[Dirtkicker]

My wife and I have been planning to move to a remote location for 3 yrs now. We are weeks away from our land purchase. Having a hard time finding land to suit our plans.also we have two fifth wheel campers so to avoid permits . thinking ocala area.

[AnnRyan]

Having done a little research on this earlier, I'd advise anyone interested in exploring off-grid living to consider purchasing AGRICULTURAL zoned land.

[KPB]

A lot of people live full time, off-grid in River Ranch near Lake Wales but its probably not the type community your looking for.

[hotkarl]

Would love to this. Just...because.
Seems like such a hassle though.
I'm just gonna stick with buying a small energy efficient-ish home.
Maybe, just maybe, I'll do the land purchase and build the home myself. That is a pain in the butt too but it's do-able for me.

[Zinka]

Florida is absolutely not friendly to this, for a few reasons, chief among them, the Florida Building Code which is one of the most extreme in the entire country (since everything has to be engineered for wind load)

People don't seem to understand that you can't just buy a parcel of land and do whatever you want with it. While I happen to think that zoning and building regulations go way too far, understand that there is not a single county in Florida where you can build and inhabit a structure that isn't FBC compliant, which completely extinguishes most "off the grid/sustainable" type housing options.

Now, if the question is "can I get away with it", sure. I'm sure in some places you can but be aware that GIS systems now have automatic alerts whenever unpermitted building activity occurs, so its only a matter of time before the code violations come down.

The long and short of it is this: Florida is not a particularly friendly state for "off the grid" living. If it's something you'd like to see change, propose a bill to amend the FBC and have at it. In the meantime, you will never get a straw bale house or yurt permitted here.

[bela]

I approached the building dept here in bay county regarding building with shipping containers. they were aware of them but told me I would be the first. they did say that getting an engineers stamp would go a long way to making them happy. they seemed willing to work with me, and suggested even that I bring by a drawing or render before I spend any money on the engineer.

Since then I have come up with the idea of first putting a mobile home on the lot to receive an address certificate, and then adding the containers in a way that the ugly mobile home would be an unseen core of my design, mobile homes are something they know very well.

[BNBR]

You can use a mobile home for off the grid living and avoid all the building codes.

[hotkarl]

Mobile homes are great. They just have such a stigma attached to them.
The improvements in quality and such have come a long way from the old over glorified Winnebago days. I have been very impressed with the newer ones and would not rule out purchasing one.

[bela]

Originally Posted by hotkarl

Mobile homes are great. They just have such a stigma attached to them.
The improvements in quality and such have come a long way from the old over glorified Winnebago days. I have been very impressed with the newer ones and would not rule out purchasing one.

Agreed. Though I think its the mobile home parks moreso than the units themselves that are the bigger turn off.

[tallrick]

I built with steel and concrete, it was the best way to get a Florida proof home. Once the house was finished I built a storage building and added shipping containers for storage. Never had any county issues because I am on agricultural land and replaced a dilapidated home and restored a pineland around my home, making my activities invisible from the air. I would never live in a shipping container, they rust and hold humidity.