Do you have a yearning for a “Corten Cottage”?

I’m a HUGE fan of LITTLE houses…

We work with families all the time that want to build them affordably and efficiently.

A pal of mine just sent me a notice that an 8×20 Tiny House was for sale in Mississippi, just outside Jackson, the state’s capital.

After Katrina, a bunch of these sprang up from the rubble to house families while they either rebuilt or relocated. We personally participated in the building of several of these “Katrina Cottages” using 20′ High Cube Shipping Containers for local families on the Gulf Coast.

Anyway, the reason I’m posting this is that many families are now looking at these little cabins as vacation and holiday homes, or even fishing and hunting camps.

The notice I received states that the wood framed Tiny House offered for sale was purchased for $37,000. NEW. Are you doing math? That means they paid over $230 a square foot for it.

$230.00 per square foot.

You realize you can build a “regular” sized house for that kind of cash, right?

Now, many years later, they’ve put it up for sale. It’s a bit worn, it needs some TLC and it’s needing an “update” to make it more modern and efficient. They’re asking $10,000.00 cash. That’s just over $60 a square foot.

Okay, it IS a cool little house.

And I’m seeing this same scenario happen over and over again.

Frankly, I’m a bit amazed by this.

We help families build 8×20 Corten Cabins that can be trailered from scratch. Yes, we use recycled materials when we can. Yes, we use volunteer labor when it’s available. Yes, we repurpose like MacGiver on Acid…

And in the end, at project completion, these little Corten Cuties cost approximately $9,500 – $10,000.00 brand new.

So, while I hope this family gets their tiny house to a good place, making a great home for someone else… I wonder if there are other’s out there who’d rather spend the same kind of cash and begin the Tiny House trek… with a NEW home, instead of being tasked with repairing an older one.

Since this story broke, I’m getting email after email asking us if WE can build a small Corten Cabin for under $230 a square foot. The answer is yes. If you bring us $230 a square foot for a project like this, we could probably build… two of them and have money left over.

University Architectural programs are asking us about Alternative Building Practices. We’re actually helping write the curriculum. We’re actually helping sponsor class projects, to demonstrate just how much potential these little boxes hold.

People have been asking us about this for years, so here goes;

If we can find enough people in a given area to support it, we’ll take steps to start a training process that will teach families HOW tho build smart, safe and affordably…

Let us know if you are interested.