Friday, July 27, 2007

Latest Idea-My Little House



I seem to change my mind all of the time. I just can't seem to decide how to spend or invest my nest egg.

I was thinking about buying a used mobile home to replace the old leaky mobile home that is on my property. I would rather build a nice little home. I think it would be a better use of my money in the long run. I haven't found a house plan that is big enough for me yet cheap enough to build. I drew up this little plan today. It has a screened porch, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom and a loft and is under 900 sqft. I would love an attached garage but I probably can't afford to build what I drew so far.

I tried to use some economical design principles like having all of plumbing in one area. I would collect rain water off of the roof and incorporate a grey water system to water plants outside. I haven't taken advantage of a passive solar design. There are only 2 windows on the south side (Actually the house is upside down. The top should be south.) The screened porch would give me a view to the west but protect me from the setting sun. I can't figure out how to get around having air conditioning. I don't think window A/C's would be strong enough when it gets up to 112 degrees. The A/C will be a big expense.

A local builder has an advertisement for custom homes at $80/sqft. That would be $72,000 to build. That's probably not including water and sewer. I only have $25,000. I suppose the next step would be to ask around for sub-contractor prices and building materials. I already have the septic system and I plan to have water delivered for now. I still don't think I could do it for under $50,000.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you seen plans for the Katrina Cottage? We love the darling style and lots of windows!

Lowe's plans to sell the Katrina Cottage kits next year starting at around $40,000.

Daizy said...

I have seen those Katrina Cottages. I should look at them again. For $40,000, I wonder what's included? I suppose the foundation would be an extra expense.