Building a Tiny House on Your Own Land
Building a tiny house on your own land may have some unexpected expenses and hurdles to overcome before you even begin.
You’ve been thinking about tiny living for a while now. YouTube videos have inspired you, websites like ours have educated you, and you’ve determined that owning the property on which you wish to build your home is the way you want to go. Just like any other prospective homeowner, you’ve done your research. You believe you know what it will take to make this happen.
And now you think you’ve found the perfect piece of land.
You are fairly sure you could plunk your tiny abode there tomorrow with a few simple preparations.
You imagine you know how much it will cost.
You’ve got a pretty good idea of what kinds of tiny houses you can bring in or build.
Now’s the time, and you’re raring to go.
You may have the right timing, location, resources, and knowledge to make it happen. But just in case, we’re going to take a look at the two main components in this process:
- Choosing the type of house you want to build or bring in, and
- Understanding EVERYTHING that will go into building a tiny house on your own land.
Foundations, Zoning, Permits, Tap Fees, Utility Connections, Septic Systems, and More?
For the purpose of this page, we aren’t addressing the choice of living off-grid, although there may be components of that lifestyle you will be able to adopt for your project. Everything you need to know about living off-grid can be found on our page, Off-Grid Resources Directory.
Rather, we’ve created this page to give you an idea of all the tiny home types available. Each of them has a page with detailed information, both pros and cons, as well as resources to help you make the best decision possible.
Before we get to that list, you might want to visit our page on Building a Tiny Home Village. It may sound crazy to even think of this when scraping together the funds for your own project is a challenge. However, the costs associated with connecting an unconventional build with conventional infrastructure can be formidable. Sharing the cost burden has proven successful for some tiny home dwellers.
Knowledge is power, and it’s best to have a good grasp of the realities up front. This might help you determine what kind of structure or vehicle would work best on your very own piece of paradise.
Don’t try and skirt building codes and zoning laws.
Don’t think you can find a place so remote and hidden that building and zoning enforcement offers won’t find you. Yes, I know it’s your land and you should be able to do anything you want with it but sadly that’s not the way it is in the US. There are places with few if any building codes I’m told but call the county office to find our for yourself.
Cheap Land Colorado
Cheap Land Colorado is Ted Conover’s experience discovering and living with people who were told they’d have freedom and be able to live cheaply in the San Luis Valley of Colorado. Five acres for just five thousand dollars or less. These are the stories of people who live there, who found out they were required to install a costly septic system within ten days of moving to the land. The views are as magnificent as advertised but there’s no health care, schools are hours away, and hurricane force winds and bitter cold winters will test even the heartiest soul.
We can take a warning about dreaming we can find cheap land with no building codes to adjust our dreams to stay within reality.
Here are other pages of the Tiny Life Consulting website about how to work codes and zoning officials:
How to be Proactive with Building Codes and Zoning Laws
2021 International Tiny House Provisions
Building and Living Legally In Tiny Homes
Just One More Thing: Foundations. Will You Need One?
Foundations. You might think you won’t need one, but many factors come into play in that decision. Rather than spell them out here, please visit our pages Tiny House Foundations and Permanent Tiny House Foundations.
Check with your counties code and zoning enforcement officer to see what kind of foundation they require. Responses can vary from just a firm dirt pad for a THOW to a complete below the frost line foundation. The requirements might very well change what type of tiny structure you had in mind to build.
Calculating the sometimes unexpected cost of infrastructure
Here is a great video by Living Big In A Tiny House about a couple who started with a good amount of savings to build their dream container home, but find out that getting the utilities installed took the whole amount they had saved before they even got started on the build.
See details of the build and more of Jaimie and Dave’s struggle to overcome some huge obstacles to realize their dream.
Tiny Types, in No Particular Order
Covers everything you need to know about solar power. From understanding all of the components that go into solar powered projects to choosing the right solar panels and even building your own solar panels, this book teaches you everything you need to know about custom solar powered systems and creations.
ADUs (Auxiliary Dwelling Units)
Manufactured Homes or Park Models
Earthbag, Underground, and Earthships
Converting Rail Cars to Tiny Homes
Semi Trailer Converted Into Tiny House
Insuring an Unusual Building
Getting insurance for an alternative building type can be hard to come by. Visit this page of the Tiny Life Consulting website for more information: Tiny House Insurance
We were happy to find Mac Insurance, insurance agents that will find you a policy that covers alternative buildings. Check em out, get a free quote and don’t forget to tel them Tiny Life Consulting sent you.
RV Insurance
Here’s a good company to look at for RV insurance:
Even if using your RV for rental income or full-time living Roamly won’t shy away. Here’s more details on this page: Roamly RV Insurance Compared to Progressive
How To Find Land For Your Tiny House
US municipalities are waking up to the fact that a huge percentage of the population are demanding a place to build or settle their tiny house. In recent surveys a huge portion of people in the United States put affordable housing as their most pressing concern. Building a tiny house is easy compared to finding a place to put it.
In his book, How To Find Land For Tiny House Living, Jordan Liberata has compiled the information of hundreds of hours of research on this subject so you can learn it fast without doing the research yourself.
Jordan s information will help you create a realistic budget and help you wade through wrong information. Click the image and jump to amazon.com to read the intro and see if this book is for you.
Jordan has two other great books you’ll want to investigate:
Live Tiny & Be Free: Everything You Need To Know About Tiny House Basics, Living, Ideas, and Design
How to Build a Tiny House on Wheels Step by Step: Tiny Home Construction, Building, Plans, & Design
Visit this page of the Tiny Life Consulting website for more good books with solid information about building and living in a tiny house: Tiny House Books Comprehensive List