For the last couple years I have been fascinated by shed technology. I know that sounds silly, but it’s true.
Every time I go to Lowes I take a look at the kits available to build sheds. I have been impressed with the cost, ease of construction and square footage under roof.
So last week I was intrigued when I went to Lowes and saw a 16 x 16, two story outbuilding. I went inside and took a look. Grabbing a brochure I was surprised to see the whole thing, constructed on your site, roof, doors, windows and stairs included for less than $7,300.
That’s 512 sq ft under roof (not all usable depending on whether you use a ladder or stairs to gain access to the upstairs), making this $14.25 under roof. The materials only cost must be around ½ that amount.
Not bad, but not ready to live in either.
I got the manufacturer’s name and found their website:
It’s a pretty cool place to go to get ideas on cheap rectangular housing alternatives.
Here’s a picture of one a 16 x 24 used as a retreat cabin:
Here’s another:
Small? Sure, but livable.
My redhead and I are intending to buy land and then build a “pay as you go” house. We intended to pull a small, used mobile home onto the property to live in as we built our house. Now I am wondering what it would cost to buy the materials to build a small 16 x 24 or 18 x 24 house we could live in while we built. Then, after our house was livable, I could turn the small building into my study.
I’ll work up some plans and post them here along with some material costs.
Looking at the website, an 18 x 24 constructed on site is less than $12K. If I can get the materials for 1/2 that amount, and throw in another $10K for insulation, drywall, fixtures, electric and plumbing means the house can be built for less than $20K. An 18 x 24 would have about 750 sq ft usable living space on two floors (SMALL!) making the finished house around $27 sq ft.
If we add a finished basement it would increase the square footage by another 350, though I have no idea what it costs to have a basement excavated, blocked properly to keep it dry, but if it is less than $9K it would reduce the cost per sq ft even more.
June 16, 2007 at 12:20 am
[...] I’ll work this into my tiny house plan. [...]
June 19, 2007 at 1:50 am
Okay, this is brilliant!! This was what I saw, too! Well…similar anyway. I could totally do this for a year! Totally worth it! Thanks for sharing!
Jen
September 9, 2007 at 11:40 am
Wow. I was really pysched to see this idea. We have a bunch of cheap housing ideas posted on our family blog, http://www.webesharin.wordpress.com , but I hadn’t even touched on the shed house option. I didn’t know they made them in two stories. I’ve compiled some research on yurts, shipping container houses and quonset huts. Although we’ve looked into these kit outbuildings before, it was never as a housing alternative. I’m definitely checking out the link you provided.
Oh, and as you were mentioning getting by with low square footage, I have to add, it is much easier than we thought it would be. Although, almost everything is in storage, so that helps. We made sure we had everything we needed for our office and communications system, and put nearly everything else in storage. We’ve been getting by with lots of sets of industrial shelving which can be used in the new place. The lot we bought came with a sort of cabin, so we are making due with that. In the summer it has 592 square feet of space, but in the winter a little less than 400. It’s an adventure, but we are excited about trying while we make plans for the new place.
Thanks again for this post! It’s always nice to see other alternative and cheap housing ideas.
September 9, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Thanks for the comment Myscha. We have almost too many balls in the air right now, so I haven’t been as active in pursuing our next living space. Because it is just my redhead and me, and we basically live in our den, kitchen and bedroom now, we think the small space won’t be too much of a problem.
Liked the articles on your site and will likely be back. I’ve only skimmed stuff on yurts. I am not yet that unconventional!
November 1, 2007 at 1:28 pm
We are having a very similar cabin constructed right now… I have ongoing pictures here (click on picture to see them all) : http://bethnchris.com/2007/10/29/cabin-contsruction/
Ours is going to be 20×24 with an 8′ front porch with two lofts. One over the back 14′ and one over the 8′ foot porch with a catwalk in between the two lofts. should be about 950 sq feet. This will be used for 4+ people…
The shell is being built by a local Amish family with for about half what you had figured above… we are figuring around $10k-12k total for the initial phase… then we are adding solar, bathroom (starting out with outhouse – adding composting system), and then rainwater collection system…
November 1, 2007 at 5:55 pm
Cool Chris (and Beth). Keep me posted.
950 sq. ft. was about the size of our first house and it worked pretty well for 3 of us.
Question: Did you buy the lumber as a “kit” or buy it off the shelf?
March 22, 2008 at 1:03 am
would love to see inside pictures
June 24, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I actually got this idea too. it would be great for the enviroment, im definately going to live in a 16×16 house.(or smaller)
July 19, 2008 at 1:27 am
Well with the economy the way it is I have been searching internet day and night for cheap homes or land, we lost our home and our down payment after I got cancer and now we are renting and just barely getting by I was amazed to find this website with all the Ideas although I love the Idea of using the lowes buildings it is just too small for our large family 6 of us we need at least 1200 sq ft to live comfy I really like the open concept ideas you know no walls i think that would save money Ive looked at plans for A frames but the plans themselves cost 400 bucks and who knows for the materials, well anyway thanks for broadening my horizens!!!!
September 12, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Cool idea and I assume you’re planning to build out in the country. In the city where we live it would not be possible to do this because of all the legal stuff. You’re required to use a licensed electrical contractor (which I am), plumber, HVAC, etc. You can be your own general contractor though. But your basic thought of building a rectangular box is what I’ve had in mind as well. We’re planning on building a rectangle but it’s going on some nice property with a view of the city of Chattanooga, TN. What I’m trying to figure out now is how to make a box look good. We plan on reselling the house in the future for some good money and we want it to be esthetic.
September 14, 2008 at 7:48 am
Lovely.
October 24, 2008 at 6:08 pm
The character bubbles in “Trailer Park Boys” lives in a shed with a bunch of cats and it works out pretty well for him
July 3, 2009 at 2:24 am
funny I google my site to see if there were any links to it… found this old post I made… I know this is and old post but figured I would post a reply
The lumber is mostly from hemlock harvested off or our property and milled by a local Amish mill.
Here is a working link to the construction site : http://www.bethnchris.com/BethnChris/Cabin.html
This summer we will be adding a 12×12 addition to be a bathroom / storeroom so we can move most of the construction stuff out of the way… I should start getting some updates in the next couple of weeks…