The first thing on the land and the thing that gets us living there immediately. A used travel trailer or fifth wheel, towed in and parked, serves as the legal dwelling while the Container Home Base cluster gets built at our own pace. Climate eventually ties into the Parabolic Solar Thermal plant.
- Move-in ready day one. Tows in on any drivable road, no crane, no build-out-before-you-can-live-there. Decouples moving onto the land from finishing the container build.
- Building-code exempt. An RV is a titled, registered vehicle, not a building, so it is not subject to the residential code. That exemption comes from what it legally is, not from how often it moves.
- Cheaper and roomier than expected. ~$20k buys a comfortable used fifth wheel or travel trailer with slide-outs, a real kitchen, bath, and bedroom. With the slides out the living area opens to 12-15 ft wide, wider than a container's ~7.5 ft usable.
- A keeper asset. It stays useful afterward: guest house, in-law unit for an aging parent, travel rig, or resale. A held asset, not a sunk prop.
- Towable, not a motorhome. No engine to buy or maintain. Container delivery is handled separately by crane and trailer, so the RV does not need to double as a mover.
The RV is the dwelling, the containers are accessory buildings:
- RV: sleeping and the legal residence.
- Containers: office and utility (kitchen, laundry, bath), joined by the screened porch.
No single structure has the full set of living, sleeping, eating, cooking, and sanitation, so no single container is a "dwelling unit" under the code. The RV carries the sleeping and residence function. This keeps the containers soft, accessory buildings rather than residential-code dwellings.
Keep it true. This only works because it is accurate. We genuinely sleep in the RV, and no single container is built as a complete residence. It is a description of the setup, not a story.
- Keep it titled and registered as an RV. A dead, immovable hulk can flip to an abandoned-vehicle nuisance.
- Leave it on its wheels, not bolted to a permanent foundation. Slides deploying is normal operation.
- All hookups (power, water, sewer, and the glycol heat loop) on quick-disconnects, like shore connections. Removable hookups keep it a movable RV that is plugged in, not a permanently installed structure.
Verify before buying: confirm "permanent RV residence allowed," not just "RVs allowed." The blockers are a deed covenant against RV or manufactured residence, or a standalone county ordinance capping permanent RV occupancy. This folds into the deed and CCR check we run on every parcel. Even where a county limits it to "during active construction," our cluster build is a genuine active construction project, which covers it.
- Skirt the perimeter. Looks finished, creates a dead-air buffer, and protects the tanks and lines from wind and freeze.
- Pack the underbelly with closed-cell spray foam. Encapsulates everything, forces heat up, insulates, and resists moisture. Fiberglass batt rots down there, skip it.
- Leave access panels for tank valves, sensors, and low-point drains. Do not foam over anything serviceable.
Layered, matching the solar-primary, propane-backup philosophy:
- Underfloor staple-up radiant for steady baseline comfort. PEX in aluminum heat-transfer plates against the floor underside, closed-cell foam below it so the heat goes up. Gentle, warm-floor heat.
- Hydronic fan coil off the same glycol loop for fast knockdown. Proven RV tech (Aqua-Hot, Oasis class).
- Factory propane furnace for day-one heat (works before the solar plant exists) and as permanent backup for cold snaps and cloudy stretches.
- Glycol supply and return from the plant on quick-disconnects at the skirt line.
Skip the gypcrete. The RV floor is not built for a slab's weight. Staple-up plus the fan coil gets the comfort without it.
- The RV is 12V-native out of the box: lights, water pump, furnace blower, fans, fridge. Keep its own dedicated 12V solar and battery, self-contained. Simplest, and it keeps the RV electrically independent, which reinforces both off-grid and the vehicle status.
- For the office and heavier loads, run a 48V DC bus and step down at each device. PCs (PicoPSU-class DC-DC ATX), networking (PoE or DC bricks), and monitors (12 or 19V) are all DC-native, no inverter needed. More efficient than inverting, and it stays low-voltage.
- Starlink runs nearly native off the 48V bus (the dish wants ~48-56V), router bypassed, fed straight into our own DC network. Internet is mission-critical since it carries our income, so lock it down early.
- True-AC appliances (microwave, window AC, power tools, a laser printer) go in a small outbuilding or run off an occasional plug-in inverter. Isolates the rare AC from the soft DC office.
- Day one: tow in, hook up, live there. Legal, heated (propane), powered (12V solar).
- Then: build the container cluster at our own pace with no time pressure, because we already have a home.
- As the plant comes online: the underfloor and fan coil take over the everyday heat, propane drops to backup.
Every phase stands alone. Nothing blocks the next.
- A plot (see Land Search Criteria). Tow-in access only for day one. Crane access is for the eventual cluster, not a move-in dealbreaker.
- A used travel trailer or fifth wheel, ~$20k range, slide-outs, sound structure. Bigger usable footprint than the container, kept on its wheels and titled.