Terry Herb, the fellow behind the blog containerist.com, has written an ebook called No Building Codes, A Guide to States with No Building Codes.
I bought a copy because it sounded like it might answer one of the most common questions I get from my readers… where can I build a tiny house without hassels?
Terry’s ebook provides a summary of each U.S. state and describes the possibilities available in each state. It doesn’t go down to the detail of each jurisdiction or provide first hand knowledge of each location. My guess is that level of detail would be nearly impossible to achieve without a team of researches constantly monitoring each region, so I’m not knocking Terry’s work, just setting your expectations in case you want to buy the book.
The ebook is 93 pages and costs $19.95. I personally felt like this ebook was well worth the money and will spend more time reviewing Terry’s notes and use the book to help research regions that look friendly to tiny house owner-builders. If you’re planning on building a tiny house on wheels the local codes may not apply.
I also learned that there is a free resource available called the Building Code Reference Library on the Reed Construction Data website. You might want to check the reference library for specific locations first, and use the No Building Codes ebook as a guide for general nation-wide information. – Buy Now
Publishing a list of townships or counties with liberal building codes would be quite useful.
You’re absolutely right John.
I can tell you already to avoid California as it is filled with regulations, permits and any other process to make money for the broke state, county, cities everywhere. The coastal commission and city planners require extensive expenditures of money and time to build anything – I would recommend starting at the state level, then moving down to the cities, counties and municipalities what would require the least amount of building codes.