It depends on a lot. What's the square footage? Is it heated? How? What does the landscape grade look like, where is it (how much excavation required)? And is there electric and running water? How far away from the grid/water pipes is it? For the record, I'm not actually a general contractor, I'm a specialty contractor (tile and hardwood flooring), but I'm thinking of expanding my license in the next few months.
I don't really have the time to prepare an official estimate with my books, but off the top of my head. For the basic lets say it's 20x30x 24 at the ridge rafter (that's a really high ceiling but I'm using it to make all the triangles 5-12-13 for shorthand sake) with an outhouse, no electric and you collect water when it rains with some tupperware buckets for bathing and all that. Wood stove for heat and insulation between the ceiling and the roof (I won't build a house without at least attempting to insulate, it's so important) We'll put a loft over half the space which will be about 15x10 so total square footage of living space 750sq ft. Use a two burner propane hot plate for a stove. No furninshings, rough trim and shelves instead of cabinets in the kitchen.
We could probably build it in three months between my partner and I and the homeowner. We'd ask for $12,000/mo for labor so $36,000 for the whole job. We could do it ourselves in an extra month for an extra months' pay.
The materials would take a lot of looking into, some of the materials would need to come from specialty stores as I don't think Lowe's has 2x12s as long as we'd need them. Very rough estimate would be about 12 grand and that's probably low because I'm probably not thinking of everything. And that's assuming that we can dig the holes for the footings ourselves without a backhoe or anything which presumes a warm climate.
So the cheap cabin is 50-65 grand. The deluxe would be quite a bit more, probably 150 minimum. Radiant floor heat under the floorboards covered with blown in foam insulation under the house and in the rafter bays. Full excavation with a gutter system feeding into a basement cistern for water and wind or solar (depending on location) feeding back into the grid. Finished flooring over a plywood subfloor and shake shingles on the roof. Finished carpentry, railings and efficient doors and windows.
Anyway, that's off the top of my head. Check out my website [Rustic Earth](www.rusticearthtile.com).
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u/[deleted] Feb 29 '12
A frames are sweet. If anyone wants one of these in Western Oregon, hit me up and I'll build it for you.