Welcome to the Build Log: One Off-Grid House, Written Down as It Goes Up

Hi, I'm J.R. Graham. I'm building a two-story, roughly 1,350-square-foot off-grid house in Central Oregon, and this blog is where I write it all down as it goes up.

Where it started

When I was very young, my dad used to talk about having a cabin in the woods and living simpler. He was a carpenter by trade, and if it weren't for limited funds and the trials of life, I'm sure he would have built one. That idea stuck with me.

The real start was a conversation at one of our kids' graduation parties. Another couple told us about an off-grid community in Central Oregon. Three weekends in a row we drove out to look at dirt, and on the third trip we made an offer on a 3-acre parcel we bought with two other couples. That was 2019.

Then the pandemic hit, and that piece of dirt became a refuge. The "what if" scenarios people dream up seemed a lot less far-fetched, and being prepared started to matter more to me than it already did.

The house

The nearest power line is several miles from our house parcel, so solar with a battery is the main power. I never even asked the utility for a bid. The battery is already bought: a Walrus Atlantic, an all-in-one unit with 30 kWh of storage and a 10 kW built-in inverter. Propane is the go-to for the furnace, the cooking, and tankless hot water. Ductless mini-splits handle the cooling. Water gets hauled to a cistern, because a well is out of reach for our budget.

It's a weekend and vacation place for our family, not a full-time home. Quiet, dark skies, the fire pit, and the kids losing at cornhole, then demanding a rematch. We're building it to make more room for what’s important: family. A part-time house changes how you size almost everything, so that comes up a lot.

The house is contractor-built. I'm not a builder. I'm the owner asking a lot of questions, usually right before something I can't undo.

Why off-grid, honestly

First, there's no grid option out here. Independence is a big part of it too. A problem on a utility line fifty miles away doesn't turn your lights off.

But off-grid isn't automatically cheaper. You pay up front for what a utility would spread over decades, and you're the maintenance crew. And it isn't independence from everything. We still depend on propane deliveries, water hauling, a road trucks can drive in the winter, parts that ship from somewhere else, and the county that issues the permits. You trade one big dependency for a handful of smaller ones you manage yourself (or your contractor does).

Why write it down

I wanted the book I couldn't find, so I'm writing it as I build. Most of what I found was DIY cabins, RV setups, or vendor marketing. I had trouble finding anyone who showed a full-size, contractor-built off-grid house with real numbers.

So that's what this is: one real build, with the actual costs from my receipts, the decisions still open, and the mistakes. That includes the expensive ones from my first "start small" setup, when I ended up buying a power system twice.

I'm also using an AI assistant as a build helper. It has caught mistakes that would have cost real money. It has also been confidently wrong. I'll show you both.

What you'll find here

• Build log posts. One stage at a time: dirt, road, water, septic, plans, power, and the house itself. Each goes with a post on X, with more of the story and the real numbers.
• A free sizing calculator. Good free ones already exist. I built ours to fit part-time builds like this one. A few questions and your ZIP code give you a rough battery, solar, and inverter size. Try it here.
• A free worksheet. The Code Pinch-Point Worksheet walks you through eight things to check before you pay for house plans.
• Build updates by email. Join the list for the worksheet, and I'll send updates when there's real news. You can unsubscribe anytime.
• The book, later. The Off-Grid Build Book is being written as the house gets built. There's no date yet.

The honest fine print

This is one family's build in one place. It isn't professional advice, and it isn't a rulebook. Rules, prices, and soil differ from one piece of dirt to the next. Check with the offices that cover your dirt, and use licensed pros for electrical, propane, plumbing, and septic work.

Off-grid isn't for everyone, and I'd rather you find that out here than after you've made a purchase. If this helps you ask better questions or keeps you from paying twice, it did its job.

Next up: 3,300 feet of winter mud: building our road, and the day I doubted my own records (coming soon).