Results by "Ethan Wilder" in All categories

Every outbuilding on your property that isn't earning its keep is a decision waiting to be made — and most of that decision happens before a single tool comes out.Second Space is a practical, no-nonsense planning guide for anyone considering converting a barn, garage, or shed into real living...

The Off-Grid Pantry: A Practical Guide to Root Cellars, Food Storage, and Preserving Your Harvest Without Refrigeration. Your garden just gave you more food than your fridge could ever hold — and that's not a problem, it's an opportunity. For most of human history, no one had a refrigerator...

Everyone shows you the finished cabin. Almost nobody tells you what it actually took to get there — or what it feels like to live inside that decision once the photos stop being taken.Off-Grid Living Without Regret is the honest conversation nobody has with you before you buy the land. Not...

Most garages don't have a clutter problem — they have a planning problem. Tools end up wherever there was an open hook. The workbench sits wherever it happened to be unloaded. Six months later, nothing is where it should be, and a space that could work hard for you instead works against you...

Water is the one problem off-grid living can't improvise around — and most people don't think about it until it's already too late.If you're buying rural land, building a cabin, or planning a homestead, this handbook walks you through every major decision about your water supply before you're...

Choosing a house plan feels exciting — right up until you realize the layout you fell in love with doesn't fit your land, your budget, or the way you actually live.The Right Plan is a practical, no-fluff guide for anyone about to build a house, cabin, tiny home, or container home. Instead of...

Funding the Unconventional Home is the practical guide nobody hands you before you buy the land: why standard mortgages reject off-grid and rural properties on sight, which credit unions and portfolio lenders actually say yes, how land loans and construction loans really work, how appraisers value a home with no comparable sales nearby, and how to insure solar arrays, wells, septic systems, and container conversions that a standard homeowners policy won't touch.

Building a small home is exciting — until you realize the floor plan you fell in love with doesn't actually fit your land, your budget, or your daily life. The Small Home Floor Plan Guide walks you through exactly how to choose a layout before you break ground, so you don't discover the mistakes after the walls are already up. 

Choosing the wrong way to build your home can cost you tens of thousands of dollars—before you ever move in. Timber frame, SIP, ICF, modular, or shipping container? Every homeowner researching a new build eventually hits this question, and most get answers from a friend, a forum, or a contractor who only builds one way and has every reason to recommend it. Framing the Decision is the independent, side-by-side comparison nobody selling you a building system has a reason to write.

Buying a manufactured or modular home? Get the numbers, the financing rules, and the resale reality—before you sign anything. Most buyers walk into this process with outdated assumptions and an incomplete cost picture—and it costs them. Buying Smart is a clear, no-nonsense guide to what manufactured and modular homes actually cost from factory to foundation, how financing really works when a home isn't classified like a traditional house, what land and zoning decisions do to your long-term value, and what separates a home that holds its value from one that becomes a financial regret.

You already know how to plan a single container home. But the moment you add a second unit, every rule changes. Most container home resources stop at one box: cut a few windows, insulate it, hang a door. Container Stacking picks up exactly where those guides leave off, walking through the planning logic that two, three, or more connected containers actually demand, before you ever call a structural engineer or break ground.

Most small homes don't feel cramped because they're small. They feel cramped because they were never actually designed—just shrunk. Small by Design breaks down the real principles behind small-space layouts that work: how traffic flow shapes a room before a single piece of furniture goes in, how to layer three or four functions into one space without any of them fighting each other, where storage should live before you even think about buying furniture, and why two rooms with identical square footage can feel completely different depending on where the door is hung.

Ever fallen in love with a piece of land, a cabin, or a tiny home—only to hear a bank say it doesn't qualify for a normal loan? You're not imagining things, and you're not out of options. Off-Grid Financing walks you through the real, practical paths people use to buy raw land, cabins, container homes, and tiny houses without a conventional mortgage: owner financing and land contracts, rural and agricultural loan programs, credit unions that actually say yes, co-buying and land co-ops, lease-to-own deals, and construction financing for owner-builders.

You found the land. Now what? Building an A-frame cabin is one of the most rewarding projects a person can take on — but only if you go in knowing what you're doing. The wrong foundation choice. A loft that doesn't work for real people. A floor plan that looks great on paper and feels wrong to live in. These are the mistakes that cost tens of thousands of dollars and years of regret. This book was written to make sure that doesn't happen to you.

Most homeowners who want to add a backyard suite don't know where to start — so they don't start at all. Backyard Suite Blueprint changes that. Written by a construction professional for homeowners who have never built before, this plain-language guide walks you through every phase of planning an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) — from checking your zoning and setting a realistic budget to hiring a contractor, navigating permits, and becoming a landlord. No architectural jargon. No vague inspiration.

Your backyard shed is doing one job right now: storing things you rarely use. It could be doing something far more valuable. Shed to Studio is a practical, no-fluff guide to converting an existing shed into real, usable space — a quiet home office, a proper art or craft studio, a guest suite for visiting family, or even a small income-producing rental. Instead of the cost and months-long timeline of new construction, you're starting with a shell that's already standing, which means your budget goes toward what actually makes a space livable: insulation, wiring, windows, and finishes.

Most books about container homes show you the dream. This one shows you the build. Steel, Grit & Square Footage is a no-nonsense construction guide written specifically for owner-builders—people who want to design, permit, and build their own shipping container home without hiring a general contractor to manage the process for them.

You're about to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a building project — and someone just handed you a set of drawings you can't read. Most homeowners, land buyers, and self-builders find themselves in exactly this position. Architectural drawings are the single most important document in any construction project, and yet nobody teaches you how to read them. You nod. You trust. And you hope the people across the table are getting it right. Bluprints Made Simple changes that.