Buying Land and Building a Permie Homestead

I am currently trying to buy land.
1.85 acres in Ft. Myers/Lee County Florida.

Next will be well+septic (If anyone know of local contractors feel free to drop me a line)

A 200ft Dirt road will come after that.

If anyone want to support this feel free drop a few dollars via paypal/etc.

This is the floor plan design I plan on using.

The 1.85 acres is spread on 4 lots.
I have 1 so far and already entered into a contract for the other 3.

It seems like septic+water will cost me $12,000 . Too bad I don't have water+sewer to the lot, otherwise the cost would have only been $5000 in total to connect  both.

Luckily electric goes to the property line. I will have to figure out the connection fee.

S Bengi wrote:
This is the floor plan design I plan on using.

That's almost the exact floor plan that I have in my 950sqft manufactured home, except I have a second bathroom to the right of the kitchen, and the kid's rooms are tiny, and the laundry area is at the top right (and my master closet and hot water heater are on the other side of the wall from the master bath--I didn't draw that in).

But, anyway, the layout of the rooms is really similar, I find it does a pretty good job of utilizing the space we have, and it's not far to walk from my kids bedrooms to the laundry area, and not many doors and halls to mess around with. I really like it.

I like your floor plan alot too.
Did you use strawbale for the walls or just regular framing?

It's a Marlette manufactured home. When we bought the property,  it came with the house, well, septic system, etc. I wish it were a much more natural building.

I'f I'd been able to build my dream home, it would have been a historical-looking Tudor style house with probably wattle and daub walls. But, it doesn't make much ecological sense to trash the adequate structure we have to use more resources to build a natural one .

S Bengi wrote:The 1.85 acres is spread on 4 lots.
I have 1 so far and already entered into a contract for the other 3.

It seems like septic+water will cost me $12,000 . Too bad I don't have water+sewer to the lot, otherwise the cost would have only been $5000 in total to connect  both.

Luckily electric goes to the property line. I will have to figure out the connection fee.

$12K sounds high for a well + septic. What is the water table depth around there? How big of a septic do you need for a small home such as yours?

Well is $5,000 the water table is 80ft.
Septic is $7,000. If I was onsite I could do most of this work. Bringing this down to only $2,500 for parts+permit+contractor signature.
I could get a $2,000 composting system but then Florida change their laws stating than gray water cannot leave the building envelope, unless it goes to a septic system. So not really a cost saving thing, just environmentally friendly, unless a earthship sanitation modules/greenhouse is being utilized.


Due to the fact that I live so far away from the land.
I might just build a much smaller house. 24ft by 24ft if the government will let me. Then build the two floor one that I want later once I am onsite.  
This would actually cut down on cost, outside labor and toxic material. This 1bedroom 24ft x 24ft could be demolish/turn into a shed/workshop/garage/rental/etc.

If septic systems are the same in Florida as they are in my area, their size is determined not by the size of the house, or even how many bathrooms it has, but how many bedrooms it has.

So, my little manufactured home, which was initially a single older man's home, has a bigger septic system because it has three bedrooms, even though it's only 950sqft.

S Bengi's place also has three bedrooms, and so would probably have to have a three bedroom septic system.

And, if there's any sort of wetlands involved, than the septic system will probably be more expensive. 1/3rd of my property is protected wetlands, so I have a septic tank, and then a gravel filter. Both are next to my house. BUT, the drain field is probably over 1,000 feet away, and up a hill, and has 4 separate drain areas. That's pretty costly!

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Were you able to get the other 3 lots?  I sent you a private message.

I was able to get the other 3 lot. There is another lot with a house that I am thinking about getting, I just need some funds.

Great!  Has anyone joined you down there?  What is your vision for the place at this point?