Spent lots of money today!

Alan hanging out with our new neighbors, the goats.




Today we had our only actual contractor come out, as he is the one doing the electrical and plumbing. He did work on the big house on the property, and is familiar with the layout of the utilities and things like that.

We had a not-brief moment where it was unknown if the gauge of wire we needed to run (6) for the 220 appliances would fit in the existing conduit. The run is going to be almost 180' in one direction, so there's no way we could go with smaller wire (you lose voltage over distance, and could end up shutting off your computer every time your fridge kicked on if you wired things poorly). What we're going to have to do is pull out the existing wire, then re-run the whole thing in order for it all to go. So, my advice...do this from scratch, or use 1" conduit everywhere instead of 3/4"!





Alan unveils one of our piers while standing in our utility trench.









All of our piers are poured, and conduit laid out. I made it a goal to have a different dog in every picture, so let's see if I can do it!














This is what we spent money on today. Top to bottom: Medicine cabinet/mirror, pocket door, pocket door frame, and shower pan. Back left is the wire (almost $300 by itself..), and a pipe for..some reason. We also picked up the vent fan for the bathroom and a light fixture. The budget in the sidebar has been updated! We're definitely going to go over the 4k mark, but it's not a matter of necessity. We're just making things a little nicer/over-engineered than we need to, and that's going to cost. Luckily, since it's going on Alan Sr. and Marie's property, they're helping us with the stuff that they're asking for (like a carport, and how we're doing the deck).






The door and window frames are tacked into place, and we're ready to start building up the bathroom tomorrow. We're having to wait on our welder to do a lot of things, unfortunately.






This is the end stud wall and the steel end cap wall (two 4'x10' sheets that will be welded together and trimmed). The stud wall isn't done yet, it still needs fireblocks. Alan built this buy himself, as I was very sick that day. To the right is some of the steel for the window frames.

Introduction

My name is Rachel, and my boyfriend's name is Alan. We are both post-grad students, in Psychology and Mathematics respectively. We have been in a relationship for 7 years, and recently moved to the High Desert town where Alan's parents live.
Why?

Facing the end of our apartment lease, we found that the monthly rents for apartments in neighborhoods that we didn't like would run us over $1000/mo (a several hundred dollar a month increase from our previous lease), plus utilities. Given that we are full-time students drawing on stipends and loans, that would make our already tight budget impossible to cope with. With the encouragement of Alan Sr. and Marie, Alan's parents, we began looking into 'alternative' housing.

Almost on a whim, and on Alan Sr's suggestion, we decided on building a container home. We are using an ISO standard 8'x8'x40' shipping container that Alan Sr and Marie had already purchased during the building of their (conventional) home for storage and placed on their property. They are very generously 'donating' the use of the container to us, as it will be placed on a permanent pier system on their property, and be there long after we are gone, likely used as a guest 'cabin'.

Normally, a container of this size would run you anywhere from $1200-$3000 used, and upwards of that for new manufacture. This particular container cost $2500 about 5 years ago.
The Budget

I believe we are looking at an overall budget of $4000, from bare container to livable. This does not include interior decor, exterior refinements, or any furniture we may need. It DOES include all fixtures, construction material (drywall, wood, electrical, plumbing), water heater, and windows and doors. This means that if we, at a minimum, stay in the container home for over 4 months, we will have reached the break-even point with rent. Any time spent over that will net us around $1000/mo in savings, with a stipend for electricity, internet, and propane use being paid to Alan Sr and Marie. In the sidebar I will be updating, starting today, with how much money has been spent on what.

We are incredibly lucky in that we have skilled people in the family, and will be able to accomplish much, if not all, of the build without the use of outside contractors.

In my next post, pictures and an optimistic timeline!