Gen Xers Build an Off-Grid Cabin on a $16,000 Hawaii Plot to Escape the Winter

Once he got back from vacation, he immediately booked another trip back to Hawaii.

“Through my conversations, I realized it was within our budget to pursue this type of opportunity,” Monson said. “And so I went back on my own for two weeks and just researched all the properties for sale.”

I am buying land for the first time

Monson, who works on barges on a lake in the Minneapolis area, knew he wanted to be in a quiet area that wasn’t too hot or too cold. Back in Minnesota, he lives in a rented apartment with his girlfriend.

“We’re pretty reserved people. We just like to have a little space between us and other people,” Monson said. “So what we were primarily looking for was either really quiet neighbors or no neighbors at all.”

It didn’t take him long to find the right piece of land.

The three-acre site was located on the south side of the Big Island, about six miles from Volcanoes National Park and 22 miles from Hilo International Airport.

All he had to do was contact the listing agent, put down some earnest money to show he was serious about the purchase, and let her handle everything else.

“It was my first time buying a property so I really didn’t know what to do,” he said. “I was very lucky, found the perfect property and the rest is history.”

Monson closed on the sale in May 2019 and paid $16,000 for the land.

The median sale price of land on the Big Island was $45,000 in April, according to the latest data from Luva Real Estate.

Despite having no construction experience, Monson planned to build his own cabin off the grid from the start to keep his costs as low as possible.

Hawaii has faced a shortage of affordable housing in recent years: the average price of a single-family home in the state is 2.7 times the national average. Hawaiian residents also spend an average of $3,070 on monthly expenses — the most of any state, according to a 2023 report by online bill payment service Doxo.

By doing it himself, it also meant he had a say in how the place looked.

“I wanted to build it in a certain way, which is a lot different than the way most places are built,” Monson said. “There’s a 300-foot path from the road to the house, and that separation is what I really like. I like the fact that you can’t drive a car to my house.”

“It’s absolutely quiet there. Apart from the birds, you don’t hear any of their signs of people,” he continued.

Building a cottage from scratch

Monson’s first major task was clearing the land. Hawaii’s rainy season, which runs from October to April, didn’t help.

“We had to shovel mud through the mud and it was pretty muddy out there,” he said.

Since he only had the winter months to work on his cabin, it became a constant challenge to keep things dry.

“We had a huge tarp that was over the whole project and we tried to keep it tight and not fill with water,” Monson said. “We had a few incidents. At the time it was frustrating and difficult, but now it creates good memories.”

While Monson appreciates being away from his property, he admits it was a challenge to transport all the building materials and tools he needed to the site.

Everything had to be carried along that 300-foot path, which fortunately was on a downward slope, he said.

“A lot of the materials were basically strapped to a cart and we walked a cartload of them at a time, but gravity helped,” he said.

The first year Monson was there, his girlfriend, his then 19-year-old son and his son’s friend came to Hawaii to help.

“I stayed in an Airbnb for four months and did a lot of the hard work,” he said.

From sophomore year on, it was just Monson and his girlfriend. The two decided to stay in a tent on the spot.

“We just wanted to be able to wake up, unzip the tent and get down to business, whereas before when we were in Airbnb it was quite a drive,” he said. “We realized we could do more just by being on location.”

In retrospect, Monson says those were pretty tough conditions to live in, though it didn’t feel like it at the time.

“It rained like crazy. In a few nights, it got down to 45 degrees and it was pretty cold,” he said. “But you’re excited to do something you never thought you’d do, so a lot of the battle is kind of lost on you.”

Finding peace in the middle of a forest

The cabin is 90% complete so far, except for a few finishing touches.

It’s 20 feet by 20 feet, completely off the grid, and has a loft inside. Monson relies on a water capture system and uses propane for the stove and hot shower.

However, he has more projects in mind for the coming winters.

“I still have two whole acres to play with and hopefully many years to build cool things with,” he said. “I have big ideas for a tree house and maybe skywalks. We want to build a big greenhouse with gardens. We have a lot more fruit trees we want to plant and landscape.”

He currently splits his time between Hawaii and Minnesota and plans to do so until his youngest daughter – who is 16 – finishes high school.

“We have a six-month lease in Minnesota, then we pack up and head to Hawaii. When we come back, we go into another apartment,” he said.

His long-term plan, however, is to eventually move to the cabin full-time, where he can be close to nature.

“The privacy, the quiet of being in the middle of the woods and feeling like you’re the only person on earth,” Monson said. “That’s what I like most about being at home.”

He added that he feels more at home in Hawaii.

“I hate being away from friends and family, but I love being a reason for people to come visit this amazing place,” he said, adding that he has had family in Hawaii several times.

He is also looking forward to having more time to enjoy island life. Over the past five years, he has occasionally taken a day off to visit the beach or go snorkeling, but most of his time has been devoted to building the cabin.

“We’re not in island mode yet. We’re still in construction mode,” he said. “I’m just scratching the surface. Next year I want to learn to surf, but a lot of things had to wait until most of the work on the house was done.”

Adapting to a slower pace of life

The pace of life in Hawaii is very different from the U.S., and it might take some time to adjust, Monson said.

“You have to be flexible with your expectations. There’s a lot to do with Hawaii weather. People there are a lot more laid back,” he said. “They’re not in a hurry, but they’re also not going to act quickly when you expect them to.”

Being on an island in the middle of the ocean, it was also difficult for him to get the supplies he needed for his project.

“It’s hard because here in Minnesota you expect to be able to get everything you need exactly when you want it, but that’s not the case in Hawaii,” he said. “It’s island time. You have to lower your expectations of what you’re used to and not take it too seriously, just relax.”

And if there are people thinking about buying or building a home there, Monson says it’s important to respect the local Hawaiian culture.

“Respect is a very big thing there, especially for the land, because the land gives. And if you respect it, it will give you what you have,” he said.

Monson said he did his best to keep the land he bought as natural as possible.

“We didn’t cut down any trees. We made the path by hand. We didn’t use any machinery, we didn’t destroy anything from the land itself,” he added.

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