NewsRural / Off Grid Housing Costs

Are you considering building your house off-grid?

Or curious about the current market costs for such a project?

The dream of being completely self-reliant, sustaining your own home in the wilderness without connection fees or dependence on the system, is incredibly appealing to many.

We’ve recently completed a small off-grid weekender house build and would love to share some insights on the costs involved.

60,000 Litre Rainwater Harvesting and Storage with Filtration: 35-40K

  • Gravel Tank Pads – Machine Hire, Crusher Dust, Labour and Deliveries.
  • Kingspan Rural Tank Supply – Zincalume x 2 (20kl for fire fighting and a 15kl for water usage)
  • Additional Rainwater Goods – First flush diverter, gutter guards, leaf beaters and larger capacity. Rainwater Filters and Pump with Pump Shed

There are requirements for fire control water storage and drinking water storage for each specific off-grid house building project, so more may be required depending on your location and bushfire attack level.

rural off grid cost of rainwater tanks and shed

Wastewater Treatment – Home Sewerage Treatment Plant HSTP. 15-20K

  • Electrical Connections
  • Plumbers Connections
  • Supply and Install from Taylex of Tank and Sprayers with handover commissioning.
  • Preparation of pad for water dispersal.

Other wastewater treatment systems are available for similar pricing, however generally Taylex have the best name for rural projects in the wider Brisbane Area.

Wastewater Treatment – Home Sewerage Treatment Plant

Solar and Batteries with Generator Backup 65-75K

  • 15Kw panels
  • 10Kw Inverter
  • 25Kw Battery Storage. (Very small capacity)
  • 6.5Kva automatic switched generator to charge batteries.

To be clear, this project was a weekender without A/C and therefore didn’t require a large energy demand or storage capacity. We had a great experience with Impact Energy to supply/install solar for this off-grid house.

Solar panel and Batteries with Generator Backup cost in Brisbane

300m Long Access Road 5-7K

  • Machine Hire
  • Quarry Product Deliveries
  • Supervision
  • Other Materials – Pipe for culvert.
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Other house building costs to consider.

Total upfront investment for building an off grid house should be added to the base build price; you can expect to allocate around $150K at the lower end for a small weekender or modest home.

For larger homes, additional costs arise due to increased rainwater storage, wastewater capacity, energy demand, and material requirements.

For a typical 4-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom home with all the usual features and positioned well off the road, the budget might range between $200K to $300K to build off grid.

Travel costs, all weather site access for cranes, trucks and equipment and regional concrete supply costs are all factors to consider that will increase the base build price for regional projects.

Do you dream of living in a completely self-reliant home?

Contact our team if you have an inspiring vision, budget, and dreams for a self-sufficient, sustainable, off-grid home.

We’d love to help bring your ideas to life!

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