Private core · Home & Infrastructure

Home & Infrastructure

~95% of the budget and all the debt. Produces no food — it's what every other bucket stands on.

A1 What it is

Land, a basic livable house, and the utilities that make the property work. This is the one bucket that carries a mortgage — serviced by your income, not the farm. The farm shrinks even this, by erasing most of your grocery bill and (via an ag/wildlife tax valuation) most of the property tax.

A2 Line-item cost — to get onto the land, livable

Phase 1 · year 0–1
ItemCostNotes
Land — 10 acres$150,000Outer county; biggest lever, every $10k off = $10k of farm
House — 4-bed / 2-bath metal barndo, ~2,000 sf$200,000Owner-GC barndo; sealed slab + DIY finish (see below)
Well + pump + pressure tank$18,000Trinity aquifer, 200–600 ft — or a co-op/city water tap if it's at the road (see below)
Septic — aerobic system$14,000Required rural — needed for the CO; city sewer instead only where it exists (rare out here)
Electric service + trench$7,000Permanent power for the CO; you dig the trench
Gutters + downspouts$2,000Roof drainage (part of the house); feeds the later rain tanks
Driveway / culvert / pad prep$6,000Legal access + house pad; materials — you run the machine
Set-back drive + utility extension to the house$12,000~400–600 ft more gravel + buried water + electric to reach the private north core
Bucket A subtotal — required to close & get a CO~$409,000Just land + a livable, legal house. Trim toward $400k via cheaper land / owner-build.
Moved out of the home build: the perimeter cattle fence (~$10k) and rainwater tanks (~$5k) are farm setup — not required for a Certificate of Occupancy or to close the construction loan — so they're deferred to the "Site & fencing (deferred)" line. The pond, orchard, garden, animals, and the machine all wait too. Required to be on the land, livable, and legal: ~$409k (land + home).
If utilities are at the road, price the cheaper hookup. Some parcels (the Streetman lead had a water meter) have a rural water co-op — and, rarely, city sewer — at the frontage. Where they exist and you build near the front:
  • Co-op / city water tap ~$1,500–8,000 (membership + meter + short line) vs the $18k well — cheaper upfront, but a monthly bill and no independence; for a homestead with livestock + irrigation you may still want the well (or the rain tanks) anyway.
  • City sewer tap ~$3,000–10,000 where it exists vs the $14k septic — but rural parcels almost never have city sewer, so plan on septic and keep the perc test a buying condition.
Either way, the further the house sets back, the more line you pay for — building toward the front shrinks both the hookup run and the $12k set-back utility extension line above.

House build Kit + you as the GC

The plan is a metal barndominium you GC yourself — buy the steel kit/shell, sub out the licensed trades, and do the finish work yourself. The simple rectangular, standing-seam-metal barndo form was chosen to make exactly this path cheap and fast; the $200k line holds only as owner-GC.

~2,000 sf, North Texas, 2026 — the cost ladder
Path$/sf~2,000 sfWhat it covers
Kit / shell only — metal (barndo) ✓ the path$30–50$60–100kSteel frame + roof/walls erected; no slab, MEP, or interior
Kit only — panelized wood$42–85$84–170kWall/roof panels + plans; you/subs erect & finish
You as GC — barndo kit + subs + sweat$80–120$160–240kSlab, framing, MEP, finish — you manage the trades
Turnkey builder$130–200$260–400kBuilder does everything
Owner-GC saving vs turnkey~$80–120kRoughly 25–40% — the plan banks this

Kit suppliers to quote

Metal / barndominium (matches the standing-seam roof, fast dry-in): Mueller Homestead Series (Texas), Worldwide Steel. Panelized wood (appraises like a normal house): Green-R-Panel, Redstone, Zip Kit Homes. Roundup: PrefabReview — Texas kits.

What the GC role really means

The kit is only ~20–30% of the finished cost — turnkey runs 3–5× the kit price. You still sub slab, frame erection, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and septic (licensed + inspected), carry a 10–15% contingency, and the time/scheduling falls on you. Financing wants an owner-builder construction loan — Texas Farm Credit / Capital Farm Credit understand barndos + rural land. Metal needs closed-cell spray foam for the Texas heat.

Or — start from a framed shell. Texas Best (and some others) will build the shell to a studded interior — slab, steel, and the interior walls framed to your plan — then hand off, so you finish out the rest: spray foam, MEP, drywall, kitchen, baths, paint, sealed-slab floor. That finish-out runs roughly $60–120k for ~2,000 sf (less with DIY), landing the same ~$200k owner-GC number — but with the structure & framing done by a pro. See the Barndo Builders page.

Next step before trusting the $200k: get a fixed barndo-kit quote for the exact footprint from Mueller Homestead (and one more steel supplier), plus 2–3 sub bids for slab + erection. Expect a barndo to land ~$190–230k as GC. → Follow the full GC build checklist (step-by-step, with a possible-cost column).

Plans Candidate floor plans

Barndo plans that fit the target — single-story, ~2,000 sf, 4-bed. Buy the construction set, then take it to the kit supplier + subs (or a framed-shell builder).

LP-2804-C Caitlyn barndominium front elevation — white board-and-batten home with a dark standing-seam metal roof, a gabled covered front porch on timber posts, and a breezeway to a matching metal garage/shop
LP-2804-C “Caitlyn” — front elevation: a 50×10 covered porch and a breezeway to a 1,200 sf garage/shop, standing-seam metal roof, board-and-batten skin. Click to enlarge.
LP-2804-C Caitlyn floor plan — single-story with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths around an open kitchen, dining and living, a master suite with walk-in closet, a laundry/mud room, a 50x10 covered porch across the front, and a breezeway to a 29x39 garage
Floor plan — 4 bd / 3 ba single-story: open kitchen-dining-living, master suite, laundry/mud room, 50×10 front porch, breezeway to a ~29×39 garage. Click to enlarge.
PlanHeated sfBeds / bathsNotes
LP-2804-C “Caitlyn”~1,9004 bd / 3 ba · single-storyOpen concept, front porch + breezeway; attached 1,200 sf garage (can stand in for the deferred shop, or value-engineer it out). Right at the ~2,000 sf target.

Plan/construction set only — before buying, confirm it can be engineer-stamped for North-TX wind + expansive clay, and adapt the front porch toward the ~400 sf wraparound patio you want. Compare any plan against the cost ladder above.

Machine The one big tool

Pulled out of the house build on purpose: the tractor isn't part of the home — it's shared equipment that mows, clips, augers, and hauls for every bucket. Bought in Phase 1 so the site work can happen, but it's financed separately — not part of the $409k home.

ItemCostNotes
Tractor + front loader + implements$38,00035–45 hp 4WD; box blade, brush hog, post auger. Used ~$20–25k saves $13–18k (see docs/04-equipment.md)
Equipment subtotal~$38,000Financed separately — not required to close. Home $409k + machine $38k = a ~$447k platform

A3 Outbuildings, shelter & safety

The pieces a working homestead needs that the bare house + utilities don't cover — dry storage, weather protection, and (this is North Texas) a place to ride out a tornado.

ItemCostNotes
Hay & equipment pole barn — 30×40 open$14,000Keeps winter hay dry + covers the tractor/implements; can precede or replace the Phase-4 shop
Storm shelter / safe room$6,000Tornado alley — precast concrete or an in-garage reinforced room
Attached carport / garage$8,000Covered parking off the house; garage costs more
Root cellar / cold pantry$4,000Stores roots, onions, garlic, squash, canned goods — the non-freezer larder
Garden & orchard wildlife fence$4,000Against feral hogs + deer; trees are caged but the blocks need a perimeter
Fuel storage + backup generator$3,000Diesel/gas for the tractor; outage backup (or lean on later solar + battery)
Entrance gate + cattle guard$2,000At the county road; cattle guard saves opening a gate every trip
Outbuildings & safety subtotal~$41,000Animal shelters/handling are costed on the Animals page

A4 Deferred / optional adds (Phase 4)

ItemCostNotes
Workshop — 20×40 metal / pole barn$30,000–40,000Equipment + storage; build once cash allows
Solar — 8–12 kW (roof or ground-mount)$20,000–35,000Conduit roughed in at build; add array later
Optional later~$50,000–75,000Not in the ~$540k core

A5 Ongoing cost & role

Ongoing

Mortgage (the only real debt), property tax — slashed by an ag / wildlife valuation on the land, homeowner's insurance, and tractor fuel + maintenance. Utilities trend low with the well, rain tanks, and (later) solar.

Role in the system

The platform. The roof feeds rainwater to the garden and habitat; the well + buried main feed every hydrant; the tractor mows and clips for the animals and hauls for all. Spend capital here once so the other buckets can run on almost no cash.

← The Land Next: Outdoor Garden →