Tuff Sheds as Living Space?
As I rack my brain for alternatives to purchasing a house, I seem to lean towards prefab homes and kits. Every time I swing by the Home Depot, positioned just outside their front door, are a variety of Tuff Sheds. I walk inside the empty shed and it seems spacious and roomy. Granted, the shed doors are wide open and there’s not a lick of furniture, or anything else for that matter, inside. But for $3,995 it’s a bargain!
Having such a curiosity about kit homes, I wonder if there’s any way to put a couple of Tuff Sheds together and call it home, or at least a temporary home. As I begin to seriously consider this option, I decide to check out their website. Not only do they make sheds, they also build garages. Ding! An idea strikes. Having browsed many a home plan, I know that it’s possible to build an apartment above a garage. Surfing through their photos, I find just the picture I hoped to see: a two-car garage with a loft/apartment.
A Tuff Shed Two-Car w/Apartment Garage
With an apartment above the garage, not only could our car fit, but we could also use the other half of the garage as storage. My thinking is this:
- Buy affordable land. I’m not sure where this land will be, there’s really nothing in my area, but this is key to making my plan work. (Perhaps this is a faulty plan?!)
- Build a temporary shelter on the cheap. This is where the garage with apartment comes in.
- Park the car and storage in the garage. Since we’d be on our own land, we might as well keep as much stuff as possible in our garage instead of paying for storage. A two-car garage with apartment would do the trick.
- Live in the apartment. Most above garage apartments are large enough for two people. We primarily use our bedroom and living room the most. I think we could hack it in a small-ish apartment.
- Build a house. As we save money living above our garage, we could save for our dream house.
My plan began to sound possible once we received a quote from Tuff Shed. For $28,000 they could build us a two-car garage with apartment. Not bad! The biggest hurdle, besides the land purchase, is the preparation of the land. However, the garage doesn’t need that large of a foundation. And looking at the photo (above) that I found on their website, a flat pad will do.
Now, if I could just find some land!
I think finding land might be your biggest hurdle too. I know that where I live, all the nearby land is bought out by companies that are putting in cookie cutter homes. So you would have live waaayyy out there if you want your own land.
@George@MoneyLounge.net – I think you’re right. The same is happening in my neighborhood, any vacant land is being turned into a multi-housing community (no matter how small the land)!
It is a very interesting option, but the problem with building new houses is that you need to get connected to heat, water, and power plants. I don’t know how this works in the US but wouldn’t it be a significant extra expense?
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@Holme – You’re right. I haven’t factored in the plumbing or electrical yet. One of the sites I’ve browsed estimates the site work at around $100,000. I’m thinking this must include the plumbing and electrical. I really have to list my pros and cons on building a house vs. buying a house vs. continuing to rent. Thanks for stopping by!
Wow, I really like this option and never considered it. Really cheap too, even a poor person such as myself could afford this, especially if I was back in Wisconsin… you’ve got me thinking now…
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@Ryan @ Planting Dollars
Yes, I was thrilled when they called us back with the price. But again, this doesn’t include plumbing and electrical or any site work. But still, it’s a bargain!
That’s an adorable photo, I wouldn’t mind living somewhere like that. Prefab homes sound like a great deal, although I don’t know about the quality? But you’re right – it’s the LAND that’s expensive and hard to find..
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@eemusings – Yes, if only there was more availability of land! This will be the hardest part of my plan. Thanks for stopping by!
This solution might be feasible in a warm climate but no place that gets an actual winter. Plumbing above an unheated garage = frozen pipes…
In addition to the actual costs of the plumbing and fixtures, wiring, etc, if you’re on a city lot you’ll need to get a quote on connecting to the local water/sewer/power at the street. If you’re going country, you’ll need a quote on well drilling, septic installation and connection to power. If your land is a long way from the nearest power line it can be reeeeealy expensive. I’ve known people who spent $20k to get power to their remote land – they had to pay for a few dozen poles to be installed to bring the lines to their property.
Don’t forget to include the cost of building permits and building inspection fees in your calculations. Some areas also impose other fees on new construction. When we built, our rural area had several extra charges they added on to help fund the infrastructure development required by all us city folks moving to the country (mostly related to highway improvements and new interchanges to get to our country properties). We weren’t aware of these fees when we bought the land. It was a shock when we went to get our building permit – $1500 for the permit, $10,000 in other fees. If we’d bought a lot 5 minutes further away in the next township we wouldn’t have had any extra charges.
When buying land anywhere check to see what restrictions there are on when/what you build. There may be a minimum square footage (to protect the value of surrounding homes). There may be a minimum time the building permit can remain open – in other words you must complete the home within a set amount of time from when you start the garage/apt. In our rural subdivision (everyone on 3 acres) we had to be larger than 1500sqft and we cannot put up more than 2 buildings on the property and the smaller building cannot be any larger than 40% of the footprint of the larger building. This was intended to prevent putting two homes on one lot, or a tiny house and an enormous garage used for commercial purposes. These were criteria registered by the developer of the subdivision and not normally a requirement of the township.
@Jenn – Thanks for all of this information! I’ve been hoping someone who’s gone through the process of building their own house could shed some light on all the technicalities. The only prefab home website where I saw the cost of land prep was Wee House and they estimated up to $120K for land prep, sewer, plumbing, electrical, permits, etc. Great to hear from someone who’s actually done it. Thanks again!
Please send me everything there is to know about this garage/apartment on this page
@David – I found this on the TuffShed website and was actually quoted a rough estimate to build it (not including a foundation.) The TuffShed rep quoted me around $28,000 but I don’t think this included the plumbing for a bathroom or kitchenette. Hope this is helpful!
I added a 12×15 ft TuffShed on to a garden shed of the same size by removing both sheds end doors and attaching them at the facing ends,the opening becoming the passage from one to the next. We framed in 3 sets of very nice sliding doors on the opposite end of the the new shed. lastly we insulated, sheet rocked the interior, added nice lighting and floor covering and the new end is nicer than the inside of my older cottage. The TS folks don’t advertise this, but they will actually do many modifications if they are reasonable, no more work or cost. After the framing,roof and siding is done, they leave and you mount the custom doors and windows you want. How and where they frame the doors and windows for instance is mostly up to the purchaser as long as its structurally sound. I think Id be happy adding a bath and galley kitchen to this studio, and eventually an upstairs sleeping loft when I re-roof the old half.
The only problem I could see is the permitting. Technically these sheds are removable up to a certain size. Its the plumbing and heat/wiring that the officials may bulk at.
At the time, about 6 years ago we put about 5000$ into this project by doing most of the work our selves, getting over run sliders, sale moldings for sills etc. also my dad was able to wire it. Now it would cost more but the main price point is determined by how much you can trade for or do yourself after the basic shell is up.
@Jennifer Gunter – Thanks for sharing your story about your garden TuffShed. It sounds like TuffShed is pretty accommodating. This might be something my husband and I look into more seriously in a few years when we make a decision to purchase property. I’d love to see photos and maybe even do a follow up story on this.
I would like to use your photo in a powerpoint presentation (for my work as an urban planner) as an example of ancillary housing in suburbia. I will also be printing hard copies of this powerpoint, only for minor circulation, not for sale or mass distribution.
Is this ok, and is the website listed on the image sufficient credit?
Thanks,
Linda
@Linda -Which photo were you thinking of using? Please let me know since I don’t own the rights to many of my photos here on this site.