Full Cost & Tour | DIY Passive Design Home Build 2022 Small, Simple, Modern, Off-Grid 

Awesome! Sounds like a great find! Deal's like that are getting harder to find all the time. 2022 was a rough year to build a house. It's nice that material prices have come back down some. Thanks for watching and commenting! 😊🏜️

Appreciate it, thanks so much for following along! ☺️

Thanks!

Aww, thanks so much! 😊

Thanks! Yes, kitchens and bathrooms can be really expensive!

Thanks so much and best wishes on your build!

Appreciate it, thanks for joining us! 😊

Sounds really cold! Last winter living in the RV, we set the propane furnace at 45°. It kept things from freezing at night. We used an electric heater during the day which made it bearable, but it was pretty cold. Glad to be living in a nice warm house now! Thanks! ☺️

Thanks! 😊🏜️

Appreciate it, thanks for joining us! Yes, we love all of the animals out here! 🐢🦉🏜️

Thanks! 😊

Thanks! Yes, especially with the crazy prices of materials in 2022!

@@RedandAprilOff-Grid what a deal you did on kitchen. my sister had her kitchen redone like 7 years ago I think it cost her husband. lol over $30k i think it was closer to $40k lol

Thanks so much! 😊

Originally, that's what I was thinking, but decided I didn't want to hem all of them. On a side note, I like grommet curtains for windows or openings that I want to easily open and close, and pocket curtains for openings that I use briefly and want to mostly stay closed.

Thanks! Yes, there is so much planning and decisions involved! It turned out better than we expected in every way. Passive solar design is really amazing. 🌞 Maybe someday y'all will consider building and designing your own home? 😊 But, remodeling is fun too. 😉 We'll look forward to seeing your finished bathroom.

Thanks! We love how everything turned out. The insurance company is counting on $300,000, replacement value.

Thanks! The water from the roof is directed to our fruit trees. Tanks are expensive, and we have a good well.

Thanks! 😊🏜️

Thanks! It was a challenging year to build a home affordability!

Thanks so much!

Thanks so much! ❤️

Thanks so much!

Thanks for joining us! It's definitely a bit stressful doing things somewhat unconventionally. So far it's all good, and turned out better than we expected.

Thanks! It is such a comfortable house to live in! 🌞

Thanks! 😊

Thanks! 🤗

Thanks! Appreciate you joining us! 😊🏜️

@@RedandAprilOff-Grid Bet the current value of your investment close to doubled now!

It is nice to have it completely done! Thanks!

Thanks!

Thanks! We love it out here! 🧡🏜️

Thanks! Yes, we really love how all of the floors turned out. 😊🏜️

Thanks so much! 😊

Thanks, It's so nice to finally have it done! 😊

Thanks!

Thanks! We are really enjoying living here! 😊🏡🏜️

Thanks so much! Glad it was helpful! 😊

Thanks! 😊

Thanks!

Thanks so much! 😊

Thanks! Appreciate you watching, and cheering us on throughout the process! The water heater is working well on electric. We have plenty of extra solar power coming in during the day, so we might as well use it for something. 🌞

Glad it's helpful. We really love how everything turned out. 🤗

Thanks!

Thanks! We love it!

🤗

Thanks so much!

Thanks!

Thanks so much!

Thanks! 😊🏜️

Thanks!

Awesome! Thank you!

Thanks!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks!

Thanks! 😊

Thanks! Yes, it's a nice and very comfortable house. 🌞

Thank you!

Thanks! It was a rough year to build a house. Prices had gone up and we had to dealing with material shortages. Glad it's done, and we love living in it. 🙂

Thanks!

Thanks!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks! Yes this house is amazing to live in! It has nice stable temperatures and a very functional and artistic design. 😊

Thanks!

Appreciate it, thanks for joining us!

Thanks!

Thanks!

Thanks! The concrete floors are slick.so we probably need to do something about that, but otherwise we can't think of anything. Everything has worked out really well.

Thanks!

Thanks so much! Glad it worked out! 😄 Yes, I definitely would try the old cheap paint, and then if it doesn't work at least you can finally get rid of the can. Cheap paint has always worked fine for me. 😊

We have videos on how we did it. We really like how it turned out.

Thanks! Best wishes on your build! 🌞🏜️

Thanks! It all came together well, and the passive design works amazingly well. We have some decent sized mesquite trees around the house. We are watering them, and we have planted some new trees, but don't want to block our views too much. In this area a large clump of trees might make the house even more noticeable, especially from far away. 🌞

Thanks! It is working out really well. Yes, we put in a clothes line and also hang things inside to dry. So far we just run the evaporative cooler for an hour or so in the evening. It uses very little power, and is working great so far. Yeah, the old coolers can be pretty loud. Best wishes! 🌞

@@RedandAprilOff-Grid you are living my dream. i cant wait to get off grid and get something built that gets me fully self sufficient. great job. cant wait for more videos.

Thanks! Yes, here is the link to the complete playlist. 🙂🏜️ ru-vid.com/group/PLW_v9VWGwCM-02d7Wmm7amZ4w_mkIc9Rf&si=as_yq-UyPAGiYzXS

@@RedandAprilOff-Grid thank you

Thanks!! Everything came together really well, it's a very comfortable home to live in! 😊

Thanks! 😊

Glad it is helpful! The passive solar has performed much better than we expected! We thought we might need to install a wood stove, but we definitely don't need one, which is great. We use the hotspot from a cell phone for our internet. With the metal siding we don't get much reception without a booster. It's slow at times but usually does what we need it to. The desert really is a beautiful place. Best wishes on your build! 😊🏜️

Thanks!! We are in Cochise County. 🌞🏜️

Thanks! We are in Cochise County.

Appreciate it! Thanks for watching! 😊 It's doing great! We are used to not running major appliances after the sun goes down, so we probably haven't tapped into the extra power much. It's also been mostly sunny for the last few weeks. 🌞

@@RedandAprilOff-Grid I hope all goes based on yourwishes. God bless you and your family

Thanks! We are too far from power lines, and it would be very expensive to get them here.

At about 4:00 in this video, we show how much thermal bridging we are getting from the metal beams. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-M8AAIibdrUM.html A different door could be chosen, but I don't think it would make much difference in the overall temperature.

The property has an old berm along one side, and we have added a pond and swale. We have recently been hand digging more trenches and making the existing ones deeper. They are now large enough that all of the roof water soaks in near the trees and does not run off.

Thanks! 😄 It's a custom house, so it's hard to guess what it would cost to have it built. We estimate the materials would have cost about 1/3 less pre-covid. A loveseat is a sofa that seats 2. 😊

Thanks! The minimum they would let us insure it for is $300,000. So that's what the insurance company values it's replacement cost. We have always wanted to buy a big piece of land so our kids could have the option to live close by. We finally found some land we could afford that was also in an area we wanted to live. It has worked out well. 🏜️ Thanks for watching! 😊

Thanks! We guessed on a lot of things, and didn't expect it to work as well as it does. Amazingly, this house design works perfect in our area. The sun is our only heat source. We got down to 15° last night, and it was still 69° in our house by morning. Yes, any size home can be passive solar. The long side of the house with the windows need to face south, and you need the right amount of overhang to shade the south side in the summer. We put in a basic radon gas system under the floor, which also adds some air circulation under the floor. We also have bathroom fans, an evaporative cooler, and a high vent in each bedroom. We definitely don't get as much air exchange in the winter, but we do get some. The evaporative cooler vent is typically uncovered during the day. Our climate is generally dry, we get a lot of sun, and the high desert has big temperature swings from night to day, which all works great for a passive solar design home. 🌞🏜️

We are very impressed with how well the house is performing. The outside temperatures have been near or over 100° for most of the summer. Up to 106°. The hottest it has ever gotten inside our house is 88°. That was when we were out of town for a few days and had the windows closed. We run the evaporative cooler for an hour or two in the morning and an hour before we go to bed. We keep the windows closed during the day, but open a few at night. It helps a lot that the desert cools off at night. The front of the house is shaded in the summer. The sun is just starting to creep up to the windows now. The reflective insulation covering the whole house, and the thermal mass has been very effective in summer and winter keeping the temperatures stable and comfortable. 🌞🏜️

Yeah its all good. 😄

Thanks! Land around here isn't cheap, and the price has gone way up since we bought ours. Our only utility bill is propane, which is less than $15 a month. The extra land is a huge benefit too, it's great not having any close neighbors besides family. 🧡🏜️

It was pretty expensive. The soil test was $1,500, the tank and backhoe rental were also a large portion of the cost. The quote for our daughter's septic was $9,000!

@@RedandAprilOff-Grid I got a quote of $6000 install from a local contractor. I thought that was outrageous but i guess it is in the ball park

@@desertdirk1 That sounds great! Our son's quote was $13,000! His soil is caliche, and the required leach field is 275 feet, ours is only 100 feet!

Yes, the cold was a bit of a surprise to us too. We are often 15° to 20° colder at night than it is in town! It was rough living in the RV last winter! Fortunately we usually just have a couple of weeks before the monsoon rains begin where we get up over 100°, then it cools back down into the 80°s. 😎🏜️

@@RedandAprilOff-Grid you guys are great, accomplished a lot, only saw a few of your videos, not only the actual work on your well thought out home, which, yes I understand as I did it myself, a three story home, this is not about me , it is your research, and the hard editing work you have done, well - take the time to smell the coffee, look at each other , at the table and toast to each other, as you have done well for each other, make a toast, and speech to each other, as life goes by, my hat is off to the two of you, I found you guys , and learned some info on solar, as I will be doing mine in 2024 and am planning and learning now , Your channel does make a difference, and you have paid it forward, thanks to the both of you. Best wishes.

It was around $1,300 last year, so not too bad. It will probably go up some, now that the house is done. The barn structure isn't taxed much since it doesn't have a concrete foundation.