I’ve been planning a series of articles on the best places to live in North America that have few or no building codes — places that are ideal for homesteaders to build their sustainable home out of natural materials. I’m asking readers to send us their recommendations. Today’s article is the first installment of the series.
no building codes
Living on a 4 Season Tiny Houseboat
“In this video, we meet Bonnie from Wakefield, Québec, Canada who is living on a gorgeous tiny house boat that is full of character and charm. The tiny houseboat has custom-made asymmetrical windows, a classic ship’s wheel, antique fireplace, and hand-built furniture — all of which give the boat a warm and cozy feel that makes you feel at home as soon as you step on board. The boat is docked on the shore of the Gatineau River and Bonnie lives in it as often as she can when she’s not renting it out on Airbnb.”
Area in Wisconsin with Few or No Codes
The following comment left by a reader got me thinking about publishing a few blog posts about areas in the US with few or no building codes that allow do-it-yourself alternative building with earthbags, straw bales and local wood, and homesteading. As we’ve said many times here, building in areas with codes can skyrocket the construction costs ten-fold, which essentially wipes out the savings of using alternative materials. That probably explains why our blog page Counties with Few or No Building Codes has always been our most popular page.
Land and Farm.com
In your search for rural land with few or no building codes, you might want to try out Land and Farm.com. Their search page enables you to narrow the search by state, county, zip code, type of property (farm, undeveloped, orchard, ranch, etc.), property size, asking price, price per acre, irrigated or not irrigated and quite a few other criteria.
Building Codes are a Slippery Slope
I would argue that current building codes make it nearly impossible to build affordable housing. All the restrictions on room sizes, allowable materials, and cost of permits and inspections put housing out of reach for a large segment of society. It’s a complex and touchy subject that can quickly lead to heated debates. Our intent … Read more
Allowable Size to Meet Building Codes
From time to time we answer reader’s questions. Building codes, and where to live where there are Few or No Building Codes so as to reduce construction costs, is our #1 most popular topic. Q: I’m thinking about building a 120 sq. ft. structure as a home to get around the building codes. In my … Read more