Posts Tagged Tiny Home

How To Get Mail Delivered To A Tiny House

By Ryan Mitchell on May 6, 2021 / Tiny House / Leave a comment

One thing I hadn’t considered until well after I moved into my tiny home was the ability to get mail, packages, and other items delivered to my tiny house. I wondered, how do tiny houses get their mail? Well, I wasn’t able to find the answer online, so I thought I’d share how I was able to get an address and mail delivered to my tiny home.

Getting An Address For A Tiny Home

Getting an address can be very tricky for a tiny house if you’re not building it to code. When a home is granted a permit, it triggers a whole host of actions including utilities, taxes, trash, and the assigning of an address. If the land you’re living on is empty or only has your tiny home on it, you’re most likely not going to be able to get an official address.

If you’re not up to code, trust me, you don’t even want to start down this road, because it will trigger a lot of inquiries and even city officials stopping by your property, which could lead to them condemning your tiny house.

Can A Tiny House Share An Address With A Traditional House?

Kind of. Technically speaking, you’d need to go back to the county or city and have them assign a secondary address to the main house. When considering if you want to do this or not, a simple phone call inquiring what’s involved to your local municipal office should be pretty clarifying.

In some places this will actually trigger some new designations, checking of zoning to see if “multi-family” units are allowed, or other zoning designations. This may also lead to an adjustment of taxes or require an additional permit or license to get the address assigned.

Alternatively, you could just try adding a new box. It’s pretty easy to add an additional box to the traditional home and label it with your address number + a letter — 989 B, for example. Usually the mail delivery worker is so busy, they will not ask questions.

Lastly, you can simply have your mail delivered to the main house and sort it there.

Can I Just Put Up A Mailbox To Get Mail Delivered?

In general, no. Most places require you to apply and be assigned an address. That said, I’ve had friends who live in a tiny house do just this and it worked. She just put up a new mailbox, added a house number that seemed to be right in comparison to her neighbors, and soon enough she was getting mail.

How I Get My Mail Delivered

The way I ended up getting an address was by first having water set up on the property as a utility. When I applied, I stated the water line was going to be used for landscaping only. I paid the permit and connection fees — a whopping $2,200 — and in about six weeks, the city came out and installed the water tap to the edge of my driveway.

From there, I asked the city to remove the waste water fee, which required a site visit by an inspector. The reason I did this is because my city charges you for the water, but then also charges you to take the water back. The fee for waste water is three times the price of water in the first place, so this saved me 75% on my water bill. I never mentioned the intention to have a tiny house there at all in this process.

It was about two weeks after this inspection that I put in a driveway, ran the water line, and brought my tiny house on the land for the first time. This allowed me to get my water bill, which they’re fine sending to another address at first.

That water bill can then be used to get a driver’s license with your street address on it. From there, I took my water bill and my driver’s license and went to a local UPS store and secured a rental box, which allowed me to get mail, packages, and more all to that address.

This may sound complicated, but I never really planned it out in advance. I just needed water there, which got me a water bill. I went to re-up my driver’s license and they needed a proof of address. That gave me the license, which they asked for when I went to get a box.

How To Get Packages Delivered To A Tiny House

In general, UPS and FedEx care even less about if your address is official, as long as they can find it on google maps. For me, I just added a post with a house number and I received packages without any issue. For the most part, since I have a box, I get my packages sent there because they sign for it and an email is sent to me when they accept it.
Lastly, you can get Amazon packages delivered to one of their lockers, which are pretty much everywhere these days.

Benefits Of A Rental Box Over A Post Office Box

I had thought about getting a Post Office box, but going with a UPS Store box afforded me a few benefits. First, unlike the P.O. Box, the UPS Store is an actual street address. There are many places that will not deliver or accept an address that’s a P.O. Box, but a UPS address is no problem.

Second, a Post Office box will only accept packages that are sent via USPS, while the UPS Store will accept anything. They also automatically generate an email to you when the package arrives and remind you a few days later, which is really nice for me because I don’t get a lot of packages and don’t check too often.

Finally, I find that my UPS Store rental box doesn’t get junk mail like a normal address. That is huge! I want to live more simply, so not having junk mail helps with that.

Can You Live In A Tiny House Without An Address

If you’re okay living off the grid or hooking up via a main house on the property, then it’s totally possible to live without an address. You may need to have a formal address somewhere to do your taxes and get a driver’s license, but other than that, you can live life without an address.

Using Family’s Address As Your Home Base

This is another good option. For a while I used my sister’s address as my formal address and it worked out pretty well. My one tip is that you usually want someone in the same state as you for simplicity when it comes to taxes and vehicle registration.

Mail Forwarding Services

There are many services out there for RVers, Van Lifers, and other nomadic folks. These services will receive your mail, scan it, and then hold onto the physical mail for a certain number of days.

You’ll receive a scanned image of all the mail you receive via email. Some will then either bundle the mail up and send it to you and others have a window where you can request certain pieces be mailed to you.

These services start at about $10 per month and go up from there. It’s a great way to get your mail if you don’t know where you’ll be in the foreseeable future. Once you find a place you’ll be for about a week, you let the mail forwarding service know the address and they’ll bundle things to you via UPS or FedEx.

Mail Forwarding Comparison

Escapees RV Club

Specifications

Mail scanning services
In-house mail review
Mail to anywhere

Features

Personal mailbox
Special sorting services
Mail scanning

My RV Mail

Specifications

Works with UPSP and FedEx to deliver mail
No fees for physical or digital storage
App access to account

Features

Premium service includes digital mail images
No limits to amount of mail received
Schedule when you want shipments

Traveling Mailbox

Specifications

Unlimited cloud storage of scanned mail
Integrates with Evernote, Dropbox, Google Drive & others
Phone, chat and email support, 7 days a week

Features

Mail forwarding to anywhere
Scanning services and app integration
Check deposit services

USA 2 Me

Specifications

Access to online management system
Packing consolidation services
Mail forwarding anywhere in the country

Features

Manage account online
Assigned address
Shipping and scanning services

Your Turn!

How do you get mail at your tiny house?
What tips do you have for getting mail without an address?

Tiny House Doors – What I Wish I Knew + Design Ideas

By Ryan Mitchell on May 3, 2021 / Tiny House / 1 Comment

Tags: Construction, Design, Tiny Home

Tiny House Doors – What I Wish I Knew + Design Ideas

I did a lot right when I built my tiny house over a decade ago now, but there are a few things I’d change if I could go back, one of them being the door on my tiny house. Building a door for your tiny home is akin to building furniture and woodworking; Had I known that before, I’d have gone a different direction with my tiny house door.

NAVIGATION

The Basics Of Tiny House Doors

A door is made up of rails that form what looks like almost a picture frame, and within it you’ll float panels. All that comes together to make the door, which is then seated into the door casing or door frame. You’ll then add your door hardware like locks, hinges, thresholds, and sweeps.

Tiny House Door Dimensions

One thing you’ll quickly learn about building a tiny house is that normal building materials are scaled to a big house size, so if you use them on your tiny home, they’ll look weird and out of proportion. That means there will be a lot of things in your build that you either have to build from scratch or get creative with when finding a solution.

One of the great things about tiny houses is that you can design it for your needs and preferences, and the door on your tiny home is no different. I designed the doorway on my tiny home to be 30 inches wide because, when I measured my shoulders, they were 27 inches across.

I also designed the door to be 3 inches taller than I was (73 inches tall) so I could walk through it without any trouble, but I didn’t want to make it any bigger than it needed to be. That was really important because it kept the scale of my front door smaller than normal.

Tiny House Door Height: 80 Inches

The standard door height for a tiny house is 80 inches. This size accommodates most people and is also required by building codes in most places. You may want to consider scaling this down depending on the size of your tiny home and the design you choose. In some designs it will look great, while in others it may look too big and mess with the proportions.

Tiny House Door Width: 36 Inches

The standard door width for a tiny house is 36 inches. This makes for a really spacious entryway and again, is required by code. One thing to consider is if you have any big items: a couch, shower stall, mattress, and appliances will need to be able to fit through your tiny house door after you’re done building. You may need to build some of these in place because they can’t fit after the fact.

Tiny House Door Thickness: 2 Inches

The average tiny house door is about 2 inches thick. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, and code doesn’t come into play here much, but security and standard door casings will push you into a 2 inch-thick door for your tiny house most likely.

Tiny House Door Rough Opening Width: 38 Inches

The average tiny house door rough opening is 38 inches wide. The rough opening is the part of your wall framing that you complete before you install your door frame, which holds your door. This is one thing that I think first time builders can forget: your rough opening isn’t sized for the door, but rather for the door frame (which, again, holds the door itself).

Tiny House Door Rough Opening Height: 82.5 Inches

The typical height for a rough opening for a tiny house door is 82.5 inches. This accounts for the door frame and that threshold.

Door Rough Opening Chart

Here is a chart to help you size your door’s rough opening.

Door Size	Rough Opening
24″ x 80″	26″ x 82-1/2″
28″ x 80″	30″ x 82-1/2″
30″ x 80″	32″ x 82-1/2″
32″ x 80″	34″ x 82-1/2″
34″ x 80″	36″ x 82-1/2″
36″ x 80″	38″ x 82-1/2″

How To Build A Tiny House Door

Like I mentioned, doors are complicated to build. As a first-time builder of anything, I didn’t realize what an art form building a door really is. I was just learning the ins and outs of woodworking, and by the time I got to building my door, I had only just begun to get comfortable with my table saw. I was nowhere near ready to build a door and, if I’m honest, I still wouldn’t be ready today.

Tiny house doors are tricky because they need to be incredibly precise. There is a lot of joinery involved, it has to be very straight, you have to do a lot of work to keep the pieces of wood from twisting and warping, and it needs to seal really well against the door frame.

Tiny House Door Assembly Diagram

Here is a diagram of all the parts that go into building a door for your tiny house.

Tiny House Door Jamb Diagram

To get a better idea of how the door sits in the door frame and the frame is mounted into the rough opening of your wall framing, here is a door jamb diagram.

Tiny House Door Threshold Diagram

Here is a detail I wish I knew when I built my tiny house. The threshold is the bottom of the door frame where it seals to the wall and deals with any water that may come into contact with the door and drip down.

Tiny House Door Tips

As I said, there are a few things that I wish I had done differently with my tiny house door when I built it. While I spent a lot of time planning out my build, there was still a lot I had to change on the fly and lessons I learned the hard way. As they say, hind sight is 20/20.

Consider Buying Instead Of Building

I think that building a door is certainly possible, but it is also very difficult. When you buy doors, they are very expensive—even off the shelf standard doors will run you around $400 and up. That said, I think that buying a door made by a company that does so every day using advanced materials is a huge advantage.

Realize You’re Not Saving A Lot Of Money With DIY Doors

My door all in cost me about $400 for the materials, plus $120 for the double pane bare window I bought to put in it. I also put in about 30 hours of labor to assemble it. If I had instead spent 30 hours working and used that money to buy a nice custom door, I’d end up thousands of dollars ahead and have a much higher quality door.

Buy A Stock Door Where Possible

Stock doors are mass produced and you can usually find a good value between quality and price. To give you a rough idea of costs, a stock door can run around $500 while a custom door starts at around $900 and is easy to get into the $1,500 range.

Don’t Forget Your Interior Doors For A Tiny House

One thing that stands out to me when I walk through other homes after gaining so much experience building is the quality of interior doors. Like anything, it can be a really easy thing to overlook, but there is just something very pleasing about good interior doors.

People fawn over granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, and other obvious upgrades, but a house with nice solid interior doors screams high quality more than most things. The reason for this is that it’s a subtle detail that penny pinchers and showy people skip over as unimportant. When you talk with a homebuilder that’s passionate about their craft, they always make sure the seemingly little details are done right too.

Tiny House Door Ideas – Design Photos

There are many great ideas out there when it comes to your tiny house door design. The choices you make in your tiny home around your door can set the tone because it’s the focal point of the outside of your house. There are a lot of subtle design choices that go into a door and, like I said before, they really are the labor of talented craftsman—art pieces in their own right.

Tiny House Front Door Photos

The entryway to your tiny house sets the tone for your entire design. One great way to draw the eye in is with a bright color, like a tiny house with a red front door.

Tiny Houses With French Doors – Double Doors

Having French doors on the front of your tiny house is a great way to let in a lot of light and open the space up even more.

Tiny Houses With Glass Garage Doors

Tiny houses with glass garage doors that open up are very popular these days and for good reason. Living tiny also means extending your inside space outside to a deck or patio.

One thing to realize with these doors is that they’re pretty much impossible to air seal, which will dramatically reduce the efficiency of your tiny home. While most brands go to a lot of effort to seal these well with rubber strips, flaps, and gaskets, they still aren’t very air tight. That means heating and cooling your tiny house will be much harder.

Tiny House Barn Doors

Barn doors are all the rage right now and for good reason: they can be used to add a door where a swinging door wouldn’t be possible because of the small space. Barn door rails and roller hardware is becoming a bit more affordable—there are even some great DIY options too.

Tiny House Pocket Doors

Pocket doors are my favorite option for small spaces. They require planning and you can’t put them in walls where plumbing or electrical are needed, but they’re well worth it. I like these much better than barn doors, personally. Just make sure you buy a really high-quality pocket door hardware kit and good frame.

Your Turn!

What are you going to do for your tiny house doors?

How To Choose Windows For Your Tiny House

By Ryan Mitchell on April 26, 2021 / Tiny House / 2 Comments

Tags: Design, Tiny Home

How To Choose Windows For Your Tiny House

NAVIGATION

When I went to buy windows for my tiny house, I had no idea how many options there were. The choices you have when buying tiny house windows is dizzying, so let’s make the process as simple as possible.

How To Choose Tiny House Windows

When it comes to windows, there are a few big things to consider. These boil down to cost, custom vs. stock, and styling. Windows should be one of the things you decide on pretty early because it takes a lot of time for them to come in. If you’re buying stock windows, it may be a few weeks, while custom windows can take 30 to 60 days to arrive.

Cost is going to be a huge factor in your decision. Simply put, you’ll either be able to afford custom windows or they will be so far out of your budget that you’ll have to go with stock. Beyond that, you’ll want to choose a style that suits your design. More on that soon.

Tiny House Windows Costs

One of the first things I learned very quickly is that windows are expensive! Even using stock windows, the cost really adds up. I spent about $6,500 on just windows for my tiny house, which is actually pretty comparable to a more traditional-sized home.

In a tiny house, you’re going to want a lot of windows to let in as much light as possible. The average traditional home of around 2,600 square feet has about 10 to 12 windows in the entire house. Compare that to my house of 150 square feet, which I have 12 windows in — kind of shocking when you think about it.

My windows were custom, averaging out to about $375 per window, plus one very expensive casement window and a skylight that opened which cost me about $600.

Using Reclaimed Windows

This is where a lot of people will begin to ask about using reclaimed windows. You may be able to find used windows, factory rejects, construction surplus, etc. at a very attractive price. I’m going to tell you something you don’t want to hear and there will be many that don’t heed my advice. Those people will also be very sorry later on.

Using second-hand windows or reclaimed windows is a bad idea. First and foremost, it’s almost impossible to find second-hand windows that are tempered. You’ll be tempted to use untempered windows and that’s a really bad and frankly dangerous idea.

Unless your tiny house is built on a foundation, you must have tempered glass for all your windows. I’d go as far as saying this isn’t really even a question. Not only is it the law in many states, but it’s also a major safety concern. Tempered glass is much safer and if you ever move your tiny house, not having tempered glass will lead to a lot of broken glass (and wasted money) as you go down the road.

Beyond the issue of tempered glass, used windows also come with a lot of issues typically. The seals are broken, the windows don’t work well, the nailing fins are broken, or the housing is beat up. Windows are very precise things and if everything doesn’t go perfectly, you’ll have a drafty house that costs more to heat and will run into water issues that could cost you thousands.

For these reasons and many others, it’s best to buy new windows. Much like when people buy used trailers against my advice, it often ends up costing more in the long run, eating up any savings that were initially gained.

Custom Window Vs. Stock Windows For A Tiny House

When you plan your budget, realize that windows are going to be a pretty big percentage of that budget. Figure windows will be around 10% to 15% of your budget.

If you’ve finalized a budget, figure out what 10% of it is. If that number is $1,000 to $3,000, you’ll need to go all stock windows. If that works out to $5,000 or more, then custom windows are possible.

This decision is really a budgetary one — either you can afford it or not. Either way, it’s going to be expensive.

Types Of Windows For A Tiny House

One thing I didn’t think too much about is all the different types of windows and which kind were best for me. I chose a lot of awning windows for my tiny house, which are nice, but don’t allow for a ton of air flow. They are really great for when it rains, though, as you can open them up and not have to worry about water coming in.

I think a mix of window types is the best way to go, but double hung or fixed picture windows will be the cheapest. Below are some of your window options.

Awning

Like I mentioned, I went with a lot of awning windows in my tiny house, but I wish I had a few more in a different style. Awning windows are hinged at the top and open outwards from the bottom. They’re good to have when you want the window open but don’t want to worry about rain coming in.

Awning windows are especially great in your loft, so you can crack them open while you’re sleep to allow fresh air in, while not having to worry about getting rained on in your sleep.

Casement

The other style of windows I have in my tiny home is casement windows, and if I could do this all again, I’d have more of these. In particular, I’d have these at either end of my tiny house: one at the front, the other off the back near the kitchen.

This would allow a nice cross breeze to flow through the entire house when I want to cool things off or air things out. Having one of these near the kitchen would also help me better deal with kitchen smells, smoke, and other things I’d like to vent outward.

The downside to this style is that it’s usually about twice the price as double hung windows.

Double Hung Windows

These are the most common windows, and that brings the benefit of economies of scale. This means you can find these windows for pretty affordable rates (relatively speaking) and they will perform pretty well, too. You also want to consider how easy it is to clean them and the material they’re made of.

Fixed Picture Windows

These are a great way to allow in a lot of light without too much cost. Since they aren’t operable, you can save a good bit of money because they’re less complex. Additionally, since they don’t open, you can have much larger spans for your openings.

Slider Windows

Slider windows are basically a double hung turned on its side. These are good for places you might want to be able to reach through or some other specific need.

Louvre Windows

I thought I’d include these, but realistically they’re not very practical because of how much air leakage will occur. They’re also not secure, so in general, I’d pass on this style all together.

Bay Windows

Bay windows are one of those things I have a love/hate relationship with. Done well, they can be an amazing place to sit and read a book. How they’re most often done, however, is an awkward architectural feature that is prone to leaks. From the inside these usually look good, but on the outside, the odd bump out really can ruin the aesthetic very quickly.

Transom Windows

This is a great way to add more light around a front door, increase ventilation at the top of a bedroom door, or extend a traditional window’s height without a ton of extra cost. These come in two types: operable and fixed, with ones that open (operable) often costing double.

Hopper Windows

Hopper windows are basically the opposite of awning windows. They are hinged at the bottom and open out from the top. Often wider than they are tall, they’re used for passive house ventilation so that hot air can be passively vented out.

Skylight Windows

Skylights are one of those things that need to be installed very carefully so they don’t leak. Where possible, I don’t like to put any holes in my roof, no matter how well planned. You have two options: fixed and operable, with fixed usually being about three times cheaper than skylights that open. My go to brand on these is Velux.

Tiny House Window Materials

Choosing the right material for your windows is a balance between cost, maintenance level, and looks. My tiny house has aluminum clad wood frame windows and while I love the look of them on the outside, I find them finicky to clean on the inside. I don’t think white vinyl windows would look good in my house, but the ease of cleaning and durability is definitely appealing.

Fiberglass Windows

Fiberglass Window PROS

Low expansion rate
Paintable
Good thermal performance
Low maintenance

Fiberglass Window CONS

High cost

Vinyl Windows

Vinyl Window PROS

Low maintenance
Low cost
Good thermal protection

Vinyl Window CONS

Non-paintable
Strength
Expansion and contraction

Clad Wood Windows

Clad Wood Window PROS

Low exterior maintenance
Color choices
Interior paintable/stainable
The look and feel of real wood
Hardware choices

Clad Wood Window CONS

High cost
Lack of exterior detail
Interior maintenance
Quality can vary

Wood Windows

Wood Window PROS

Exterior architectural detail
Color choices
Thermal performance

Wood Window CONS

Exterior maintenance
High cost for quality

Aluminum Windows

Aluminum Window PROS

Strength
Color choices
Low maintenance
Durability

Aluminum Window CONS

Quality varies
Low thermal performance
Thermal barrier issues

Steel Windows

Steel Window PROS

Strength
Narrow sight lines
Color choices
Durability

Steel Window CONS

Feels cold
Commercial look
High cost

Glass Types

You also are going to have a lot of options when it comes to the type of glass you put in your tiny home, but you want to make sure that you choose glass that can withstand the impacts of driving down the road.

Tempered Glass For Tiny Homes

This is essentially safety glass just like your car windshield or a glass shower door. It’s treated with heat to be much stronger and, when it does break, breaks in to little small pieces instead of large shards, which can cause deep lacerations.

You’re going to want to buy tempered for every piece of glass in your house because the added strength will withstand all the bumps and jostles of the road. When you’re going down the highway at 60 mph and hit a big pothole, you’ll be glad you did.

Laminated Glass For Tiny Homes

This has become more and more popular mainly because Florida and other hurricane-prone states require it in code now. Laminated glass is essentially several pieces of glass layered with clear vinyl sheets so that if it does break, it will still hold together.

Laminated glass is more expensive than tempered glass by a good margin. A standard size laminated window will cost around $500, while a tempered window of the same specs will cost about $300. That said, you have the added benefit of increased security with these windows, so you might consider spending the extra money for glazing around your front door where someone might want to try and break in.

Plexiglass Windows For A Tiny House

Let’s just put this one to bed. Many people considering plexiglass windows are doing so as a way to cut costs, and while the notion is a good one, the practicality of it falls short.

The main reason for this is that a standard window is a double pane window that is sealed with a gas between the panes. That adds a huge advantage in both insulation value and reduction of condensation. If you make your own windows with plexiglass, there isn’t a way to seal two panes of plexiglass, draw a vacuum, fill it with a more suitable gas, then create a long-lasting seal.

Using plexiglass as a storm window isn’t a bad idea for some protection, but it won’t meet any local code requirements if you’re in a storm-prone area that has special codes for windows. There may be some advantage in terms of insulation performance, but I’d be concerned about moisture buildup between my window and the storm window, which would lead me to want to vent it, negating any insulation benefit.

Double And Triple Pane Windows

In a perfect world, we’d all have triple pane windows, but the added cost means we have to consider the benefit vs. our budgets. I’m still very split on this issue, but if I had a stack of extra cash, I’d probably put it toward better insulation first, then turn my attention to the windows.

In case you’re not familiar, windows are really bad insulators. Today’s windows have a ton of science and engineering baked into them, but even so, a good quality window might only be the equivalent R-value of 3 (technically U-factor of 0.20 to 1.20).

Compare that to your average wall which today is anywhere from R 23 to R 30, and you can see that’s a big difference. We take the hit in efficiency in exchange for comfort, natural light, and practicality.

Tiny House Window Ideas – Tiny House Window Photos

At the end of the day, having a ton of natural light in your tiny house can make your house a great place to live. Here are a bunch of photos of tiny house windows for you to get inspired when planning your tiny home windows.

Tiny House Window Designs

Tiny House With Big Windows

Think about which way your house will face when you park it and which way the sun will rise and set, then design a big wall of windows to capture all the natural light in your tiny house.

Tiny Houses With A Wall Of Windows

Tiny House With Accordion Windows

Tiny Houses With Fold Up Windows

Tiny Houses With Stained Glass Windows

stained glass butterfly window in tiny house

stained glass window details in tiny house

tiny house stained glass windows in door

Tiny House Dormer Windows

Tiny House Loft Windows

tiny house with skylight and loft windows

Your Turn!

What are you planning on doing with your tiny house windows?

How Long Does It Take To Build A Tiny House?

By Ryan Mitchell on April 19, 2021 / Tiny House / 4 Comments

Tags: Construction, Tiny Home

How Long Does It Take To Build A Tiny House?

NAVIGATION

If you’re considering building a tiny home, a good first question I get asked often is: How long does it take to build a tiny house? It typically takes 500 hours to build a tiny house.

This of course can vary depending on size, skill level, and complexity, but 500 hours to build a tiny house is often a good rule of thumb for the average DIYer. Professional builders who have a dedicated facility will be able to reduce this down to about 300 hours.

How Long Does It Take To Build A Tiny House?

Like I mentioned, 500 hours is a good rule of thumb for the first-time tiny home builder who doesn’t have any hands-on experience building homes prior to starting. When I first started the build of my own tiny home, I had never constructed anything outside of a bat house in 8th grade shop class, so I was basically starting from scratch.

How Much Time I Spent Building My Tiny House

Estimate how long you think it will take and double it; that advice rings so true.

During my own build, I would construct only on weekends since I had a full-time job. That process took me about a year of weekends when I factor out time off, waiting on materials, and dealing with burnout.

I was also mostly working alone, so if you have a partner that’s working with you, I’d expect you could reduce the time by about 30% if you are working on it together. I spent a lot of time moving between my saw and putting it all together—if you could get really good at measuring accurately and communicating that, you can have one person always building the house while the other cuts the next piece or fetches the next part.

Time Spent Gathering Materials

No matter how well you plan, you’re going to have to make runs to the hardware store to buy more materials, get new tools, or find something you forgot. This really eats into your working time when you have to make an extra run to the store.

For me, the big box hardware store was about 20 minutes away, so all in, I would burn at least an hour for each run I made. What I started doing was purchasing everything I needed for that weekend on Friday night after work. Then I would drop it off at my work site and stage things for the next day so that I could start right away on Saturday morning without having to fuss with materials or shopping.