Budgeting for Projects on the Homestead

When you buy a home, no matter how many acres you have, you will be opening up the door to never ending projects. The only difference with a homestead is that your project list will double with all of the things you want to add to your property to make life more efficient - ask me how I know!

There is no way I can touch on every single budget expense, but I’m going to do my best to give you a breakdown of key homestead items that you’d likely want to implement on your homestead.

1. Chicken or Duck Coop

Chicken coops can be super cheap or super expensive depending on how you’re sourcing the materials for the coop.  If you’re using an old trampoline and just adding hardware cloth to the base, your costs are going to be substantially less than if you were to build a chicken palace with a couch in it - you laugh… I’ve seen some boujee chicken coops!

When Jason builds a chicken coop for his customers, these are the ball park prices he’s seen ranging from $500-$6,000.

A $500 coop built by someone else is going to look like a basic, small frame that will likely hold 5-6 chickens and not have any fancy features.

The $6000 coops are similar to the size of a shed with a large chicken run and can hold roughly 20 chickens.

When you’re building your own coop, the price will obviously not include labor and you need to account for the time it will take you to finalize your build.  Time is money on the homestead - where are you valuing your time makes all the difference?

2. Chicken Tractors:

Chicken tractors can fall into different price points as well.  We have three different tractor models on our property - an A frame, a hoop house, and a large-flat rectangle version. Of course the price will depend on how large you make your design and how many materials you buy new vs. recycling.

Here’s the breakdown our three tractors made with brand new materials:

A frame:

This model ran us about $1000 in materials. 

The perk of the A frame model is that it’s a heavy duty structure for the chickens to be well protected from predators and the elements. The downfall for this model is that it’s an A frame - which means you’ll likely bang your head when you’re moving around inside of it. 

Hoop House:

This model ran us about $500

The hoop house is by far the most cost effective model out of the three and we love the tall walk-in - not bump your head - feature. It’s also super light weight and easy to move around.

The fall back for this model is that it’s so dang cheap. It is very light weight and if a predator was motivated, they could absolutely wreck it. We haven’t had that happen because of where we place ours, but it’s possible and worth noting. 

Large-Flat Rectangle:

This model ran us about $1000 in materials as well.

We call this tractor the Mac daddy version of the Joel Salitin design.  Jason added a welded triangle frame to make it so easy to navigate with and the structure is very sturdy. 

The only two downfalls I see with this model is that it’s so low to the ground that you can’t walk into it and it makes getting chickens out more challenging. 

3. Milking Stanchion 

If you have a cow and you’re wanting to build a stanchion to milk her in, you’re either looking at building a head gate with a simple platform, or a complex head gate that can handle things like AI or other vet checks. 

Here’s an idea of what it you would be looking cost wise for a welded head gate like the one Jason built for us:

Materials: $200

This is just for the steel - you will also have to have a post to mount it to and someone who knows how to weld. 

If you’re wanting to add the platform to your build, you’re looking at adding an additional $500 on average. Your pricing will be affected by where you’re building it and if you’re adding to other structures to work it in in addition to height. There are many variables to consider. 

4. Gardens:

If you’re looking to start a garden, there are a few options in different price points that you can consider. 

Raised Garden Beds:

You can buy premade garden beds (like our vego garden beds), build them out of cinder block, or build them out of wood.  Once built, you’ll need to fill them with wood, fertilizer and soil. By layering your garden bed with compostable materials such as wood, leaves, and compost, you’ll be able to use less dirt and save money. 

Our raised garden beds are made out of concrete blocks and all together cost us around $3000 once built out and filled with dirt. We have 4 garden beds that are 40 feet by 4 feet in this particular area - and keep in mind that our pricing was done back in 2020 - so costs are subject to go up. 

Getting creative is your best way to save money on projects. It’s important to take into consideration if investing more on the front end is going to help you out on the back end or if you can get by with doing it a little cheaper.

Sowing directly into the ground:

This is by far your cheapest option - but you do need to take into consideration the health and quality of your soil. You’ll likely need to fertilize the area with natural options. There are also going to be a lot of weeds and grass seeds already embedded in the spoil that you’ll need to be mindful of.  Many people choose to layer cardboard, soil and mulch down to create a direct sow garden. 

5. Building a barn

Jason built our barn on the property and it was a huge undertaking. Our barn is 40x40 and if he were going to quote someone to build it again, his quote would be $25,000.

Barns come in all shapes and sizes and quotes for these builds are going to be all over the place.  Check with your local builders and see what their rates are. 

If you’re wanting to build a barn yourself, you will likely be able to access plans online - or, you can be creative like Jason and just make it up! Either way, make sure that you consider how your barn will flow with the way you build it. If you’re needing to move animals from different fields, you can build your barn gates to make for easy movement patterns.