I started to play around with the idea of building a very small and simple cabin in the forest. For how little money can a small cabin be built?
A cabin close to Trondheim, one hour drive would be perfect. We wanted wilderness and hiking areas without the disturbance of roads and traffic. The plot also should be inexpensive. We focused on two areas. Selbu and Rissa. Selbu had some kind of cheap plots, and there were also some in Rissa. I quickly realized that a lot of the money for a plot is actually paying for marketing and paper work. Can I do this myself and save money? We continued with Rissa since my wife is born there and my father has roots in Rissa.
We wanted a road close to the plot and a water close by would be nice. We looked at Google maps and found a nice water that did not have too strict regulation. It seems to be allowed to build up to 50 meter from the water. My father is an expert in ownership of land and quickly knew who the owner is. He later called the owner and he was willing to sell. They visited the plot and an agreement was made. My father wanted me to visit the plot before the decision was final. We did not visit the plot before the sumar, and it looked nice.
It took a lot of paper work to get the building permission. It was very close to being rejected. However, reading up on laws and regulations and being active probably made the small difference.
Some aspects when choosing the plot:
- Sunny (the sun rise and set was studied for different months)
- Close to a fishing water (50 meter)
- Road (that is sumar road) close to the cabin
- Nice terrain winter and sumar (skiing)
- Silent
- GSM signals (both biggest telecoms)
- TV signals
- Distance to family and friends
We don't have access to electricity and water. This reduces the cost for the plot and the building process.
