Tiny house living is a trend which has taken off around the world, especially in overcrowded cities, but also out in the countryside, where a small home can help to put the occupant in touch with nature. One of the purported benefits of tiny house living is downsizing—not just in terms of space and “stuff,” but also in terms of cost of living.
But are tiny houses really all that inexpensive? Well, that depends on quite a few factors. First of all, whether you build the house yourself or you hire a contractor can make a huge difference in price. Secondly, the square footage of the home is going to have an impact on the cost. And then there are materials to consider, and features, and location, and style, and so on.
Basically, when you come down to it, there is a huge range in cost for tiny houses. Yes, it is possible to build a tiny house on a shoestring budget. You can even manage it for $10,000 or less. But most tiny houses cost more than that. It is not uncommon to see tiny houses that cost $50,000 and up. Some tiny houses even sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars—or even more.
If your main goal with tiny house living is to save money, you can get discouraged when you see the price tags for a lot of models you can purchase. But that shouldn’t stop you, especially if you possess carpentry skills.
If you are willing to build your own tiny house, either from the ground up or from a prefabricated model, you may very well be able to do it on a very minimal budget. To prove it, I’ve scoured the web for some examples of real-life tiny houses built on a shoestring. Let’s check them out.
1. The Foxhole: $6,500
This house was constructed over a two-year period and cost around $6,500. Around a third of the total cost went toward insulating the roof with a moisture barrier. The support beams for the home are made from local timber, and the walls are insulated using regional straw. The family grows much of their food themselves out in their own garden. The house has no inside bathroom, only an outhouse, but it is equipped with solar panels to power modern devices. The home is located in Dancing Rabbit Eco-Village.
Source: tinyhouseblog
Dancing Rabbit Eco-Village: dancingrabbit
