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This is the story of the Ruthardt family’s mortgage-free small house on a foundation.
Over four years ago, they built this beautiful 700 sq. ft. cottage on 8 acres in Oklahoma. It took them a total of 9 months to design and build it. It wasn’t long before they were living debt-free and eating healthy.
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Family’s 700 Sq. Ft. Tiny Home in Oklahoma
The first thing they did when they got their land was to build a barn. It’s a 12 x 24 x 8 barn.
The trailer was useful for clearing brush and, as you’ll see later, for going to buy construction materials. Nope, it WAS NOT used to build a tiny house on. 🙂
The little tractor we bought. Our work truck. Couldn’t have done any of this without both of these!
I was able to cut some 14′ poles out of the old barn already on our land and save some money on the new barn. They are old solid heavy poles.
First trip to Lowes
Framing the Barn
Two days we had it framed up. Casey and I.
Making sure the tractor fits!
Built with blood and sweat…
Built my own door. Turned out great. Though I should have built it to open to the inside and not open out. Ill know next time!
This was the next weekend. All done except some trim. We have a place for the tractor and 4wheelers and now a place to lock up and keep our tools.
Another trip to Lowes
Was going to fill the barn with gravel then cement it, but decided to just lay a wood floor.
2x6x12 floor joist
The Barn Finished!
Preparing Land for their Tiny Home…
Then they built their tiny cottage on a foundation (on piers recycled from telephone poles!).
Yup! They used FREE utility poles from the electric company help build their tiny house. Cool, right?
More Materials… (Lowe’s Run)
Framing the Tiny House Foundation…
Cutting my post with a chisel to set our beams on! Hard work!
Hand saw crosscuts to make chiseling easier
Turned out pretty good. But this is going to take forever.
Casey starting a post
Floor beams
Framing
So now they have just the right tool to build a good life…
A wonderful debt-free small home.
But soon, their desire to live and travel on the road as a family grew and grew…
So they started planning to hit the road and put their tiny home on the market so they can sell it and live on the road instead while homeschooling their kids and starting their own business.
Within weeks, they had over 600 people attend their open houses and they sold their small home and got this…
Now they have left corporate life and are traveling the country.
And they’re helping others who are interested in building a similar small home as theirs by working with an architect to produce plans to build their cottage so that they can offer it to others.
So in a way, their small house still lives on…
Now anyone can buy their small house plans and build a “Ruthardt Cottage.”
Ruthardt Family Cottage Plans
=> Get the plans here.
It includes the materials and framing and is all up to code.
If you’re interested, you can learn more about the plans in print or digital.
You can also follow the Ruthardt family on their website, Instagram, and Facebook.
We are a family of four who have sold everything we own, including our self built tiny homestead. We left the corperate life behind to chase our dreams to travel the country. We are biking, hiking, paddling, skating, and fishing and have started our own business along the way. We are passionate about sharing our journey with others as we go and love to help others also live their best life!
Sources
- https://www.ruthardt4adventure.com/
- https://www.instagram.com/ruthardt4adventure/
- https://www.facebook.com/ruthardt4adventure
- https://www.ruthardt4adventure.com/store/tiny-house-printed
- https://www.ruthardt4adventure.com/store/house-plans
- https://www.ruthardt4adventure.com/store
Our big thanks to the Ruthardt family for sharing!🙏
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Alex
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Perfection! I absolutely love your little home. I wouldn’t change one single thing. You guys have embraced a vision for life that is far from the norm and so inspiring. Well done!
Well done. However, travelling and hit the road is a better option when you are still capable. Settle down is better when you are aging. You have then still all memories and the good feeling that you didn’t missed much.
That’s why I would like to encourage those who want to see more than their hometown.
Beautiful home, lovely story, and so nice to see a home on foundation that is easier to live in than THOW, because of laws! I so often see interesting tiny homes that have no information for interested prospective homeowners, so I love that the family has made this home accessible to other tiny home enthusiasts.
What a lovely home. The family did a wonderful job. Just be sure to have some tornado insurance there in Tornado Alley.
Happy Life!
great house but…looking at the foundation when using nails to fasten joists is highly…wrong fundamentally they are not designed for “shear” force given I couldn’t see hangars either.
Look not trying to bash, in fact just the opposite, building a long-term residence like this is very worthy…of proper building unless I missed something?
Cheers,
I would love to have this home built on my property, as inexpensive as possible. But it has to be 900sft on the first floor by code. I’ve been over 15yrs trying to build a cottage on property that my mother helped me get. I really would appreciate your help with this matter.
Sincerely, Janette Russell.
Hi,
How do I get the plans for this tiny house?
Hi Jackie, usually their website is up and running and you can usually buy it directly from them, but at the moment it doesn’t seem to be working. I’ll see if I can get in touch with them to see if there’s a new link or something, sorry about the inconvenience!
Awsome! Where is your land? So I can look up how I could legally do something similar.