What is the Cheapest Way to Build a House: The Answer You Need!

Hello everyone,

I have been off the grid for some time now and have helped others build houses as well as built a couple with nothing but these pretty golden fingers as companions.

Throughout this article I am going to answer the big question What is the cheapest way to build a house. I will be focusing on a non traditional build in a first world country (this is due to material access)

Shall we Commence?

The Rules

For this segment we are solely focusing on the cheapest way to build a house. This will not be a custom home that will get a quarter of a million likes on IG but it will be complete and it will be cheap as it can get.

So there are of course conditions

1. The house will obviously have to be wind and water tight.
2. There has to be room for the necessary creature comforts (bathroom, kitchen/kitchenette, living area and bedroom aka at least 150sq ft
3. A bit of natural light, so the user isn’t gloomy after project completion, optional.
4. This is for the cheapest way to build a house not to furnish and outfit it.
5. I will assume that the person who wants the house will learn the skills needed to play a large role in the build.

Be Your Own Boss

Lets face it, the air isn’t fit to breathe, the food isn’t fit to eat, the dollar loses it’s value at a disgusting rate and the world is a bundle of self replicating chaos. This all means that the absolute cheapest way to build a house it to…… you guessed it, build it yourself.

I’ve found that humans are relatively simple creatures when it comes to money. They either have excess money and no time or they have excess time and no money. If you find yourself with a plethora of both, good on you, things are going swell. On the other hand if you find yourself lacking in both you’re going to have to start making some difficult choices bucko because that is a rough two piece combo.

Since we are discussing the cheapest route to take care of a relatively expensive task you will have to do it all yourself, that is the least expensive option and honestly the option in this scenario. With that being the case we will have to set up different budgets for different items to keep this venture as low as possible.

Where to Start

In order to build anything you will need information of course but fortunately libraries and the internet is full of that so thankfully it is free to you. Watch youtube videos, read articles and books and get a general idea of how you are going to get this done.

Something else you need for any project are of course tools. Top quality will not be our concern here, just run of the mill tools that can get the job done. We will budget $1500 for tools it will be more if you don’t shop smart, so keep your eye on that budget spreadsheet and don’t tip the scales on the budget.

Finding the House

I’m sure this sounds strange and you’re probably wondering, why am I finding a house if I am building it. We will get to that. What you need to understand is building a house from scratch will never be the cheapest option, there are too many variables with materials, price fluctuations, scarcity, and all of that will take more time and essentially cost more money if you are paying rent somewhere etc.

With this in mind the simplest solution would be an insulated truck box, high cube shipping container, or large enclosed trailer. Based on price and availability the cheapest option will almost always be the High Cube shipping container. Anywhere there is a port or tractor trailers you will find shipping containers and typically where there are shipping containers there are high cube shipping containers.

The high cube shipping container is 9’6″ tall, giving you much needed ceiling height to make the space feel more open since the interior is only 8 feet wind and closer to 7 feet after insulation. Personally I would go with the 40 footer because I need a little bit of breathing room but the 20 footer will be cheaper and this is a guide on the cheapest way to build a house.

The next time is to scour your surrounding area for a well used but air tight 20 foot high cube container. As we speak I began to search for one. I found a wind and weather tight 20 foot high cube container with a roll up door for $3150 COD. I called and talked them to $3000 and COD means cash on delivery for the uninitiated. So we got our house and with barely any skin in the game.

Now What?

Now it’s time to get mixxy. You have a house and now you need to get things set up on site before the delivery for a smooth transition.

For the foundation we will be using railroad ties. Once again this is the cheapest option. I just did my search and found multiple listings for free railroad ties locally, some in better shape than others. However, I will assume you aren’t as gifted as me in bartering or seeking out deals so lets say you find some for $30 a pop and you need10 so at the moment you are $3,300 in the hole. Not bad for a build but this is just the ground work.

You need to buy some crushed gravel for a base layer and drainage for the railroad ties. You will spend roughly $100 you don’t want to skimp on making a solid base. You also need a shovel $30 and tamper $50 for the ground work. You’ll be using a 5 gallon bucket ($3) to transfer gravel, you don’t have the excess funds for the wheelbarrow, this isn’t hollywood hills.

Ground Work

You will use the railroad ties and gravel to make your foundation, using your shovel to dig a trench a bit about 2 foot in width and depth using the container dimensions as your guide.

Once this is finished you will need a 2×4 ($3) and a level ($15) to make sure the timbers are level for your container. Call the owner of the container and explain that you want them to deliver the container onto the timbers you have set up. Make sure they can do it because otherwise a crane will be necessary and there is no room in the budget for those types of failures.

If all goes as it should you now have a beautiful weather tight house sitting on your property, waiting to become a home.

The Build

Now it is time to get deeply involved. Using the dimensions you will get a pad of graph paper and sharp pencil ($3) and design a layout that suits you. With the limited space I suggest a day bed or murphy bed in the bedroom but that’s your decision.

Now we need to let some natural light in, we will do this by adding glass french doors. You will have to scour the internet to find some well priced. I have found my fair share for $50 for a pair but lets assume the best you find is $250. You will also need a small generator ($350) and angle grinder ($40) to cut the opening in the rear of the container. The roll up door area will be left as in. A door jamb kit for french doors and the threshold will be about $150. Be sure to cut only the rough opening of the door and keep that metal. Frame the door with lumber ($20) you will probably need a circular saw, hammer and nails and a drill/driver with lags to afix your wood frame the the metal one that will run you about ($250). After that you will also find the biggest window you can get for the cheapest you can get it. I just found a few big ones, one for free that that 6×6 and a few $50 to $100 around the same size. We will assume it will cost your average joe $250.

You will frame this window where right inside of the roll up door, that way if you want some privacy you can roll it own or if they are the big opening doors close them. Add some spray foam insulation near the frame work so things remain wind and water tight.

The Cheapest Way to Build Your House

This method of up cycling and bartering should be able to get you a house for less than $5000, this includes the ground work, insulation, windows, doors and framing as well as the tools used. How do i know you ask, because I’ve done it twice.

This build described was just under that right around $4700 If you add insulation to the mix that will be an extra $500-$1000 depending on prices and whether up-cycling is at play but you could also get used tools and a used generator for much lower as well as the windows and doors the prices I get can get them which will still even out under $5000.

If you want more ways to build a cheap house let me know in the comments.