Budget Breakdown: A Seattle Family Builds a Rugged Cabin on a Remote Island for $41K

The first time architect Carsten Stinn and his wife, Linda, set foot on Washington’s tiny Obstruction Island, it took them 30 minutes to trek from the shore to the plot where they would eventually build a cabin. "No one had ever done anything on the site," Carsten says. "Trees had fallen left and right, there was debris everywhere, and there was no ferry service. In our family, we’re all doers, so we looked around and realized that the property was a diamond in the rough."