Buy land and build Off-Grid home in California - Is it Possible on a Budget?

[SteveO]

Btw... I get what you want to do. Nothing like the ability to get away.

In Arizona, I have a house on the side of a mountain. Lots of open space around. In Utah, 18 acres on top of a mountain with 360 degree views. I plan on living in both.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Umm we need to talk haha. I have been looking at houses in Sedona so I can gauge the market to see if it comes down where I would make an offer. While looking though the same idea came up about buying some land and building 2-5 smaller houses on it. I would turn them into vacation rentals with the ability to make one come available whenever I want to stay there a month.

I own 11 elevated acres in Sedona in an unincorporated "low touristy" area with no HOA. It is wide open space and mostly farms.







The land I own would be "perfect" for your vacation idea concept one issue: If you attempted to do this there, you'd get run out of the neighborhood and the county would prevent it.

In fact, we already had one developer attempt to put up a "glamping" operation -- myself and the neighbors fought the development for nearly a year, scaring the developer away.

‘Glamping’ site cancels plans after opposition from neighbors - Sedona Red Rock News

Under Canvas, a planned “glamping,” or glamorous camping, resort that was set to develop an 80-acre luxury camping spot on Bill Grey Road, has pulled its application from Yavapai County after facing fierce opposition from locals. “At this time, Under Canvas has chosen to withdraw our...

www.redrocknews.com

Any type of vacation operation here in Sedona, either from an individual or a corporation, will not be easy to deploy in the wide open spaces ... that is better suited for a condo or a house in a neighborhood, provided the CC&R's allow it. If so, prepared for a fight from all types of entities: Neighbors, county zoning, HOA regs, etc.

My intent with this land is not a tent or a small house, it is a log cabin that will probably cost upward of $2M... so it is in my interest, as well as other homeowners, not to have tourists coming and going in tents, shipping containers, or homes on trailers. I know, sounds a bit snooty, but there's a reason why people live out here in the sticks, miles away from the main road. Any area not already "infected" by tourists is a place that would be defended.

 

[AceVentures]

Not entirely sure if the RE investing sub-forum is the right place for this, as it doesn't pertain to standard commercial/RE investment.

Here's a quick background. Many of my values are centered around my connection with nature. My need to be outside in good year-round climate to enjoy many of my favorite activities is a huge factor in what I pursue next in life. With that premise, I wanted to ask about something I've had in mind for a while - buying a piece of property in a desirable location (for nature seekers and not necessarily RE investors) and building a tiny or shipping-container type of lower-budget home off grid for personal use.

This is not a question about how you turn this into a business - but really about how you can create your dream nature home on a budget.

The Purpose:

• Ownership of a personal piece of paradise
• Sense of security/safety
• Lead a life in alignment with core values and need for the outdoors
• Place to raise a small family
• Remote work to sustain lifestyle and passion projects

The Critera:

• Land:
  • Location - currently scoping California, but open to suggestions
    • CA provides lots of what I'm looking for in terms of weather, climate, both the ocean and the mountains, surfing, the Red Woods, many state parks, and the list goes on.
    • Secluded in nature
    • Within 1hr drive to a city which could answer all off-grid needs
    • Close to the coast
  • Lot size doesn't entirely matter, but at a minimum something big enough to build a home on and still have a patch of grass left over
  • If large enough - it could provide for a garden, small chicken farm, or any other infrastructure that could offer additional self-reliance
• Home:
  • Shipping container DIY or possibly pre-fab
  • Ideally build a home of my own
  • Plan would be to sub-contract as few things as possible to keep the costs down
  • Experience level - 0
• MAX COST - 100k USD

There is lots of flex in the criteria at the moment, and that's ok as there are still lots of unknowns to me. Which is why I'm here seeking some advice.

How to turn this vision into reality?

I've found a plot of land in an area that I find desirable which would really help me live my dream life in terms of connection with nature. It's in central California region, meets all of my location criteria, and is currently on sale for ~$15k for ~2acres of land.

With that low of a land cost and some behind-the napkin cost estimates for shipping-container home builds - I reckon it is entirely within the realm of possibility to pursue something like this.

My question to many of you experienced builders and business-people -

• Is this dream a reality with what I have in mind, or have I missed something huge?
• What are some of the key considerations I should study for a project like this?
• Do you have any suggestions of how I could get started if I wanted to scope this type of development?

Many thanks for reading - hope others can comment on this type of build but also the purpose of this mission - freedom in dream location with budget investment and sweat labor.

 

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[biophase]

Found it. What a great analog - especially it being in California. He's building in Joshua Tree and I'm looking at Norther California - will have to dig details but there will be at least statewide similarities.

His local building department hit him with a 700sqft minimum for building a house - good example of how regulation can quickly challenge a low budget.

My friend and I looked at this home around Austin. 3135 Thurman Rd, Lago Vista, TX 78645 | MLS #6297095 | Zillow

This is why I would shy away from building a container home. As a buyer, this home looks awesome. However, they are asking regular home prices for a container home. And quite honestly, I think when people see one, they will assume that it was cheap to build, so it shouldn't sell for retail.

So if they had just built a regular home that looked like this one, we may have liked it more.

Also, container homes are going to be long and thin and have 8 foot ceilings. So you know the rooms will not be big.

After watching the youtube series of that guy building his home in CA, I've come to the conclusion that it's cheaper and better to build a regular home. A container home does not save much money and there is so much extra work to do on them. And finally, your resale value is just not going to be there. Think about it, would you buy someone else's container home in Sedona? If so, would you pay the same price as a regular house in $/sf?

 

[biophase]

Umm we need to talk haha. I have been looking at houses in Sedona so I can gauge the market to see if it comes down where I would make an offer. While looking though the same idea came up about buying some land and building 2-5 smaller houses on it. I would turn them into vacation rentals with the ability to make one come available whenever I want to stay there a month. I need to sell my other rental first...

Was going to msg you next week to check in @AceVentures . I understand what you are going for and you don’t need or necessary want to mess with this as a business. Besides the experience though, I think you have the skills to do this where you can get what you want as well as make a good future investment. You would probably have to use the capital with some lending involved and be patient to find the right deal that works for you.

I just went up to Sedona yesterday to look at 5 properties. One seems promising, the rest were disappointing.

I think the market is still too high.

 

[SteveO]

Not entirely sure if the RE investing sub-forum is the right place for this, as it doesn't pertain to standard commercial/RE investment.

Here's a quick background. Many of my values are centered around my connection with nature. My need to be outside in good year-round climate to enjoy many of my favorite activities is a huge factor in what I pursue next in life. With that premise, I wanted to ask about something I've had in mind for a while - buying a piece of property in a desirable location (for nature seekers and not necessarily RE investors) and building a tiny or shipping-container type of lower-budget home off grid for personal use.

This is not a question about how you turn this into a business - but really about how you can create your dream nature home on a budget.

The Purpose:

• Ownership of a personal piece of paradise
• Sense of security/safety
• Lead a life in alignment with core values and need for the outdoors
• Place to raise a small family
• Remote work to sustain lifestyle and passion projects

The Critera:

• Land:
  • Location - currently scoping California, but open to suggestions
    • CA provides lots of what I'm looking for in terms of weather, climate, both the ocean and the mountains, surfing, the Red Woods, many state parks, and the list goes on.
    • Secluded in nature
    • Within 1hr drive to a city which could answer all off-grid needs
    • Close to the coast
  • Lot size doesn't entirely matter, but at a minimum something big enough to build a home on and still have a patch of grass left over
  • If large enough - it could provide for a garden, small chicken farm, or any other infrastructure that could offer additional self-reliance
• Home:
  • Shipping container DIY or possibly pre-fab
  • Ideally build a home of my own
  • Plan would be to sub-contract as few things as possible to keep the costs down
  • Experience level - 0
• MAX COST - 100k USD

There is lots of flex in the criteria at the moment, and that's ok as there are still lots of unknowns to me. Which is why I'm here seeking some advice.

How to turn this vision into reality?

I've found a plot of land in an area that I find desirable which would really help me live my dream life in terms of connection with nature. It's in central California region, meets all of my location criteria, and is currently on sale for ~$15k for ~2acres of land.

With that low of a land cost and some behind-the napkin cost estimates for shipping-container home builds - I reckon it is entirely within the realm of possibility to pursue something like this.

My question to many of you experienced builders and business-people -

• Is this dream a reality with what I have in mind, or have I missed something huge?
• What are some of the key considerations I should study for a project like this?
• Do you have any suggestions of how I could get started if I wanted to scope this type of development?

Many thanks for reading - hope others can comment on this type of build but also the purpose of this mission - freedom in dream location with budget investment and sweat labor.

Unless there has been technological changes, ac's won't work with solar. I grew up in San Diego and never had air conditioning in the 41 years I was there. But the farther you get away from the coast, the hotter it gets.

100k seems light. I have a lot in Utah that I want to develop. For starters, looking at 100k to get driveway, well, electricity and septic. I realize you don't need electricity but solar definitely has a cost.

It'll be tight. Is it possible to up the budget and make a nicer place?

 

[Bigguns50]

Hey @AceVentures , @SteveO in my book is genius btw !

I did a lot of research here in Sedona on this very topic. Still haven't ruled it out. I found that the rules for putting a tiny home or ADU vary between Counties so talk to them. Sedona has 2 Counties. One is an absolute 'NO", the other is very progressive and makes it quite easy to do.

My thought was/is to buy 2 and rent one out on Airbnb. This would cover my overhead.

There's a manufacturer in TX I visited that builds tiny homes (anything under 400 sq ft technically). They also build larger homes. $37,500 was my delivered quote for a 400 sq ft 2 bedroom with upgrades. Bear in mind, these are not high end but are exactly what I was looking for.

So SteveO is spot on in saying to do your due diligence. I can't stress this enough. Make calls, talk with the Counties, property owners, tiny home builders, etc.

 

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[biophase]

I'm actually looking to get shipping containers for my business. So a 26ft container is around $3-$5k. When I look at what I get for $3k. I'm getting a 26x8x8 shell. I just can't help to think that I could frame that shell for around the same price with regular building materials. So I just don't see how a container would be cheaper.

Now, if you started to stack container on top of each other and create over hangs and stuff, I could see how the containers would become way cheaper than regular framing.

 

[Bigguns50]

Tour Detroit’s Very First Shipping Container Food Hall

Restaurants, bars, and breweries all in one spot at Detroit Shipping Company in Cass Corridor

detroit.eater.com

This place rocked in Detroit ! Now....probably closed due to Covid.

@SteveO , @Sethamus ... my contact person told me A/C and heat can be run off grid using solar. The units are called Mini-splits. You can buy them at Home Depot. I haven't researched this yet but I know what they are. In a 399 sq ft house there are typically 2 installed.

 

[SteveO]

Nice Steve, that sounds awesome. I really want to be in the mountains too.

100k just for that? Shit. Did not think it would cost that much. But I guess it depends on where you can drive power/water from and where the nearest road is right?

The area I'm looking at isn't THAT remote, it's in the outskirts of a small town. From what I can tell of public maps and records, there seems to be another house ~1mi down the road from where the road touches the property - indication that electric/water might be accessible?

I imagine some kind of solar/diesel hybrid with power banks could work for completely off-grid, but if power is within reach that would be infinitely more convenient.

The budget can move up if I use loans or earn and save more. With adequately sized land, I wonder if I could sub-section and ultimately develop 2 properties. Use 1 to pay or cost recover the other. If doing tiny-home or shipping container design - employ a design1, build2 for cost synergies?

I do think that keeping the cost down makes this a more beneficial exercise - Is it really possible to own a piece of paradise for a bucket of capital that is within tangible reach of many 1st world families?

In Yuma, I actually bought 52 acres. My house is only going to take up 5 acres. The remainder of the land is in the process of being parceled up and sold. Not including the house itself, I paid about 250K for 50 acres. The parcels should gross me about 1.1M. Cost to put in a road, pay for engineering, and all the other misc should cost me about 100K. Don't know how long it will take me to sell all 6 of the parcels. One should be sold this week though.

So the idea of splitting lots to make money is a valid idea. Not for the faint of heart though.

The reason the cost is so high in Utah is that I want the house well off of the road. It is already at the end of a road but seclusion is desired. The driveway and electricity will be a challenge. The property is almost all giant boulders which will add costs. So, you might be able to get away with less depending on the circumstances. That is part of your due diligence though. Tie the property up with a contract and then determine the costs. You can always let it go at no cost to you as long as you are within the inspection period in the contract.

If you want to keep it without power (full solar with generator backup), you can use a swamp cooler. That depends on what you will be comfortable with.

I personally feel that less expensive improvements on a lot may diminish your overall return. I do understand your goal here is to live cheap.

 

[Sethamus]

Here is an option. Upfront cost might be higher depending on how you want it built, with energy savings on the backend. Needs to be tailored for the area being built. The guy they credit built his first outside of Taos NM.

View: https://youtu.be/oTU2KlwOnQw

 

[ChrisV]

His website even has detailed blueprints.

I'm guessing you want something bigger than that, but I'm sure there's tons of valuable Information there.

 

[biophase]

I own 11 elevated acres in Sedona in an unincorporated "low touristy" area with no HOA. It is wide open space and mostly farms.

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The land I own would be "perfect" for your vacation idea concept one issue: If you attempted to do this there, you'd get run out of the neighborhood and the county would prevent it.

In fact, we already had one developer attempt to put up a "glamping" operation -- myself and the neighbors fought the development for nearly a year, scaring the developer away.

‘Glamping’ site cancels plans after opposition from neighbors - Sedona Red Rock News

Under Canvas, a planned “glamping,” or glamorous camping, resort that was set to develop an 80-acre luxury camping spot on Bill Grey Road, has pulled its application from Yavapai County after facing fierce opposition from locals. “At this time, Under Canvas has chosen to withdraw our...

www.redrocknews.com

Any type of vacation operation here in Sedona, either from an individual or a corporation, will not be easy to deploy in the wide open spaces ... that is better suited for a condo or a house in a neighborhood, provided the CC&R's allow it. If so, prepared for a fight from all types of entities: Neighbors, county zoning, HOA regs, etc.

My intent with this land is not a tent or a small house, it is a log cabin that will probably cost upward of $2M... so it is in my interest, as well as other homeowners, not to have tourists coming and going in tents, shipping containers, or homes on trailers. I know, sounds a bit snooty, but there's a reason why people live out here in the sticks, miles away from the main road. Any area not already "infected" by tourists is a place that would be defended.

Looks awesome. I'm getting the 5 acres next to you to put up my container home, right on the property line!

 

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[biophase]

What will you do for power? Hvac definitely required.

I talked to my ac guy and a solar company addy one point. The answer last year was no. But I am seeing different answers on Google. Let me know if you guys find a different answer.

There’s a YouTube series of a dude that’s building a container home in California. Google it, it’s a very good series.

It looks like it is costing way more than a regular home. He had to put in sprinklers, and all kinds of other code stuff.

I agree with SteveO that $100k seems light.

 

[AceVentures]

There’s a YouTube series of a dude that’s building a container home in California. Google it, it’s a very good series.

It looks like it is costing way more than a regular home. He had to put in sprinklers, and all kinds of other code stuff.

I agree with SteveO that $100k seems light.

Found it. What a great analog - especially it being in California. He's building in Joshua Tree and I'm looking at Norther California - will have to dig details but there will be at least statewide similarities.

His local building department hit him with a 700sqft minimum for building a house - good example of how regulation can quickly challenge a low budget.

Umm we need to talk haha. I have been looking at houses in Sedona so I can gauge the market to see if it comes down where I would make an offer. While looking though the same idea came up about buying some land and building 2-5 smaller houses on it. I would turn them into vacation rentals with the ability to make one come available whenever I want to stay there a month. I need to sell my other rental first...

Kinda like house-hacking with a multi-family but development-hacking? Is that a thing? It should be, this type of project could help people own their dream home and create dream homes for a number of other families.

Yea I was initially just looking at scoping the costs to develop something unique to my needs in a dream location. Good concerns noted so far - bigger budget would certainly help.

Question of funding becomes more important. Now I find myself thinking about @SteveO 's strategy. Maybe I should be thinking about this more as a business so I can at least recoup some costs or increase my budget if I can deliver value to others.

Seth how were you looking at the Sedona build idea? Getting investors or loans? Can you get traditional mortgages for something like this?

 

[G-Man]

A lot of it depends on what you want. This dude built his for 30k.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0oFJ2jbkDI


Earth bermed keeps AC need low. There is nothing scenic or luxurious about it. It's two containers buried in the dirt. Late in the video the interviewer asks him about code, and his response is along the lines of "The code inspector came, and said "we don't really have codes for this", so they just left us alone." Basically, if you live in a rural area you might win the code inspector lottery like this guy, but I wouldn't plan around it.

@standrews00 owns part of a company that does some non-traditional construction, and might be able to add.

 

[G-Man]

I wonder how common that is? I mean they really might not have any codes for a buried shipping container.

What do they even do in this type of situation?

Disclaimer: I know nothing about building codes.

It's probably relatively common in rural areas. Don't ask don't tell sort of thing. But it's a big risk if you get the wrong guy, or catch an inspector when he's having a bad day. We've had that experience a lot with Fire Marshals and city commercial code inspectors. There's a lot of variances between different counties and municipalities, and even between the inspectors themselves.

I've had everything from "You really can't have a bunch of pallets in the parking lot. Maybe we say I didn't actually come by here till next Tuesday morning, and maybe I don't see the pallets then, and I only drive this neighborhood about once a month" to "I'm coming back this afternoon, and if that stuff isn't out, I'm fining you and I have the authority to blah blah blah blah".

Perhaps instead of lottery I should have said "Russian roulette".

 

[ChrisV]

This guy built an off-the-grid solar cabin for ~$2000

It only costs ~$200/yr in propane.

He has a .pdf on his site and a YouTube Channel.

So yes, I'd certainly say it's possible to do for 100k.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Looks awesome. I'm getting the 5 acres next to you to put up my container home, right on the property line!

Sorry, I border the National Forest, you are out of luck.

 

[G-Man]

Done correctly, it would be possible to pay for this with a youtube channel. There are a lot of channels out there, and if done well, some have pretty high view counts. Same for "van life" type channels.

There's a lot of grabby headlines like "couple quit job to live off grid", that is a combination of genuine DIY interest and escapism.

Not sure what the formula for a successful channel is. Having an attractive wife or gf that will work a chainsaw in a tubetop, and using the still for the video tile, seems to drive views. Ask me how i know

 

[Bigguns50]

I'll talk with my Tiny home guy tomorrow and ask if he knows about the a/c. I'll let you guys know.

 

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[Sethamus]

Hey @AceVentures , @SteveO in my book is genius btw !

I did a lot of research here in Sedona on this very topic. Still haven't ruled it out. I found that the rules for putting a tiny home or ADU vary between Counties so talk to them. Sedona has 2 Counties. One is an absolute 'NO", the other is very progressive and makes it quite easy to do.

My thought was/is to buy 2 and rent one out on Airbnb. This would cover my overhead.

There's a manufacturer in TX I visited that builds tiny homes (anything under 400 sq ft technically). They also build larger homes. $37,500 was my delivered quote for a 400 sq ft 2 bedroom with upgrades. Bear in mind, these are not high end but are exactly what I was looking for.

Umm we need to talk haha. I have been looking at houses in Sedona so I can gauge the market to see if it comes down where I would make an offer. While looking though the same idea came up about buying some land and building 2-5 smaller houses on it. I would turn them into vacation rentals with the ability to make one come available whenever I want to stay there a month. I need to sell my other rental first...

Was going to msg you next week to check in @AceVentures . I understand what you are going for and you don’t need or necessary want to mess with this as a business. Besides the experience though, I think you have the skills to do this where you can get what you want as well as make a good future investment. You would probably have to use the capital with some lending involved and be patient to find the right deal that works for you.

 

[Sethamus]

The main issue with the AC is the startup watts I am assuming. What about an appropriate sized natural gas generator for the AC size with a decent size tank that can be run during times of peak heat. Solar and battery bank for the rest of the house. Not the most effective, but could work for 100% off grid and extra power could be used to charge your batteries along with solar.

 

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[AceVentures]

In Yuma, I actually bought 52 acres. My house is only going to take up 5 acres. The remainder of the land is in the process of being parceled up and sold. Not including the house itself, I paid about 250K for 50 acres. The parcels should gross me about 1.1M. Cost to put in a road, pay for engineering, and all the other misc should cost me about 100K. Don't know how long it will take me to sell all 6 of the parcels. One should be sold this week though.

So the idea of splitting lots to make money is a valid idea. Not for the faint of heart though.

The reason the cost is so high in Utah is that I want the house well off of the road. It is already at the end of a road but seclusion is desired. The driveway and electricity will be a challenge. The property is almost all giant boulders which will add costs. So, you might be able to get away with less depending on the circumstances. That is part of your due diligence though. Tie the property up with a contract and then determine the costs. You can always let it go at no cost to you as long as you are within the inspection period in the contract.

If you want to keep it without power (full solar with generator backup), you can use a swamp cooler. That depends on what you will be comfortable with.

I personally feel that less expensive improvements on a lot may diminish your overall return. I do understand your goal here is to live cheap.

Sweet idea - and if you're not worrying about a loan and know the market, you can just wait on it to sell. Nice.

I was scoping costs for clearing land from trees and they weren't unreasonable as long as the area were small enough. As cheap as $1500/acre up to $7000/acre if densely forested. Where you wish to place your home on the land relative to the nearest road will be a big factor in costs.

Didn't know anything about swamp coolers - thanks for the suggestion.

I did a lot of research here in Sedona on this very topic. Still haven't ruled it out. I found that the rules for putting a tiny home or ADU vary between Counties so talk to them. Sedona has 2 Counties. One is an absolute 'NO", the other is very progressive and makes it quite easy to do.

My thought was/is to buy 2 and rent one out on Airbnb. This would cover my overhead.

There's a manufacturer in TX I visited that builds tiny homes (anything under 400 sq ft technically). They also build larger homes. $37,500 was my delivered quote for a 400 sq ft 2 bedroom with upgrades. Bear in mind, these are not high end but are exactly what I was looking for.

With tourism in Sedona I think it would work, this is a sweet idea! I imagine the cost you were quoted doesn't include delivery or install? That seems like a really good price actually. I know most of the materials for a basic shipping container home can be bought for ~20k. That doesn't include any of the labor, roofing, landscaping, site prep, septic, water supply, or electric supply.

That's where I was hope sweat and creativity, maybe sprinkled with some heart and collaboration can allow for a project like this to be done cheaper than a new-build.

Good reminder on regulations - I can imagine CA having strict rules...

 

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[AceVentures]

This is why I would shy away from building a container home. As a buyer, this home looks awesome. However, they are asking regular home prices for a container home. And quite honestly, I think when people see one, they will assume that it was cheap to build, so it shouldn't sell for retail.

So if they had just built a regular home that looked like this one, we may have liked it more.

I get that. You might be able to earn rental income within market rates if the appeal is strong enough. I'm with you though, I personally would undervalue a shipping container home if I were buying one. Exact reasoning you described, I think I can build it cheaper.

I'm actually looking to get shipping containers for my business. So a 26ft container is around $3-$5k. When I look at what I get for $3k. I'm getting a 26x8x8 shell. I just can't help to think that I could frame that shell for around the same price with regular building materials. So I just don't see how a container would be cheaper.

An interesting use I saw was in populous areas like Toronto. Dude has a restaurant in a densely populated part of town - decides to renovate the top to build a home. Modular off-site built shipping containers used to build up.

This is another duo that built a multi-unit apartment using shipping containers in Phoenix AZ. I can see how stacking in this way can optimize higher rental income per /sqft of develop-able land.

Now, if you started to stack container on top of each other and create over hangs and stuff, I could see how the containers would become way cheaper than regular framing.

Do you mean building something like the below? And what makes it way cheaper than regular framing in this instance?

 

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[SteveO]

“Seth how were you looking at the Sedona build idea? Getting investors or loans? Can you get traditional mortgages for something like this?”

That is the part I would have to do some research on. If it was just a single unit I would probably get with a contractor and a construction loan that would be converted to conventional for the building process. I am not sure if there are better ways if I am looking at multiple units as I haven’t been involved in anything like that. What do you think @SteveO ?

I don't understand the financial aspects of vacation homes so can't speak to that. I do understand multi-family though. I would NEVER build. Others may and that is up to them. I prefer to buy well under replacement cost and sell as values approach replacement cost. Simple model.

Those that choose to do vacation rentals, that is a great way to supplement income. Not for me though. I don't want any of that around my residence.

 

[PizzaOnTheRoof]

Unless there has been technological changes, ac's won't work with solar. I grew up in San Diego and never had air conditioning in the 41 years I was there. But the farther you get away from the coast, the hotter it gets.

100k seems light. I have a lot in Utah that I want to develop. For starters, looking at 100k to get driveway, well, electricity and septic. I realize you don't need electricity but solar definitely has a cost.

It'll be tight. Is it possible to up the budget and make a nicer place?

Depends on the AC and size of the house, battery bank, and panel output.

My dad built a small cabin running off of 6 panels and can run the AC unit all day with only 2 batteries.

Fortunately the hottest days are usually the sunniest too.

He also has a 220 gal water tank with a 12v pump for water pressure. Runs off of it’s own deep cycle battery and panel. Fills the tank up once a week.

 

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[SteveO]

@SteveO what part of Utah?

Moab. It is the best place that I have seen and fits my lifestyle.

 

[Bigguns50]

Looks awesome. I'm getting the 5 acres next to you to put up my container home, right on the property line!

Great idea ! I'll get the 5 on the other side of @MJ DeMarco to put my box on !

 

[SteveO]

Running power and water for a mile may be very expensive. How hot does it get in the summer there? You may want to see if you can get a permit for a well.