Discussions

So I'm in the market to buy a home. I'm looking at acreages outside of Brandon, even visited a few but I'm just finding the houses are far too huge! I definitely don't need such a large house, I need something small. I'm looking for people's thoughts buying just the land and building a smaller home on an acreage:  
1000sqft as I believe it has to be atleast 800sqft legally(?). Minimal finishings (I can do all the cosmetic work myself). I'm also looking at using solar panels, so I don't need to be hooked up to hydro.  
 
Any thoughts? No stupid comments please, I don't care if you have nothing good to say, just move on!  
 
Thanks in advance!

A great idea but there are so many hoops to jump through it can get frustrating. Each municipality has their own regulations on what type of structure you can build or have, you have to go through the planning office get approval from them ( read and ask about all the fine print). With all the permits, fees, inspections ( hydro can cost upward of $3000.00 just to get a pole put in) sewar/water/electrical. We found it was cheaper to just buy. Good luck on your ventures though ..but seriously read the fine print with the planning department and ensure you’re 1000% able to do what you want each step of the way.

Any land close to Brandon is not cheap. 100k plus for a few acres. Going off grid with solar only in our climate is incredibly expensive. If you had a wood stove for heat, propane for hot water and cooking it might be doable.  
 
It’s not a bad idea exactly. But my guess is once you added everything up it would be less expensive to just buy a bigger house than you need.  
 
If you really don’t need much space get a park model rv and find a farmer willing to rent you a spot.

How much land do you consider an acreage? An empty piece of land is getting harder to find, unless it is a full quarter. There are a few rules for subdividing pieces off larger parcels of land, also zoning makes it harder in some areas. I know what you are saying about the large houses. I hope you find what you need.

"1000sqft as I believe it has to be atleast 800sqft legally(?)"  
 
I'm not sure where you're getting this from, but as far as I know, there are no regulations that control the minimum size of a residential dwelling. Unless, of course the RM has some sort of design control in place for minimum house sizes. Strictly speaking, the Building Code has no such requirement. If you decide to build a home that consists of one room housing your kitchen, sleeping room and laundry, that should entirely be your prerogative.  
 
If you ever need any help with regulations, don't hesitate to ask.

Virtually all municipalities, towns and citys have minimum building size for both primary and secondary buildings, its not in the Manitoba or Canadian building code, its situated in by-laws. For example in Brandon minimum dwelling size is 600 sq.ft., RM of Elton minimum dwelling size is between 400 and 600 sq.ft. depending on how the lots is zoned and setup. Normally tho the minimum size is around 600 sq.ft. no matter which municipality you are looking at building in.  
 
Most municipalities have their by-laws easily accessible online, you can normally find the minimum building and lot sizes in the residential or rural residential bulk tables within the zoning by-law. Hope this helps.  
 
Edited by dougydougdoug, 2020-02-13 14:28:10

In Brandon the minimum size varies depending on what zone you are building in, it can vary between 75m² to 18m². Essentially, that means if you live between 26th Street and 1st Street, and between Pacific and Richmond avenue, you could likely build a house that is under 200 square feet in area. Also, remember that the RM's of Cornwallis and Elton are part of the Keystone Planning district, so it's really worth calling their office to find out that number.  
 
Edited by PrimeConvoy, 2020-02-13 14:45:02

I’m referring to single family detached dwelling. Let’s not get caught up with multi family and special high density parcels, that’s not what this thread is about. For resale on a house in the country you would want atleast 800 sq.ft., I would consider the 1000 sq.ft. I nice smaller house and I agree that most new country homes are too big, especially if you want to keep your hydro bill reasonable in 10-20 years when rates will be 50-100% higher compared to now.

I have done exactly this same thing you are looking to do... Small home, acreage, solar powered..... Please pm me, and I'll give you the run down..... It's not hard to accomplish if you've got a head on your shoulders.

There is lots of options you can look at getting. a RTM house on a lot, you can get a house moved I dont know how much the moving costs but people sell houses all the time on here to be moved for pretty cheap. You can also get a mobile used or new moved onto your lot. And also remember anyway you decide to go weither its build new,rtm and etc you can save lots of money by either partially finished basement, crawl space or concrete slab instead of basement. However you didn't say money was a real problem but it does add up very fast. Good luck

We just moved to an acreage outside of Brandon, with a smaller home and the price was very reasonable. These acreages are out there, you just have to wait for them. And, you're right, most of the homes in our area are big.

...when someone says "it can't be done", "It's too expensive", "the laws are against you" and  
then have someone pops up and says "I've done it".  
 
Please give us a quick rundown. I would love to read it!  
 
Marpet

I always love topics like this, it brings out the dreamers! If anyone knows how to do it! Please give me a full rundown! Top to bottom!