For the past five years, Aaron Monson has been spending his winters building his dream off-grid cabin in Hawaii.
Coming from Minnesota, ranked the third-coldest state in the US, this arrangement was perfect. And it all started with a two-week trip to Hawaii in 2019 for his aunt’s wedding.
“While we were there, we came across some folks that had some land next to them for sale,” Monson, 46, told Business Insider. “It wasn’t as expensive as I thought it would be in Hawaii, so we were kind of surprised.”
Once he returned from his vacation, he promptly booked another trip back to Hawaii.
“Through my conversations, I realized that it was within our budget to look for that kind of opportunity,” Monson said. “And so, I came back by myself for two weeks and just scouted all the properties for sale.”
First time buying land
Monson, who does barge work on a lake in the Minneapolis area, knew he wanted to be in a quiet area that wasn’t too hot or cold. Back in Minnesota, he lives in a rental apartment with his girlfriend.
“We are fairly reserved people. We just like to have some space between us and other folks,” Monson said. “So what I was looking for primarily was either really quiet neighbors or no neighbors at all.”
It didn’t take him long to find the right piece of land.
The three-acre plot was located in the southern part of Big Island, about six miles away from the Volcanoes National Park and 22 miles from Hilo International Airport.
All he had to do was get in contact with the listing agent, put down some earnest money to show he was serious about the purchase, and let her take care of everything else.
“It was my first time ever buying property, so I really didn’t know what to do,” he said. “I got really lucky, found the absolute perfect piece of property, and the rest is history.”
Monson closed on the sale in May 2019 and paid $16,000 for the land.
The median land sales price on Big Island was $45,000 in April, per the latest data from Luva Real Estate.
Despite having no experience in construction, Monson planned to build his own off-grid cabin from the outset to keep his costs as low as possible.
Hawaii has been facing a shortage of affordable housing in recent years: The median price of a single-family home in the state is 2.7 times the national average. Hawaiian residents also spend about $3,070 on average for monthly expenses — the highest across all states, according to a 2023 report from online-bill-payment service Doxo.
Doing it himself also meant that he had a say over how the place looked.
“I wanted to build it a certain way, which is a lot different from how most places are built,” Monson said. “There’s a 300-foot path from the road to the house, and that separation is what I really like. I like the fact that you can’t just drive a car up to my house.”
“It’s absolutely dead quiet there. Other than the birds, you don’t hear any of their signs of humans,” he continued.
Building a cabin from scratch
Monson’s first major task was clearing out the land. The rainy season in Hawaii, which occurs between October and April, didn’t help.
“We had to sludge through the mud, and it was pretty mucky out there,” he said.
Since he only had the winter months to work on his cabin, it became an ongoing challenge to keep things dry.
“We had a huge tarp that was over the entire project, and we were trying to keep that tight and keep that from filling up with water,” Monson said. “We did have a couple of mishaps. At the time it was frustrating and difficult, but it makes for good memories now.”
While Monson appreciates the remoteness of his property, he admits it was challenging to transport all the construction materials and tools he needed on-site.
Everything had to be hauled along that 300-foot path, which was, thankfully, on a downhill slope, he said.
“A lot of the materials were basically strapped to a cart and I would walk them down one cart load at a time, but gravity helped,” he said.
The first year Monson was out there, his girlfriend, his then 19-year-old son, and his son’s friend came to Hawaii to help.
“We stayed in an Airbnb for four months, and got a lot of the really hard muddy work done,” he said.
From the second year onwards, it was just Monson and his girlfriend. The two of them decided to stay in a tent on-site.
“We just wanted to be able to wake up, unzip the tent, and get to work, whereas before when we were in the Airbnb, it was a fair bit of a drive,” he said. “We realized that we could get more done just by being on premises.”
In hindsight, Monson says those were pretty tough conditions to be living in, although he didn’t feel that way back then.
“It rained like crazy. On a few nights, it got down to 45 degrees, and that was pretty cold,” he said. “But you’re excited about doing something you’d never thought you’d be doing, so a lot of the struggle is kind of lost on you.”
Finding peace in the middle of a forest
The cabin is about 90% completed so far, save for a couple of finishing touches.
It’s 20 feet by 20 feet, completely off-grid, and has a loft inside. Monson relies on a water catchment system and uses propane for the stove and the hot shower.
However, he has more projects in mind for the coming winters.
“I’ve still got two full acres to play with and hopefully many years with which to build cool stuff,” he said. “I’ve got big ideas for a tree house and maybe aerial walkways. We want to build a big greenhouse with gardens. We have a lot more fruit trees we want to plant and landscaping to do.”
He currently splits his time between Hawaii and Minnesota and plans to continue doing that until his youngest daughter — who is 16 years old — finishes high school.
“We just have our six-month lease in Minnesota, and then we pack everything up and head to Hawaii. When we get back, we get into another apartment,” he said.
His long-term plan, though, is to eventually move out to the cabin full-time, where he can be close to nature.
“The privacy, the sereneness of being in the middle of the woods and feeling like you’re the only person on earth,” Monson said. “That’s what I like most about being at the house.”
He added that he feels more at home in Hawaii.
“I hate being away from friends and family, but love being a reason for people to come visit this amazing place,” he said, adding that he’s had family over in Hawaii multiple times.
He’s also looking forward to having more time to enjoy island life. Over the past five years, he’s occasionally taken a day off to visit the beach or go snorkeling, but the bulk of his time has been dedicated to building the cabin.
“We’re not in island mode yet. We’re still in construction mode,” he said. “I’m just starting to scratch the surface. Next year I want to learn to surf, but a lot of stuff has had to wait until the majority of the work on the house is done.”
Adjusting to a slower pace of life
The pace of life in Hawaii is very different from mainland US, and that could take some time to adjust to, Monson said.
“You’ve got to be flexible with your expectations. There’s a lot to do with Hawaii time. People out there are much more relaxed,” he said. “They’re not in a hurry, but they’re also not going to act quickly when you expect them to.”
Being on an island in the middle of the ocean has made it difficult for him to get the supplies he needed for his project, too.
“It is tough because out here in Minnesota, you just expect to be able to get everything you need exactly when you want it, but it’s not like that in Hawaii,” he said. “It’s island time. You’ve got to lower your expectations on what you’re used to and don’t take it too seriously, just relax.”
And if there are people who are thinking of buying or building a home there, Monson says it’s important to respect the local Hawaiian culture.
“Respect is a very huge thing out there, especially for the land, because the land provides. And if you respect it, it’ll give you what you,” he said.
Monson said he tried his best to keep the land he bought as natural as possible.
“I didn’t cut any trees down. I made the path by hand. I didn’t use any machinery, I didn’t destroy any of the land itself,” he added.
Have you recently built or renovated your dream home? If you’ve got a story to share, get in touch with me at agoh@businessinsider.com.
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