Need advice on moving and building a small house - Owner build on Stilts (2013, HOA)

[hjmontijo]

Okay. We finally did it! We purchased a lot to build our tiny house and we are moving from to mainland, Seattle to be exact and moving to the South Kona area.

As some of you may know that for a while now we’ve been going back and forth as to what side of the island to live on, mainly due to cost. After our recent visit in April, we had the opportunity to check out quite a few different neighborhoods/villages on both sides of the island. We find one area that we absolutely fell in love with, the Miloli’i area. Although we wanted to spend less for land, we just purchased a 10,000 square foot lot in Miloli’I to build our small home on. Although the beach community is not as green as we would have liked, we absolutely love the feel of the area and from everyone we had a chance to speak to who lived there all seemed so friendly and welcoming. Plus, we have a great ocean view and not to mention that we will live closer to our friends.

Here is where we need some help. I need as much information and advice as possible on building your own home. We want to build a permitted home that we will draw up and build ourselves. We just want to know if anyone has had any experience with this and the challenges that they faced. We also need advice on cost as we will be on a very tight budget.

We're not even sure we know exactly where to start.... Okay, I guess let us start with these points;
- After the Purchase of the lot. We are left with 25k to build. (We can possibly go up in budget)
- We want to do an owner build permitted small house (the HOA will not allow unpermitted).
- The lot is mainly crushed lava rock (most of the lost is pretty level).
- We want to build High on stilts (post and pier) as to keep a great view (thinking of future builders).
- There is no county water, it’s all catchment.
- Even though power is available, we want to go off-grid with solar power.

We’ve had the chance to contact the county on a few different questions that we had, but we have so many more. We're just looking for a little help from people who have some friendly advice. Here are some of the specific questions that we have. We may have asked some of these questions in previous post, but never got the answers we were looking for.

- I’ve heard that if we're drawing up my own plans as an owner the max square footage we can go is 600sqft, is this true?
- Also if this is true, does the lanai get taken into account for the square footage or is that separate?
- How long and how much is the permitting process?
- What are the exact rules and regulations on a composting toilet?
- We’ve heard that septic tanks cost a lot. How much would it cost for a system in a small house for only 2 to 3 people year round?
- Is the septic system something we can easily build ourselves?
- Does anyone know of any great ways to break through lava rock without having to hire an excavator?
- Does anyone have the cost to fill a catchment tank, price per gallon?
- Does anyone know about living in a temporary situation on the plot while building the house? We were thinking of maybe living in a large tent on the property.
- Does anyone know the best cost effective way to build a solar power system?
- We’ve heard that it’s cheaper to buy building material here on the mainland and then having it shipped to the big island, does anyone have any knowledge on this?
- Does anyone know the current cost for shipping vehicles? We are getting rid of one of our cars but keeping our 2013 Toyota Tundra.

Please, if anyone has any great advice, send it our way. Again we only have a budget of 25k, however, if absolutely necessary, we can always put 10k or so on credit. We are really trying to avoid putting anything on credit as we want to be able to have a little debt as possible in order not to have to work much at all. We want to live a simple, easy life. This has been a dream of our and we are both very hard working people and will do what it takes to make our dreams come true. Please do not reply to this post if you have all negative things to say. We are looking for help and inspiration.

Mahalo!!!

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Congratulations on your purchase. How soon do you plan to move?

Regarding living on the land in a temporary structure while building, you need to check with your HOA. The one that I live in does not allow that. Does the HOA have a minimum size structure that they require? (I hope these comments aren't too negative for you).

Regarding shipping your car, check the current Matson or Horizon prices on their websites. I think it's about $1,100 from Seattle (that's where we shipped ours from through Matson).

The price of almost everything is higher here because the stores have to pay for shipping. You can go on-line to Home Depot or Lowes or HPM and choose the Kona store as your local store and then look at prices. You can also get a cost from Matson to ship a container.

Composting toilets have been discussed at length here. Do you know how to do a forum search?

[whtviper1]

Any chance you can give insight how you've broken down the $25K in terms of budget - for instance $5,000 wood $5,000 plumbing $3,000 roofing etc

I'm curious what your baseline is how you penciled $25K.

Basic permitted 2 car garages generally go for $25K on up.

[hjmontijo]

@Dreaming of Hawaii - We'll have to say we was expecting a little more than $1,100, that doesn't seem bad at all. However, we'll need to check out the matson site for current prices as we're sure they change frequently. As far as the living in a tent, we believe the HOA is okay with it. When we was cruising through Miloli'i we had the pleasure to talk to a couple that is building their own home in the area and they where living in a tent themselves as they were building. as for the house size the only rule the HOA has is that we abide by the county standard.

@whtviper1 - I really don't have a final budget set for everything just yet. That's one of the reasons that I am on here trying to get some advice. The reason that I would like to keep the build at 25k is because that is what I have in cash to put towards to build and, Yes, I can put more towards the build if absolutely necessary, but I want to keep cost as low as possible. I'm okay with living simple and staring off small. Ideally I just want a small 600 sqft home, but am willing to smaller if needed to start with. I've read some previous post from people who find really great deals on lumber and what not and who searched for great electricians and plumbers and really fare prices and long as they assisted with the work.
I also did reach out to the county of Hawaii regarding used material such as windows and doors and I was told as long as they are in like-new condition, I can use used materials. This will help out a lot on the cost.
I'm not sure exactly what I'll be able to build. I just want to know what are to minimums that I can get away with.
Thanks again for the advice.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by hjmontijo

That's one of the reasons that I am on here trying to get some advice. The reason that I would like to keep the build at 25k is because that is what I have in cash to put towards to build and, Yes, I can put more towards the build if absolutely necessary, but I want to keep cost as low as possible. I'm okay with living simple and staring off small. Ideally I just want a small 600 sqft home, but am willing to smaller if needed to start with.

Well, you are going to be hard pressed to build a small permitted house for less than $100/sq ft.....

Good luck, keep us informed how it progresses.

[McFrostyJ]

Does the 25k include the cost of permits and everything?

Sounds extremely low to me and makes me very nervous for you. I think I would have figured out the answers to all of your questions before buying the property. However, I wish you the best of luck and hope you keep us updated here.

[Jungjohann]

As a retired, recently, contractor, you can't build much of anything for 25K. Permits, site work, septic, water hookup or catchment, materials, labor, can't be done. Your best bet would be to get a 'kit-home' from HPM.

Pilikai


Okolemaluna, you're gonna need it

[tweez]

Maybe a yurt if your HOA allows? They can be fully permitted and are much less expensive than a more traditional home. Kit homes are also a possibility as mentioned above.

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by hjmontijo

- Does anyone know the best cost effective way to build a solar power system?

Given your budget, I suggest you wire the home with the intention of going solar down the road, but just use grid power for the time being.
Since grid power is available, your future solar system will be tied in with it-"net metering" is the term, I believe.
That way, you avoid the need for storage batteries.

After a few months on the grid, you will have an idea of your power needs and be able to size your solar system accordingly.

I have a friend in Waiakea Uka who spend well over your house budget for his solar system alone.

On the other hand, one could spend 5K-maybe less- and have a feasible system ,if they were frugal power consumers. Read: Puna hippies. Anyone else need not apply.

The permitting and labor for the electrical work will be unavoidable costs, in your case.

[h2ono]

Hey there, I made a post awhile back on this very subject you might check out. The thread was "try new building ideas in puna" (p.6) I made an attempt to describe a small structure that perhaps would work for you . Unfortunately I listed the dimensions as 12x12x10, when they should have been 12x12x16.
Building this way would require some attention to foundation and shear panels in the initial "tower" I described, and may be more expensive per sq.ft. initially , but the payoff down the line in terms of potential is well worth it. Buildings on the grade in the tropics, while much easier and cheaper at first, are just ridiculous. Decades of trial and error has led me to the firm opinion that a central tower based structure just beats all other designs with a stick. It needs to be done well because it will form the basis for adding on bays or lanais so don't skimp on the initial structure. Hope it all goes well over there, take your time, start small think big. ALOHA.