I’ve at all times had a purpose of constructing $100K a 12 months off of distinctive short-term leases. I imagine that distinctive, quirky, properties are extra recession-proof, fascinating, and a very enjoyable expertise for company— and have the next ROI.
In 2020 my companion and I purchased a 1-acre piece of property for $35,000 within the mountains of Idaho.
Thought we’d construct a small trendy cabin and bumped into our first actual issue- utilities.
Utilities are very costly.
What’s a geodesic glamping dome?
A geodesic glamping dome refers to a dome-shaped tent or shelter that’s sometimes used for outside tenting and is designed with this distinctive geometric construction. These domes are comprised of light-weight, sturdy supplies and supply a singular tenting expertise with their spherical form and ample headroom.
So we set to work planning our geodome glamping website.
To provide the context of this course of, I’m going to share every section of the challenge for us.
https://airbnb.com/h/cascadedome
Section 1: Planning and Persistence
I created a whole video particularly discussing the method we used to set a funds, choices for financing a glamping website, how I ran the numbers to see if this may be a superb funding, and a number of the logistics we went by means of throughout this section.
Our challenge took us 1.5 12 months to finish, largely attributable to being snowed out, ready for engineering paperwork to come back again, and solely having the ability to construct solely weekends. Our property is 2 hours away from our home, so we spent 8 hours every weekend commuting backwards and forwards. It was a bit tiring to do that on prime of our full-time jobs, however hey– that’s what we signed up for!
Section 2: Allowing, Engineering
Our geodome wanted to take a seat on a robust, engineered basis. We initially thought the dome would sit 5-10 ft off the bottom on stilts, however we rapidly realized that the upper off the bottom you go, the dearer it turns into. We ended up working with 2 structural engineers. The primary quoted a 3-4 week turnaround time, it ended up taking 8 weeks.
Throughout the 8 weeks, you aren’t capable of transfer ahead on the challenge, which is a big bummer. That winter we reached out to a different engineer to see if there was a technique to regulate the plans to be nearer to the bottom AND a bit more economical.
These plans then wanted to be was the county for our allowing course of.
Section 3: Constructing
As a result of our lot is on a sloped mountainside, we needed to get inventive with accessibility. We opted for plenty of stairs, walkways, and decks to make the property secure to entry and appear like an journey. We even constructed a comfy firepit space nestled into huge granite boulders.
Whereas we waited for our engineering paperwork to come back again we constructed a sauna. This little sauna is superior! It has a wooden burning range, a small area to alter and important oils so as to add to the water.
My favourite characteristic is the chevron deck. I noticed this on Pinterest and tried to recreate it to the very best of my capability. It took a bit to create plans and determine the way to make it work, nevertheless it was nicely definitely worth the effort.
Section 4: Organising the geodesic dome
The geodome itself went up rapidly, however I wouldn’t say simply. We needed to construct an extra platform and insulate the heck out of it in order that it helps a bit with warmth loss. As soon as that was accomplished, the metallic body (struts) have been assembled. It took a whole lot of group with the items and a really particular order of operation for assemblying them collectively.
As soon as the body was accomplished, we have been prepared so as to add on the duvet. The quilt was very heavy and required 4-5 of us to hoist it up and over the 11 foot peak.
We opted for the insulation liner for our geodesic dome, and I can actually say that it was 100% value it. Even with the liner the dome will get very popular in the summertime and really chilly within the winter, however with out the insulation liner, the temperature swings are a lot worse. Putting in the insulation was like placing on the worst cover cowl ever.
The final piece of organising our dome was the inside. We opted for a king dimension mattress, wooden range, small eating desk, and an outsized counter/island.
Section 5: Operating the glamping enterprise
There’s so much that goes into working an Airbnb glamping enterprise. The items of working the enterprise which might be necessary for our mountain property are:
- Advertising and marketing: increase an Instagram, reaching out to native influencers, and producing our personal electronic mail listing.
- Caretaker: that is the one that is our major level of contact, eyes and ears for the property and does the turnovers in between company
- Snow upkeep: our street must be privately plowed and pathways/decks shoveled
- Visitor communication: setting correct expectation has been key for us. Our glamping dome isn’t for everybody and we do our greatest to make that clear in our itemizing description and when speaking with our company as they put together for his or her journey
- Bookkeeping: at present we use a Google Sheet to trace your entire revenue and bills, however will doubtless swap to Quickbooks in some unspecified time in the future to simplify the method
So what’s subsequent?
We’re engaged on one other distinctive property and studying the way to be the very best hosts we might be.
For those who’re within the Idaho space and want to come keep on the dome, head over to Airbnb or CascadeDome.com to study extra. ☺️
