Quitting your job so you can build a cabin deep in the woods doesn’t have to leave you penniless.
At least, that’s a message from Cabin, a new book by Patrick Hutchison, who ditched his dreary Seattle office job for life as a carpenter in Washington state’s emerald forests.
According to Hutchison, quitting as a copywriter to work with his hands hasn’t made him a millionaire, but it also didn’t lead to financial oblivion.
‘If you really want something, and you’re super committed to it, you just kind of keep banging your head against the wall trying to figure it out,’ Hutchison told DailyMail.com.
‘Eventually something will happen.’
The book details how Hutchison bought a tiny run-down cabin in the mossy conifer forests of the Cascade Mountains advertised on Craigslist.com by a local resident called Tony for $7,000 in 2012.
It was an ‘oversize doghouse’ of just 10 by 12 feet that was crawling with spiders and little more than a ‘dark, musty, disgusting hole’ with a swampy driveway and no electricity or plumbing deep in the woods.
But Hutchison eyed a way to quit copywriting and hang out with friends in the woods for weekends spent playing around with power tools and drinking bourbon.
Their first cabin project was little more than a spider-infested shack without plumbing or electricity
Sunset views of the Cascade Mountains from along the Skykomish River are breathtaking
Patrick Hutchison enlisted friends to help turn his cabin dreams into a new lifestyle
He was joined by Bryan Schatz, a California-based pal who also wanted out of his nine-to-five.
Other friends who drove into the woods for weekends of sawing, drilling, and then grilling steaks as the sun went down.
It cost about $20,000 to upgrade the rickety shack that was ultimately sold for $52,000 during the pandemic, when the value of remote properties was surging.
Given the number of days spent working in the woods, that may not be the best return on investment.
But for Hutchison and Schatz, it was a chance to learn new skills and lay the groundwork for more complicated and lucrative cabin projects.
‘Each project becomes a sort of like stepping stone to the next,’ Hutchison says.
‘The thing that we love most about him is making them, not having them.’
The next project was a plot of land near the Skykomish River bought for $3,000 in 2018 where the friends built a cabin from scratch.
It was much tougher than expected — waking at 5am for long days of slipping around in mud on the sloping plot of land, driving long distances to get lumber and tools.
Their anticipated budget for materials and tools ended up more than doubling to $60,000, and it took many months longer to complete than was planned.
This one was ‘more complete’ and included a kitchen and bathroom, says Hutchison. It ultimately sold for $115,000.
Hutchison was tired of his nine-to-five copywriting job in Seattle and wanted to work with his hands
Hutchison and his friends spent weekends working on the cabin, which is in the mossy conifer forests of the Cascade Mountains
He spent about $20,000 upgrading the rickety shack and ultimately sold it for $52,000 during the pandemic
Hutchison has written all about his cabin-building experience in a book that was published this month
Hutchison’s cabin-building partner Bryan Schatz enjoys breakfast on the deck of the newly-refurbished cabin
Their most ambitious project to date involved building a cabin from scratch on a $20,000 plot of land
This cabin is ‘more complete’ than their first effort, with a large round window that earns it the name ‘the cyclops’
The materials to build the cyclops were $100,000, but it sold this year for $320,000
Perhaps their biggest success to date has been the third effort, a more elaborate and refined cabin called the ‘Cyclops’ because of its large round window.
The land cost $20,000 and materials were $100,000, but it sold this year for $320,000.
It has been featured on Cabin Porn, a website for enthusiasts, and its current owners rent it out for $136 a night on Airbnb.
The friends are now eyeing plots of lands and hatching plans for a fourth cabin. Hutchison has land on the Olympic Peninsula he wanted to develop.
They still work regular jobs, but use their new-found carpentry skills and no longer have to toil in offices.
Hutchison builds elaborate garden treehouses for the affluent in the Pacific Northwest, Schatz makes furniture.
‘This whole thing started because we were unhappy working at a desk nine to five,’ says Hutchison.
‘We’re both now in jobs we find far more fulfilling. If I’m working, I’ve got tools in my hand, and I’m chopping up wood and building things. That was the ultimate goal.’
He adds: ‘I feel incredibly lucky to have had that opportunity and made that decision.’
