America is swept up in tiny-house fever — here's how much it'll actually cost to build one of your own

The cost of building a tiny house is about $300 per square foot, Zack Giffin, the host of the TV show "Tiny House Nation," told Apartment Therapy in 2016. Ariel Celeste Photography/Shutterstock That's more expensive than the median price per square foot of a house in the US in 2016, $101.72, per Apartment Therapy.

Ryan Fitzgerald, the owner of Raleigh Realty, told Reader's Digest you should budget at least $65,000 to build a tiny house — but others have spent way less than that. Nicolás Boullosa/Flickr Source: Reader's Digest

Deirdre Sullivan of the home-living website The Spruce interviewed seven first-time tiny-house builders. Their costs ranged from $12,000 to $35,000. ppa/Shutterstock Of course, the higher end of that range can go way up if you opt to live the tiny life in luxury. Source: The Spruce

Ryan Mitchell of the website The Tiny Life previously told Business Insider it cost about $30,000 to build his 150-square-foot tiny house, including solar panels. "Even after accounting for the cost of the house," he said, "I've saved over $100,000 going tiny." Courtesy of Ryan Mitchell Source: Business Insider

But it's possible to build a tiny house for less than $10,000. One couple told Tiny House Build that they shelled out just $8,000 to build their 24-foot-long, 8-foot-wide, 13-foot-tall house. Nicolás Boullosa/Flickr Source: Tiny House Build

And Teri Page of Homestead Honey said she built her 348-square-foot house for $8,270, though her neighbor's 120-square-foot house cost $21,200 to build. The key difference was that her neighbor hired laborers. ppa/Shutterstock Source: Homestead Honey, Realtor.com

Ultimately, the cost of building a tiny house depends on several factors, from plans and materials to location and labor. Here's what to expect. Nicolás Boullosa/Flickr

Permits: Fees for local building permits depend on where you're building but can cost as little as a few hundred to as much as thousands of dollars. Nicolás Boullosa/Flickr "Rural areas usually have more lenient laws, so choosing rural areas may save you money," Rachel Preston Prinz, who runs an architectural firm, told Reader's Digest. "But what you save here might get eaten up on connecting to the utilities' grid." Source: Realtor.com

Materials: Building materials involve everything from lumber and roofing to doors and windows. Mitchell said materials make up 80% of building costs. Nicolás Boullosa/Flickr Fitzgerald told Reader's Digest that you might be spending $25,000 on building materials, but Page said she spent only $7,800. Most tiny houses begin with a trailer. Mitchell wrote on The Tiny Life that his trailer cost $3,600, but Reader's Digest said it could cost as much as $35,000. Here's a breakdown of some key estimated costs of the actual home itself, according to The Spruce and The Tiny Life: Windows and doors: $1,000 to $6,000

Lumber: $1,000 to $10,000

Roofing: $500 to $2,000

Flooring: $300 to $2,000 Source: Realtor.com

Insulation: Mitchell recommended closed-cell spray foam, which costs about $3 per square foot for 3-inch-thick foam, and said that costs overall can range from $500 to $3,000. Paul VanDerWerf/Flickr One tiny-house owner told Realtor.com he spent $1,500 to insulate 200 square feet. Source: The Tiny Life

Electricity and plumbing: The cost depends on whether your tiny house is on or off the grid, as well as whether you hire out the labor, which is required by law in many locations. Nicolás Boullosa/Flickr Owners of tiny houses may spend about $1,000 on plumbing and $300 on wiring, while solar panels can cost about $3,500 to install, according to Realtor.com. However, Mitchell estimated that the total cost of both ranged from $750 to $3,000.

Labor: Building costs really come down to who's behind the labor. According to Mitchell, the average tiny house costs between $10,000 and $30,000 to build yourself, and twice that if you hire someone to build it for you. Nicolás Boullosa/Flickr Page said that her husband built much of their house but that her neighbor hired laborers for $15 an hour, costing a total of $7,000. Source: The Tiny Life

But you can also compromise by buying a tiny-house shell — a finished exterior with an unfinished interior — and personalizing it. A standard shell at Tiny Home Builders ranges from $27,000 for a 12-foot house to $36,000 for a 28-foot house. Lowphoto/Shutterstock That's without things like electrical wiring, plumbing, and dormers (sloped roofs that create extra space). Source: Tiny Home Builders