r/OffGridCabins • u/Just-Campaign-1523 • 7d ago
Where to start?
How did you guys start with your offgrid cabin?
This is my dream since forever.. but with a kid, a job and everything.. it is hard to see that dream come true.. all the lands at a decent price are at least 45min from my plumbing job... it seems complicated to find a middle between decent land and not driving 2h daily to work and pay the cabin.. am I the only one who struggle to plan that?
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u/Aharleyman 7d ago
Ours is an hour away from our home. We bought the land and built a shed big enough for storage and to sleep in.
Then we logged it to get enough for a garage and an Amish built cabin. We had driller’s come in and tried to put in a well and water system. They went over budget without hitting drinkable water so we went to plan B, which was an underground 400 gallon tank and pump. I have a 360 gallon plastic tank with aluminum support, that I can put in my pickup by myself. I can fill it at the local DPW in the nearby town for $1.
Then we build a leach field and had a septic tank installed. After that we added a mud room and full bathroom to the cabin. We also put in 2 telephone poles and had electric run to our property making it possible to use year round along with a propane wall heater. Last winter we got over 100 inches of snow and survived just fine!
Good Luck!
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u/KismetKeys 7d ago
Nope I have the same problem. It’s a realistic plan but my wife works in the city and wouldn’t be feasible to force her to commute a long time, and she also doesn’t speak the language so outside of the city might make her feel isolated.
We’ll see
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u/Hortjoob 7d ago
Same. It's hard to decouple the two issues unless you're able to work off the land for income which is a whole other can of worms
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u/Just-Campaign-1523 7d ago
Crazy! With kid, when you are split up its even worst ! Driving me crazy
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u/mtntrail 7d ago
Started with 10 acres in the woods about an hour from work. Used a tent and eventually a small trailer for weekend brush clearing. Five years later, retired and had the house built. Planned it for our retirement.
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u/Just-Campaign-1523 7d ago
Yeah I think that is the way... go debt free with the cabin until its payed and you have enough to survive with
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u/mtntrail 7d ago
It worked for us because we sold our home of 30 years to pay for the cabin build. But we also had to build a bridge which was almost as much as the house, ha! Sitting here right now faintly hearing a generator from our only neighbor as the utilities have been shut off due to the high wind. With our solar setup we don’t notice the power cut offs!
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u/Just-Campaign-1523 7d ago
That is awesome! In canada, home prices doubled.. else.. project would already be started sadly..
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u/mtntrail 7d ago
Doubled, ouch, that’s gotta hurt. We built our place 20 years ago fortunately so avoided the huge increases here in California. It is crazy what houses/property is going for now.
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u/Just-Campaign-1523 7d ago
Most people purchased bungalows 190$ pre-covid and sold for 400k 2 years after.. crazy. Thinking about staying in my cheap appartment and directly paying the cabin .. then see.. with appartment increase, you gotta think about it tho...
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u/mtntrail 7d ago
Finances are always at the root of things. Hopefully you can find the best way forward. Getting off into the woods was the best thing we have ever done.
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u/walnutts 7d ago
Same situation for me. 1hr 20 minutes each way. I visit the land a couple times a month. My land was completely raw, so my first step was to read a lot about electrical and house building, so I planned and built a solar system with the batteries in a diy shed. Paid someone to clear some land and parked a trailer out there. Next step is to build a cabin.
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u/Fr0zak 6d ago
Land. (debt, or cash). i’d say land debt is relatively a decent choice as long as you make payments.
Then i got booted from my rental, and had no where to go. I moved on to my land and set up a tent, cooked over a fire. had a small propane powered fridge.
it took me 9 months (work, buy material, build, run out of money, work etc)
but i got a 12x12 and a shed set up.
i’ve been adding on to it for 7 years now. fully off grid.
i highly recommend the “I am screwed if i do nothing” approach. it really lit a fire inside of me 😂
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u/Just-Campaign-1523 6d ago
I think burning the bridge is actually a very powerful tool for sure ! I dont feel as stressed for "when my son will be older". I guess the best thing would be to either buy a small cottage or a land and slowly build from there ! Then later on, go more and more over there
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u/Brad_from_Wisconsin 4d ago
I waited until I had paid the last college bill for my youngest kid. I looked at what I had spent on that and said to myself: "Damm, I could have bought a house for that"
Our lifestyle was evolved to cover those expenses. We were used to no vacations and driving old cars and cooking most of our meals.
I used the money I had been spending on those things to pay for the land. My home was mostly paid so I had room in the budget for the cabin mortgage. Our lifestyle was built for putting kids through college. Maintaining that lifestyle was easy and allowed us to build the cabin.
My cabin was a 4 hour commute from where I lived and worked. When I was able to get internet into the cabin, I was able to work remote. This allowed me to transition into living at the cabin. Since we retired the cabin became home.
I could go on for hours about what I would have done different during the build process, but you do not seem to be asking that.
For every thing there is a time.
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u/Just-Campaign-1523 4d ago
Yeah I think you targeted the right thing.. timing. Not rushing, planning and using the right timing!
Thanks for your sharing ! I will probably make another post for "what would I have done differently" ! Also curious about best cabin square footage 🤣 i know it depends but curious to know how people planned their house! Footage goes quickly!
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u/Brad_from_Wisconsin 4d ago
We have 768 feet on lower floor and just over 200 feet in the loft. We have 2 bedrooms of 100 square feet.
My wife and I seem to have all of the space we need as long as we are cognizant of the value of objects. My point of view is that I am selecting an object to keep and I am also at the same time, selecting an object to give up.
I designed the cabin to optimize the morning sun. We have a two car garage.1
u/Just-Campaign-1523 4d ago
Love it! I think 1000 feet is actually pretty good and reasonable! Great work
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u/Tricky-Car-5004 7d ago
Are you planning to live there? I don't think most of us live at the cabin, mines about an hour and a half away .
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u/Just-Campaign-1523 7d ago
Good question.. would def like to spend retirement there..
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u/Tricky-Car-5004 7d ago
Sure, but are you going to sell your house while you're still working and move there, once you retire, won't matter much how far it is from where you used to work
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u/Just-Campaign-1523 7d ago
100% I guess my plan is t well structured that is why it is so hard to envision! Thanks !! Very
Helpful!2
u/Tricky-Car-5004 7d ago
I'm in a similar situation, I'm building my current cottage but it's like something with more land when I retire, so this one is an investment I can spend my weekends and vacation at, when I retire in 7 years, I'll sell that and my house to buy the dream cottage. Those around here are just north of a million, so no chance I can cover both my house and that mortgage.
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u/Big-Company-2987 4d ago
What area are you looking at? I have off grid property for sale 35 minutes from City
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u/mrjohns2 3d ago
I want ours at least 1-1.5 hrs away so as to be different than home. The plan isn’t to live there while working.
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u/username9909864 7d ago
My property is 2 hours away. That's all I could afford. If this dream is a priority for you, you'll make it work. It doesn't need to be a full time residence.