Build Your Own Houseboat

While I was in Lake Powell last week, my friend told me that he and his family would like to get a new houseboat. One he really liked had a pretty hefty price tag of about $1,000,000, and he couldn't really justify spending that much money on a houseboat. Even with other owners buying in, $1 million is still pretty steep. The solution, build your own boat.

(A quick google search revealed this beauty for nearly $800,000. I can only imagine what $1,000,000 will get you)
At the beginning of the week, the AC pump went out on the boat and my friend and I dove into the nether regions of the boat, and saw that the boat's construction was surprisingly simple. The boat was stick framed, with very elementary plumbing and electrical systems. This revelation caused my friend start thinking about the possibility of building his own boat, and I've ran some numbers to see if it'll make sense.

Stick built homes right now can be built by a builder for about 130$ per square foot, and given the ease of construction, and lack of regulation in building houseboats, it would be easy to say that a fully finished houseboat could probably be built for about $100 per square foot (including $30,000 for a hull). A 20 x 100 boat with two levels and top deck would probably cost $400k to finish (the pictured houseboat is roughly the same size at nearly double the price).

The difficulties involved with building your own boat most certainly develop because of a lack of information and knowledge about building houseboats, which should be mitigated by doing a little research on the internet. I've seen a handful of "how to build your own houseboat" books which would also be relatively helpful.