Have you ever been annoyed by the dubs bragging about how quickly they can build their Kingdom Halls (sometimes a weekend project) for so little money? I’ve heard them boast that this is proof of being blessed by God’s spirit. Well we know that is B.S. but I wanted to float an idea out here to suggest something more constructive, both literally and figuratively. Namely, if the dubs can build Kingdom Halls in a few days, why couldn’t we form a house-building club and do the same thing for ourselves?
Many of you already know that Wendy (Mommy) and family along with a few others and myself have started working on our plan to earn lots of money here this year and then relocate to a private island a few hours away by air. After looking at the house rental costs in Florida to provide housing and workspace for everyone we soon came to realize that what we would pay out for housing rent in one year, could very well pay for a few modest do-it-yourself kit homes. Even better, we realized that these same homes are what is called demountable, meaning that they can be easily be taken apart again and put back together in a new location. So, we can construct these homes here, have them pay for themselves for what we would pay out in rent over the course of a year, and then transport them with us to our island and use them for housing there while we build our more upscale homes, and then finally convert these kit homes into guest housing that we will rent out for income, like a bed and breakfast type arrangement.
This would make an excellent strategy because these homes would pay for themselves many times over in the course of their lifetime.
In thinking more about this, I realize that many of us here in the ex-dub community don’t want to relocate outside the country but would enjoy having a home of their own that didn’t cost them anywhere near the going rate for home ownership. If we followed the example of Habitat for Humanity, and created a home building club using the easily transportable demountable houses, then we could share the savings costs by buying the housing kits in quantity along with a trading of our labor in exchange for other skills we may not have.
With enough competent help, kit homes can go up and be completed in a single weekend. We could barter our time with others in our “club” in exchange for helping them assemble their homes.
How much do these instant kit homes go for? They range in price from about $7,000 USD on up. It depends upon the materials, design, size, and much more. There are links below to help you explore what is available on the American market (there are many other markets in other countries as well) and this list is by no means complete. Some years back, I purchased a dome home kit for a rather nice 3 bedroom 1850 square foot home and with the property, labor costs, and land costs (5 acres) it came to $44,000 and I sold it one year later for double that amount. If I would have been able to cut the labor costs and land costs, I’m guessing it would have cost me about $25,000 (that includes the interior, utilities, etc.) If I would have been able to get 2 more people to buy a similar kit home, I could have saved another $6,000 off that price.
Anyway, just wanted to throw this idea out there and see what kind of reaction I get.
The links to instant housing:
http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Feb00/08Feb0004.html (this is an article about the company above and shows the general pricing)
http://www.factory7.com/am/lowcost/index.shtml (these guys have various home plans and models but tend to be a little more expensive but nice homes)
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~readyh/
http://www.newageshelters.com/features.html
http://www.smartspacemod.com/features.htm
Kind Regards,
Skipper
