portable, and depending on location I’d want it grid tied, because if I can make some money back it’s worth it to pay more than I would for an off grid system. |
| Siding | $1,000 | It says on hers that her siding is reclaimed… well she doesn’t know BIL, he got siding for his entire full sized house for about this much. So I’ll go ahead and slash that. |
| Insulation | $1,200 | I’m not too sure yet how much insulation would cost for me so I’ll keep this the same. |
| Water Heater | $500 | Tankless electric water heater |
| Bathroom | $1,000 | I won’t be on wheels, and likely will have a water source and pipelines so regular toilet, sink, shower are included here. |
| Roofing | $400 | Reclaimed |
| Build Plans | $0 | There’s a multitude of free plans out there |
| Plumbing | $1,000 | I’m not 100% sure yet, but I’ll bump this us a bit to be safe |
| Mattress | $500 | For two mattresses |
| Light Fixtures | $200 | I can make cool light fixtures for less |
| Front Door | $300 | Probably less if reclaimed |
| Through wall duel electric heating and cooling unit | $500 | Because here it gets very hot in summer and very cold in winter. |
| Flooring | $165 | Reclaim, half |
| Propane | $0 | Going all electric |
| Counters, Countertops, ext | $300 | I’ll DIY with reclaimed material for all counters, cabinets, and everything else so this counts for all of that |
| Kitchen Sink & Faucet | $220 | This seems about right, I’ll keep it |
| Land | $8,000 | |
| TOTAL COST: | $29,135 |
You may think I’m missing a really important thing; labor, but trust me I’m not. I know contractors, construction workers, tradesmen, and general handymen for just about anything you can think of that would be more than willing to help me out if I cover cost and provide the beer for anything that I can’t do myself. Which honestly, isn’t much… especially with the help of my Dad’s wife, and I know she’d be more than willing to help. My other Dad’s is a construction worker, I have general contractor friends, a couple of electrician friends, family that own landscaping, and concrete businesses. I don’t think I have a plumber but I can guarantee one of my people do.
This is also estimated costs. If I give myself five years to gather reclaimed materials and search for good quality used appliances that fit my specifications, and grab minor supplies on sale I’d likely be able to reduce the listed cost even more. I would like to have them reduced to around $25,000 so that I have a little wiggle room for the unexpected costs that inevitably pop up, and hey, if I can get it down to $25,000 and not have that $5,000 in unforeseen expenses I can build my coup and start a flock right away. Yes. Tiny house is the way to go for me, combined with my homesteading project.
Accio Tiny Homestead. ;)
If you do happen to see anything important you feel I'm missing help a gal out and let me know ;)