cabin kits

[Goosesniper]

Luba. I helped a friend put one together. They are great. His only had 2x3 studs. We had to slightly modify the rafters. The bottom rafter was only 6 feet. He is 6.4. Not a big problem. The kit came with an aspenite floor. We replaced it with plywood. They go together easy.
I'm going to do it. Use it as a cabin on a piece of land. Eventually I'll convert it to a guest house or she'd. Great investment in my opinion. Oh yeah. Modified the door height as well. The kit window is pretty crappy. We bought a proper window and door.

[Bluebulldog]

No idea what the OP's situation is like, but a few folks have mentioned the "camp" scenario. And in that I'm assuming you're talking about a group of hunters and outdoor adventurers who are looking to share some land and exploits.

If so... meeting the minimum sq ft requirements shouldn't be difficult or overly expensive. Our family just finished getting a 20'x22' sugar shack "ready enough" for the upcoming syrup season. Cost so far for a very sturdy floor, framed & sheeted walls, rafters and steel roof, windows and a 22'x5' front deck is just $560 - because we sourced a lot of supplies free or nearly free and recycled a couple of other outbuildings that weren't being used for much.

Over the next few years we'll add cedar planking to the exterior walls and possibly insulation if we consider using it as a hunt cabin. We considered cutting and curing cedar timber to do our entire frame with it, but were too impatient to wait the 2 or 3 years that would require. But it's another way to save money, if you have access to the free timber.

Other than that, someone is always tearing down an old machine shed, garage, fire damaged building, etc... and they're happy to give away the scrap as it saves them $$$ having to haul it away to the dump, wreckers and recyclers.

The trouble I'm finding is that the days of just putting up a cabin are pretty well over. You want to build a hunt camp? It still has to be min 65 SqM ( 700 SqFt) and you can only do that if it's on over 9.9 acres of land.

The option of building a 700 SqFt dwelling is the only option if you own less than 9.9 acres, and of course it's subject to code for a dwelling. Including sewage approvals. I'm fortunate that in Haliburton, rec properties can still have a class 1 / class 2 ( outhouse / grey water leaching pit).

[Goosesniper]

Have you considered a huge teepee. Or a Sherpa tent. Is the law governing these any different? Build a platform and put it up.

[line052]

Without permit, max size 108sq ft, sleeping cabin 468sq ft with permanent kitchen. Google your town or municipality for other restrictions.

[Bluebulldog]

Without permit, max size 108sq ft, sleeping cabin 468sq ft with permanent kitchen. Google your town or municipality for other restrictions.

Trouble is, is that most municipalities won't allow ancillary buildings ( even sheds under 108 SqFt) without there being a primary residence, etc.

It sucks that if you put up a nice 10x10 or 8x12 cabin you are really dependent on your neighbors to not complain.

[terrym]

Years ago I used to manage a Beaver Lumber store and we had a packaged building division where we sold cottages , homes and smaller buildings. You would have been better off getting yourself an approved blueprint and getting your own material takeoff and quote. Those "kits" have a lot of marketing and freight costs attached to them and because of that have much higher markups. Just walk in to a local lumber yard with your plans and they will probably quote you 15% cheaper for the entire material pkg. The other thing is you then can take delivery in the stages you need not everything dumped at once. You are also better off becoming a good customer of a local business/lumber yard than some manufacturer who could be trucking from long distances.

[JBen]

My BiLs (not technically a BiL but may as well be) nightmare.

The cabin on their 100 acres is old (originally built in the 40s or 50s). The two logging roads in are old. In fact one is gone and reclaimed. Getting building materials in....have fun, especially if you need anything larger than 8 foot utility trailer. Getting out of camp this past Nov (thanks alrgely to rain and soft soil) we almost lost one F150, the 10foot trailer and the quad on it over the slope/edge.

Cost to have a company do a heli drop? Yes its been looked at.
Cost to do X and meet muni codes (inlcudling road work)?
Tin/steel roof? Yep great solution....how does one get it in??????
Even getting someone in to drop a few 100 foot trees that are threatening the structure.....

Not sure what he will eventually do, for now its bandaids as we can when in reality it should be razed and rebuilt....but....

[JJL]

Years ago I used to manage a Beaver Lumber store and we had a packaged building division where we sold cottages , homes and smaller buildings. You would have been better off getting yourself an approved blueprint and getting your own material takeoff and quote. Those "kits" have a lot of marketing and freight costs attached to them and because of that have much higher markups. Just walk in to a local lumber yard with your plans and they will probably quote you 15% cheaper for the entire material pkg. The other thing is you then can take delivery in the stages you need not everything dumped at once. You are also better off becoming a good customer of a local business/lumber yard than some manufacturer who could be trucking from long distances.

great advise terrym!
this kits are convenient but you pay for that convenience.
you have to decide what is most important to you as an individual or group.

[Oddmott]

Group vs individual was the point i didn't go into too much detail with my earlier post. Not sure if the OP is going this alone or working with others.

If he's on his own and that crazy $20K+ price tag of the kit won't really hurt him, then the convenience is great.

But if he's part of a group that can share both the costs and the work involved in prepping a site, providing the labour, etc... then you're far better ahead to DIY from scratch and save major $.

As Terry already said, you're farther ahead to make friends with your local lumber yard or sawmill. You'll get far more for less, when you need it.

[Wahoo]

Years ago I used to manage a Beaver Lumber store and we had a packaged building division where we sold cottages , homes and smaller buildings. You would have been better off getting yourself an approved blueprint and getting your own material takeoff and quote. Those "kits" have a lot of marketing and freight costs attached to them and because of that have much higher markups. Just walk in to a local lumber yard with your plans and they will probably quote you 15% cheaper for the entire material pkg. The other thing is you then can take delivery in the stages you need not everything dumped at once. You are also better off becoming a good customer of a local business/lumber yard than some manufacturer who could be trucking from long distances.

So much truth in this. So much - especially developing a relationship with the local Building Centre - in my case it was a Castle.

When I built my camp (1,000 square feet) several years back from scratch (custom plans from a certified designer who knew how to work with concrete piers - $800), at the shell phase (completed exterior, windows, doors, metal roof and interior walls) I was the same cost as a neighbour who bought a complete shell kit (384 sq ft) and hammered it together himself (he had zero building experience, the instructions were excellent and everything he needed was there when dropped off at the lake). He was stunned when I told him how much I had spent to get where I was. I showed him the spread sheets I used to track the costs and he, literally, couldn't believe it. Granted the product he had was also very decent quality.

If you have the time (lots) and the skills, you'll be way further ahead and get exactly what you want. If time is of the essence, take a very careful look at a Kit and ask lots of questions.