I'm considering buying undeveloped land and building my own small house or cabin on it. It would be cheaper (I think?), I could build where I want, and I could make the house just the way I want. I'm unmarried and without kids, and neither will be happening in the foreseeable future, and I don't have any upscale friends that I need to show off for. I just want a place of my own where I can be comfortable and more-or-less free.

Very briefly and generally, how does one begin the process of buying land, building a structure, getting utilities installed, and dealing with all the usual government BS of zoning and stuff?

I know this must seem wildly incoherent and broad, but I have absolutely no idea of how to begin such an endeavor.

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The utilities are going to be the biggest hassle and expense. Ive seriously thought about buying raw land but economically, its cheaper to buy land with a structure and utilities already on it. Just dealing with the loan process, its hard to get loan on raw land, unless you paying cash. The structure doesnt have to be liveable , it just has to already had utilities ran.

It really comes down to what you want to do with it. If its a hunting cabin or part time, going "off grid" would be the way to go. Go with generator and/or solar/wind power, build an outhouse and either do a cistern or well.

It also depends where you locate the cabin and its location to the nearest power tie in. You could spend more on utilities than you do for the land and cabin combined.

If you insist on doing it your way,,you could contact a cabin build and some of them do Land/Cabin deals. The other approach would be to buy raw land, either look on United Country (include your area), LandWatch and/or Lands&Farm and search out what your looking for.

If you buy undeveloped land, make sure you get good survey, find out what restrictions there are and the zoning for that land (a realtor can help with all that) . Also see if you get Mineral and Timber rights with it. Some undeveloped land can have utilities already going, some ppl put in septic and well and just never build.


Once you have your land, you can get log cabin kits from numerous place, the further in the woods, the more expensive itll get.

I would check out the Survival Forums on here, a couple ppl built cabins from scratch. very good info.

Good lord

I'm no talking about any kind of large, or even medium, structure. Something very small, like many have YouTube videos building. I was thinking something the size of the larger storage buildings you see at Lowe's. It may be better to buy some land with a structure that has utilities and tear it down, if utilities are really so expensive. Again, I'm not talking about anything fancy or even very modern. Just something to keep the wind, rain, and cold off me that has running water and electricity. Room to sleep, sit, and cook, and that's about all I'm needing.

I would find land with a structure or atleast utilities already in place..what kinda of structure wouldnt matter much (in the grand scheme of things) , you could put a trailer, a shed or even go the 40' cargo container route. It comes down to a few things;

1) What are your abilities ?

2) How often will you go there ?
2b) What will be its main purpose ?

3) Plan for the future ? (other people, storage, etc).

4) And more importanly, Budget? Be realistic.

Im in the process of looking for a retirement cabin and have gone thru all the mental ideas you have, i thought about buying land and building, after much research, it will be more expensive and more hassle, youll need permits and contractors and inspections all just for the utilities and then finding a reputable builder and then you have to keep up on their work , etc etc etc.

If you have the ability, there are cabin kits that go together like lincoln logs only bigger, lol. But most of them require slabs and all the septic and wells to be done.

I have 2 relatives trying to do exactly what you are talking about right now.  My advice would be to buy something that already has utilities in place.  Well, septic, and electric can (will) be extremely expensive and a huge headache.   The structure itself would likely be a relatively minor expense in relation to the utilities.  Financing the project will be extremely difficult unless you can pay cash.  I would buy a small fixer upper house and if you spend wisely,  it would have investment potential as well.  A tiny house/cabin will never be worth your investment...hence the difficulty of financing.

I was looking at this option as a home, rather than a hunting cabin or TEOTWAWKI secondary location, although it could double as those I guess.

Not saying that you're wrong with most of your post (because I think you are mostly right) but wells and septic aren't too expensive unless you have to drill abnormally deep (talking deeper than 600 feet) or have to install one of those specialty septic systems with the pumps and such.  

I had a well drilled a year ago on some property.  Went to 425 feet.  Cost me $4500.  That price doesn't include the well pump so the well pump will bring it to about $7500 or so.  Met the well driller at the site, told him where I wanted it, couple weeks later, he drilled it and sent me a bill.  Pretty simple.  

A septic for my area will run about $3500.  You need a permit from the county health department and a perc test but that's about it.

OP:

Go to this forum and do some reading.  People on there are doing exactly what you want to do.

I think we may have different opinions on what is expensive.  For example, one of my relatives is building a small 16x16 "house".  The structure cost her about $5k.  A well here is about the same as you, and a septic can easily top $10k if a mound system is required....and they usually are.  If you are talking about a $300k house, that might not be bad, but when the combined cost of the well and septic cost 3-4 times the structure....that is pretty expensive.  And again...it will be nearly impossible to finance something like that through a bank.

I was seriously considering building a log cabin kit on some secluded land and found that it was not practical for me. Bought a nice house turn key instead. If you do a search for log cabin you should find some pretty interesting threads on this site with owner built projects.

First find the property you want in an area that does not have zoning.  The best land to look for has electric available.  Once you have the land look at it real close.  Figure out where "your" best place to build is.   Look at Tiny Houses.   If your into solar power then you will not need electric.   Biggest thing is what is your power requirements.   Do you want a well, ac/heating, internet.  Is a cell tower near by?   All of theses will take electric.  Does the land have year round following stream or pond?  If so you may not need a well.

I have an uncle that has a spring coming out of the side of the hill.  He put a concrete spring house around it and piped the water to his house.  The excess flows into the stream that was already there.  

If you buy an existing building, may have to deal with lead paint and asbestos.

I would find out what running electric, well, and septic typically run in the area to compare prices on land and existing buildings.  Might be worth the cost of  demoing an old building to already have utilities already run.

Utility power to one property line is a biggie.  Lots of people have an idea of going off-grid, but it generally does not go with care free...it is a life style and expensive to get there.


I'm not sure about your area, but septic, water wells are expensive to install, and you only recoup about 1/4 or less when you sell...meaning its a lot cheaper to buy a place with that.