Budget Breakdown: It Took 40 Days and $46K to Build This Tiny House in Texas

Since before the pandemic, Zach Batteer and Carlyle Scott, who are both 29 and work in tech, dreamed of creating a retreat—a gathering place for friends, family, and community to unplug, get back to basics, and spend quality time with loved ones.

"Some of our most cherished moments are experiences in nature with our closest friends and community members," says Carlyle. "We’d hosted a couple friend retreats, and we realized there weren’t many property options with private sleeping spaces and communal spaces."

In 2019, the couple decided to make their dream a reality—and they purchased a 53-acre property in Paige, a town 44 miles east of Austin, Texas. "When we bought the property, there was only a dilapidated home and three cow sheds," says Carlyle. But the natural landscape had much to offer, including lush grasslands, towering oaks, five ponds, plenty of wildlife, and wide-open sky. Inspired by the site’s natural features, Carlyle and Zach spent most of a year building an idyllic retreat, which they named Serana, and opened at the end of 2020. 

Today, the site holds a remodeled main house (where Zach and Carlyle live full-time), three tiny cabins, five canvas "glamping" tents, a bathhouse, an outdoor kitchen/dining area, an outdoor gym and yoga deck, a saltwater pool, and the recently built Field Cabin. "Toward the end of 2022, we had the idea to build a more refined accommodation," says Carlyle. "When we first started out, we had no design experience. We were excited to put our learnings into practice by designing a modern cabin that fits effortlessly with the existing structures and surrounding landscape."

Carlyle and Zach had two requirements for the Field Cabin: It had to be built in 40 days, and ideally, for no more than $80 per square foot (or about $23,000). "We wanted it to be ready in time for spring, when central Texas comes alive," says Carlyle. They hit their timing target, but not their cost goal. "We ended up being a little less than two times over budget, but the trade-off was that the team was able to get it done on-time," explains Carlyle.

In the end, it took almost six weeks and exactly $45,754 to create the tiny retreat. "We worked with a general contractor, but handled the design and purchased all the materials ourselves, which let us make decisions as we went along—although we had to make them quickly," says Carlyle. "They got the framing up in one day, and there were often eight people working on the cabin at the same time."