Brandon and Sarah Jones spent two months and $90,000 bringing their well-proportioned design to life, and now they couldn’t be happier. The couple constructed a tiny 360-square-foot floating house on the lake so they can live off-grid, with their monthly expenses now totaling just over $1,000. The couple revealed that their favorite part of their unique lifestyle on Lake Fontana is the peacefulness. To keep their home in place, four mooring ropes run from each corner of the structure to the mainland. The indoor spaces include a living room, a kitchen, a master bedroom, a bathroom and laundry space, and an elevated platform accessible via a ladder which doubles as a guest bedroom. Outside, the tiny home has 400 square feet of deck space for the couple to relax on and for their large dog Iko to stretch his legs. To save on building costs, the couple did most of the work themselves and they also sourced materials as cheaply as possible from sites such as Facebook Marketplace. One of Sarah’s favorite objects is the copper kitchen sink, which came with all of the fixtures for just $350. Their yearly mooring fee is $5,000, which works out to $416 a month. Other monthly expenses include $20 for the septic tank to be pumped out, $45 for gas for the washing machine and the two dinghies, $110 for their high-speed Internet service, and $36 towards a new propane cylinder. Meanwhile, a solar panel system means there's no charge for electricity. Brandon is a manager at Fontana Marina, while Sarah works for the National Park Service as a forestry technician. As for any downside to living on the lake, it would have to be no food delivery service available and rowing their dog to shore to go to the bathroom. That’s not much of a downside for all the benefits they get.
