Cabin Plans versus Cabin
Kits: Pluses and Minuses
As you begin to think about your dream
cabin, you may encounter the inevitable debate that
occurs with building nearly any structure these
days. Should you construct it from scratch following
cabin plans, buy a
pre-made cabin kit or have someone build the cabin
for you? Each form of constructing your ideal cabin
with have pros and cons.
At the bottom of the debate, you have to decide
exactly how much help you want and how comfortable
you are with building your own cabin. If you don't
have a lot of skill building things you can still be
very successful if you have knowledgeable friends or
you use a pre-fabricated kit.
Advantages:
 | You can be very economically friendly if you
use cabin plans and ultimately end up doing a
good job working from the plans. |
| Kits are more expensive to purchase but you
save some money because you build it yourself |
| Getting a person to build the cabin will
cost even more because you are paying for both
parts and labor, but you don't have to lift a
hammer. |
If you do it yourself using raw, non-finished
materials, however, you are going to end up saving a
lot of money, even if you have to redo a couple of
things because of the large price disparity between
raw materials and finished pieces
The other nice thing about building your own
cabin is the feeling you get when you finish the
project and you can enjoy your new structure.
A big part of building something like a cabin is the
feeling of pride you can have in it, and when you
have built it through your own sweat equity, every
time you use it to get away from it all you are
going to be able to enjoy it with a larger amount of
pride.
Disadvantages:
| It is more work to construct something
yourself than it is to hire someone else to do
the job. If you pick a good builder you will
also get their years of experience and knowledge
on building cabins or sheds. |
| If you purchase a kit a lot of the work is
already completed and you just need to put it
together. If you are purchasing a kit it is a
good idea to review with the store exactly what
is necessary to complete the kit. Some may have
prefab walls and some may show up with the wood
pre-cut but you still need to hammer it
together. |
If you’re in the market for a cabin, carefully
weigh the different sides of the arguments before
you make your decision. Look at the raw material
costs and the kit costs, then factor in the labor
costs. While it may be more fun to build it without
a kit, it may be a better product to work with a
kit.
This really comes down to your comfort level with
building a structure or at least the amount of
knowledge you can tap into. I build my first wooden
shed with a kit and I learned a lot on building
outdoor structures from my friends that showed up to
help. They really enjoyed helping out an almost
every year we are at someone's house building
something. The picture in the top right is a garage
that we built for a friend a few years ago.
For more information on building cabins and
sheds, please read these articles:
Log cabins make a
rustic retreat
Different sheds and
shed plans available
[more articles]
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