Ask HN: Anyone built a cabin before? Advice?

2 points by rwol 6 years ago | 9 comments

Thinking about building a modified A-Frame cabin on a plot of land. Doing most of the work myself, with contractors for the toughest parts. Anyone done it before? Costs? Advice?

Would be great to hear about your experience.

quaquaqua1 6 years ago |

My opinion is that sadly in 2020, most local governments will make it very difficult for you to comply with the building rules if your goal is a house that is anything different from what a "normal" house is.

Like the other commenter suggested, try with a shed, or even better, try making a tabletop model of your cabin with all the measurements and cutting scaled down from your ultimate goal.

If you do find a place to build, then great! But most likely it would be occuring in an area so far outside of town that it would be a very different life from suburb living.

Though I do know of a few people who made a house within a house....

rwol 6 years ago | |

I was hoping to sell the local government on it being a green building somehow, or something else that might motivate them to help with the building codes. Perhaps reaching out to universities within the region.

I think I’d like to try the tabletop model idea. I plan on having it be a second home / AirBnB spot.

rayhendricks 6 years ago | | |

It depends on the governing municipalities. Portland allows tiny homes on wheels [https://www.portlandoregon.gov/eudaly/article/662852] on property so depending on where you are located it might be allowed.

techslave 6 years ago |

ever built anything? done a major remodel? practice first by building a shed in your backyard. you don’t want your cabin to be your first rodeo.

most important is learning to hire quality subs. very very hard if you’re not a GC in the biz.

rwol 6 years ago | |

Maybe I’ll try starting with a tabletop model as the other poster suggested.

Any thoughts on acquiring the land? I was told getting in touch with a realtor local to the area would be a good start.

runjake 6 years ago | | |

You’ll want to still take his shed building advice. Building a tabletop model will not give you the carpentry experience needed to build a cabin. At all.

You can also volunteer for your local variant of Habitats for Humanity but it’s inefficient and it’s more herding cats than carpentry. Still you might make some connections and someone may allow you to ride under their wing.