Architect’s Big Idea: Tiny, $11,000 House

I know some one that lives in a 320 sq ft shipping container. its a old refrigeration unit so it came well insulated.
he built it to use as a hunting cabin but lost his job and had it moved to a property his family owns in the county and lives in it.
He now works part time for people in the area doing handyman work and is in the process of building more of these shipping container homes.

He got the container for $2000 and went to wreaking yards and took the inside parts out of damaged motor homes.

I live in a 34 ft bounder motorhome (272 sq ft) and its just the right size for me

reply to post by Mindless1980


This is how I will live someday :-)

I am a huge fan of the the tiny house movement. I've always loved the idea of good design in small spaces - apartments too

Making the space both functional and beautiful is a real challenge

S&F OP - really nice

:-)

It's larger than my current apartment and the rent is less too. I would live in something like that for a few years but long term I would like something larger. It's definitely not large enough for multiple people.

It's a cute place but 11k is also 2 years rent for a small apartment. To each his own i guess, I think I'll pass.

That is amazing!!! I wish I had a place like that. It even looks classier than the apartments I live at!! I just hope that we don't hear later that she was arrested for breaking some stupid law, violating some stupid building code or not presenting the proper permits. By the way, when you move into your bigger house some day, will this be up for rent?

these domterem.ru... home from a balk in Russia to 400,000 rubles is about $ 13,000. my friend himself built and better and cheaper and more beautiful for 2 months on the job and 350,000r. for construction materials he earns 40,000r. a month

I like the idea of ultra small houses. It literally redefines living a frugal lifestyle. In Japan, they call them "micro homes". Seems like a bit extreme at first, but I can totally imagine myself living in those limited spaces.






This Japanese house is less than 6ft. wide... simply amazing.




It seems that with the constant rise of real estate and energy costs, people will adapt and embrace more radical approaches that will fit the budget.

www.tumbleweedhouses.com...

There are some lovely building plans on this page. Even without buying them you can get some great ideas. I plan to build one to temporarily live in until I can build my earthship.

I'm really trying to be impressed, I really am...but no...just not at all.

She could have bought a ready made or assemble-yourself shed with more floor space, and a more house like appearance for under a thousand. Heck, she could have bought a real nice one, upwards of 500 square feet, for a few thousand, and outfitted that for what she paid.

She basically ended up with something snazzier looking than your average trailer home, but about half as effective in space useage, for around the same cost.

I commend her on her decision to make it and her reasoning behind it, but that's about it. It's not even like she did it to become part of those who embrace the micro-home movement. She's literally using it as a standby until she can do bigger.

Not to deflate her ingenuity here but -
Did she just discover mobile homes?
Basically the same thing only lighter due to aluminum siding instead of wood.
I will admit her house is nicer than most trailers.
Funny how trailer parks have such bad connotations but if an architect designs one it's future living designs.
In 20 years the working class rich will be fortunate to have such spacious accommodations.

reply to post by Mindless1980


Great idea only need to add a small green house with a fish pond to fertilize stuff and be completely self sufficient
from the corporate Oligarchs! no banks, GMOs, electrical grid or utilities only me myself and I! I expect this to be
illegal because of the threat it is to the conglomerates! If only the rest of us had the balls and brains to do the same
then we would be on our way to a true utopian society free from strife! I doubt many of us will want to give up
on the basic luxuries, there just isn't any room for in such limited space! Oh well maybe they will have deluxe models
soon!

~NSNF

catfishjoe
My name is Art Van delay. I am an architect. I could do this for $575.47.

The guy from RAWK?

UnmitigatedDisaster
I'm really trying to be impressed, I really am...but no...just not at all.

She could have bought a ready made or assemble-yourself shed with more floor space, and a more house like appearance for under a thousand. Heck, she could have bought a real nice one, upwards of 500 square feet, for a few thousand, and outfitted that for what she paid.

She basically ended up with something snazzier looking than your average trailer home, but about half as effective in space useage, for around the same cost.

I commend her on her decision to make it and her reasoning behind it, but that's about it. It's not even like she did it to become part of those who embrace the micro-home movement. She's literally using it as a standby until she can do bigger.

Maybe she doesn't need bigger! Sometimes we need to minimize our burden to realize the one great truth!
There's more to life then frivolous living! I wish we could all relearn this ideal! If we did maybe we would
be more interested in connecting with each other and not with the wealth behind the individual! It is said that
to follow the spiritual path we need to abandon material things, though I don't dare to believe that any of us are really ready to realize this! Maybe it's only great suffering which will lead us to this ideal!

I see the good, but also the potential for evil in this project.

I can't help but feel that this will aid the Agenda 21 cause. "You can live in comfort and luxury in the new arcologies!", the enforcers will cry as they warehouse the masses in the urban zones. Packing us in the urban zone for our health and safety.

reply to post by Mindless1980

These and the micro loft apartments are cool but I have one hard and fast rule about them.
If they don't have FULL indoor plumbing( running water, a toilet and shower or bath), then they aren't an actual house. One woman had a similar place that she rented on her friends house lot and she used their bathroom. That's not really living in a small house, that's bunking in a shed next to a house.
I'd love to buy an acre or two in the mountains and have one of those park model trailers, the ones that look like cabins. Yeah, its on wheels so its a trailer and not an actual cabin, but you save on taxes.

Well, the problem isn't the home itself, but the land it sits on. No matter how "efficient" it may be, it'll never be as efficient as a normal apartment building where you stack living spaces vertically on the same piece of land. The idea isn't to spread out on your own piece of turf, it's to maximize the natural environment so it can function the most effectively. Spreading out is the problem, and individual homes on individual pieces of land is not solution to that.

UK authorities would make it difficult for people to do this, building safety codes/regulations, planning submissions, permissions and consents, etc, all have to be strictly adhered to for any dwelling. We can't just buy a square of land and put any old structure on there to live in, not without local authority permission. We need permission to place even an empty shipping container on our owned land.

And once we are successful with all the bureaucracy and we have all permissions and consents in place and have complied with every detail and paid the related bribes .. . er, I mean fees to the local authority, it will then promptly raise our taxes.

A few years ago a friend of mine owned a used spare parts business for performance cars, and his building was full of parts and he needed additional on-site secure storage, so he bought two shipping containers and had them placed on his land next to the brick building containing his stock.

A few weeks later he had a letter from local authority informing him that he needs permission from it to have the containers on his land, and that he was to remove them unless he applies for, and is granted, permission. If he didn't comply, it would remove them and he would be charged for the cost of this.

As soon as he obtained its consent in compliance, it immediately increased his local taxes.

All this messing about with 'permission' this and 'consent' that just for a storage container - I dread to imagine all the extra red-tape if someone wanted to actually live in one too.

I like the idea but only if I had a large plot of land out in the middle of nowhere to park it. And a truck to tow it anywhere. But you can't get that for $11k.

Parking it an empty lot doesn't sound very smart.

reply to post by Mindless1980


$11,000 for that? Man that's a rip off!

Foundryman
I see the good, but also the potential for evil in this project.

I can't help but feel that this will aid the Agenda 21 cause. "You can live in comfort and luxury in the new arcologies!", the enforcers will cry as they warehouse the masses in the urban zones. Packing us in the urban zone for our health and safety.

Agenda 21 will have these stacked twenty stories high, side by side for hundreds of units in every direction, and without the green space (there will be green space, but you won't be allowed on it as it reserved for the wealthy only).