Off Grid Living How to Guide: Purchase a Home or Build One
This is one of the more difficult questions in the off grid living how to guide. This is not only because of the many variables in regards to the building process, but also due to the skills required to build a home as well as the location it will be built. You also have to consider whether you are going the nomad way, or having your home in a permanent location.
Building Your Own House
This is quite the plunge. It requires a certain level of skill and or the ability to go with the flow if things don’t look quite how you imagined or function quite as you intended. It deals with a prerequisite of studying, reading and watching educational films to acquire skills necessary to get the job done.
You can also volunteer at particular places to learn trades. For instance, I learned how to work with metal from a custom fabricator that did roofs and siding in Beverly Hills. He gave me a quick 2-3-hour lesson. Told me about the necessary equipment to get the job done and I bought metal from him and was on my way. I am currently fabricating my shingles now and have him to thank for that 3 hours. From researching the particular skills he showed me, I still can’t find that invaluable information he taught me on the internet.
My Choice
I personally believe that building your house will always be the best decision. It doesn’t matter if that house is a tiny house trailer, a van or RV, a 4-bedroom house or the more unique builds like a boat. Customization is one of those beautiful things that adds to the experience in every way. The best aspect of customization is that the house suites your exact needs as you see them, even if those needs change throughout the build.
You can work off of your ideas rather than spend a lot of time and effort getting blueprints done and floor plans you can follow your loose idea and create a house that fits you like a latex glove.
Customization
I know what your thinking, I could just tell the builder exactly what I want and they can build that. If you have gone this route you will realize that is not now it works. Unless your dealing with a top tier architect and even better engineers, putting your idea to paper in a way a contractor will be able to execute it is incredibly difficult.
When you are building it yourself you have all the time in the world to customize it as you see fit and figure out the loads and spans of beams and trusses with charts and that long forgotten skill, mathematics.
Keep in mind customization is a one-time thing, you may want to add a garage or extra rooms, maybe a greenhouse later down the road. This will be a simple feat if you built the home. You know the load bearing walls, you know what can be knocked down, you know where the electricity runs to and from and you can do the work yourself.
Upkeep
The most important thing that I love about building your own house is that you will know how to fix everything, because you built everything. If you are off the grid and a good distance from society, you may not even be able to find someone to come out and service your propane tank, or fix a leak near a skylight etc. If you do find someone odds of it being in a timely fashion are slim to none. The you have basic maintenance to deal with, painting, staining, filters, septic, etc. This are all skills you would already have if you built your house so you will be able to handle the majority if not all of the maintenance yourself.
Think about night approaching on your property and the power goes out. It is utter darkness with city lights a far distance away like fireflies in the wind. You don’t know where the breakers are, you don’t know anything about the battery bank, charge controller, inverter, solar generator etc. So you will remain powerless until you can get in touch with the installer and have them come out and fix it. That doesn’t sound like a good proposition at all.
When dealing with off grid living building the house yourself is the ultimate preparation for maintaining that house for years to come effectively and with limited funds.
Price
On top of everything else, building your own house is far cheaper than paying someone else to do it. For example, I got an estimate to roof my house with metal after deciding to do the customization myself. I had no intention of accepting these services but wanted a quote to see how much I would save. Keep in mind this price was just for the metal and not the install. The cost was $36,000. I decided on a more intricate design vs the large panels and the cost was still over 30 times less.
When it is all said and done I will have spent about $600 on the metal, the custom gutter which wasn’t included in my price was $200. I would have done that myself but I don’t have the equipment to make bends in metal that is longer than 3 feet. Plus, the underlayment was $120. The screws which weren’t in the quote were another $100. So total I will be spending $1,020 on the roof.
The more skilled the labor the more you save.
Purchasing a Home
You know where I stand on which was better for me but it may be different for your circumstances. A lot of people don’t have the skill to build a house from scratch nor do they want to attain them. You also have to invest a lot of yourself into building a home from scratch which means being in some form of physical shape and healthy enough to get the job done, that also dissuades many from that course and there is nothing wrong with finding a house like and buying it thousands of people do it every day.
Don’t let me ideas sway you into making a poor decision for your circumstances
Customization
If you have an idea that is set and stone, hire an architect and let them sub the rest of the work out as far as engineering goes. They will be able to bring your ideas to life if they are clear, concise and straightforward.
You will have limited room to make changes unless you want to pay more but they can make changes in an existing house that allow it to suite your needs. I would avoid making to many structural changes as that would mean essentially demolishing the home but this is your journey and it is up to you.
All that is left is hiring a contractor to do the work. I would ask the architect for their recommendations and with that your dream home should be well on its way to fruition.
Make sure the contractor and Architect are clear about the location of these off the grid abode so there is no confusion down the line when it comes to getting the work done. Travel will play a role in the price.
Upkeep
This is way easier than when you build your own house because all you have to do is make a call. While the build is taking place be sure to get the info of everyone subbed to help with the build so you know who to all when things go awry.
It may take some time for people to come out and service your home and be more expensive but it shouldn’t be a problem if you acquire all the necessary contact info.
Price
It will be far more expensive than building your own house in the short and long term. The upfront cost will outrageous to some, but if you have the money, why not spend it. If you customize the home you have to pay for the blueprints, floor plan, Architect, Engineers, the house, the demolishing, trash, and the work you have done to it. Without customization you will just be paying for the land and the house. Unless of course you go the nomad route then you will just be paying for the home whether that be a van, RV or trailer.
What to Remember
Do what is best for your situation. This article just illustrates the route I have taken countless times and what works for me. My method of building houses alone will not work for everyone. If I’m being honest it will not work for most people. You may go a hybrid route and play a role in building your house will have a contractor with a the skills there to guide you, or do some parts yourself and hire out the things you can’t do.
There a many ways to do get your home. This off grid living how to guide just highlights the basic aspects of a couple options. Regardless of what you do, stand firm with your decision.
Which method would you choose and why? Let me know in the comments below.
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