I don’t personally care about the environment aspect of the story. That isn’t what attracted my attention. The living arrangement, where the kids are semi-independent in their own small apartments, taking care of themselves full-time, just within an earshot of their parents for security, is what got my attention about it.
Each small house will cost about $15,000 each, if you have the talent for building them yourself to completion, so there isn’t anything cheap about this.
I just like the independence aspect for the kids. They have security under the parents, but they have to care for themselves like adults at the same time.
Yes, I like the idea of separate space for the youth. I often wished we could build a cabin of some sort for the teenaged boys to live in - even seasonally, as someone else mentioned - but it’s not allowed in our subdivision.
Really how much more independence do the kids have?
I imagine a large part of the draw was being able to install these with less of the planning, approval, local building professional, etc., requirements.
That said, it sounds like it could be fun except for the outhouse in cold and snowy Kentucky winters.
the way the article is worded, “For $20,000 more, the family bought six tiny houses and placed them on the piece of land.”
I’m understanding that 6 cottages cost 20K total. That’s about 3K each. The cheapest at our home depot is about $5K for a 10x16 wood, unfinished interior shed with a crap roof and dinky window and door. And then there’s local building codes, slabs and running electric. One thing that stands out on the negative side is with four exposed walls, it seems it would be harder to cool/heat unless they were insulated to the max so that’s going to add to the cost, too.
And then there’s the safety factor. I’d be a little paranoid and I’d probably be more comfortable with mom/dad and bathroom unit on the top and bottom of an “O” shape with the kid units attached on the sides to form a central courtyard and one unit as a kitchen and another as a family/bigscreen room. Nice idea as presented, tho, if you are confident in controlling the visitors to the property. I’m sure the teen boy is digging it!