Haters gonna hate

Since we have decided to go the route of building our own house, we have been met with opposition from nearly everyone we talk to. Pretty much the majority of our friends and family say this is a bad idea. Most of them have the same sort of advice

"you should definitely research this before you decide to do this" We have done weeks and weeks of research prior to signing the contract for the land. We have looked up pricing for all sorts of roadblocks we are sure to encounter. Will there likely be some unexpected problems arise, I'm sure of it. But this is something that happens to ANY build, whether it be with a contract/building company or owner build.

Multiple people have told us that the "pay as you build" model isn't practical and why don't we just go get a loan. "you would qualify for the VA home loan, just go use that to build the house you want" to this I answer, the whole point of this is to build our own place debt free!

"You know, you could just buy a house, it wouldn't be too much more than what you are planning." This one blows my mind. The home we have been discussing is nearly 3000 sqft with 2.64 acres of land, which would cost less than $75k. Have you EVER seen a home on the market this size for this price... Not a new one!

"You want to build a house out of straw??? have you never heard of the 3 little pigs?!" I'm sure i'm in for years and years of this joke. But in all seriousness, Straw is nearly fireproof, earthquake proof, Tornado resistant and insulates better than nearly anything else out there.

"Indianola is REALLY far away, you aren't going to want to commute to work from there!" We thought of this as well, I currently commute 45-50 minutes from our house to work. My work is moving locations at the end of the year, at this time when we are living on the lot, my commute will be 50 minutes give or take 5 minutes.... We thought about this as well. Timed it multiple times before signing.

"Why in the world would you want to buy an old RV to stay on the lot, It's going to be really small and cramped" OF COURSE it's going to be cramped and small, it's an RV, we didn't decide to do this and not even think of the space issue. We looked up many stories and blogs of families who have given up traditional living, completely re-done an old RV to open it up and brighten it. Some have families of 4-5 (with 2-3 toddlers) living in a single RV. These people do this full time, without an end in sight. By living in an RV on the lot we eliminate our rent, as well as put us right where we need to be to get the most amount of work done in a day. Will it be small, yup! Will it be temporary? YUP! Will it be easy? Probably not, and I'm sure more than once we will complain as we bump into each other trying to cook dinner, but there will be no rent, and it will be OURS!

We are not expecting an easy couple of years ahead of us, but honestly with everything changing in our lives over the past year, it's been far from an "easy year" it would be nice to at least have a pay off at the end of a struggle. We love that our friends and family care about us, but their concern is slightly misplaced, we have thought this through. We are praying that things go the way we are planning, and if they don't... We are totally fine hearing a hundred "told you so!"

It will be worth it if it works!