Some people are buying shed kits or already built sheds to uses as small dwellings.

[link to www.hickorysheds.com]

There are companies like this all over the US. I would not want to put one in hurricane or tornado country, but most of them you can buy here have models that will take some decent snow loads.

You can buy them at Home Depot too.
[link to www.homedepot.com]

Tuff Sheds have some very nice models
[link to www.tuffshed.com]

Youtube has a lot of videos on these storage sheds.

We bought a kit this summer, made by a local lumber yard. It was about $2200 for a 10x20 shed, all the pieces. No windows, no man door. My husband put it up in about 3 weekends, working part time on it, then ran electrical into it. Makes a very nice storage unit. We could have got it prebuilt and delivered but there is not room for the truck, so we had to do it this way.

This is what we got for our money:

BASES ARE MADE ON 4" X 4" RUNNERS WITH 2" X 6" FLOOR JOISTS ON 16" CENTERS.
FLOORING IS 3/4" FOR SOLID FOOTING.
ATTRACTIVE ‘T1-11’ SIDING, PRIMED, READY TO PAINT.
CHOICE OF COMPOSITION OR 29GA STEEL ROOFING. SEVERAL COLOR CHOICES ARE AVAILABLE.
AVAILABLE SHED SIZES INCLUDE 4X8, 8X8, 8X12, 8X16, 8X20, 10X16 & 10X20.
SHED'S ARE AVAILABLE PRE-BUILT, KIT FORM OR CAN BE BUILT ON A LEVEL SITE BY A PROFESSIONAL INSTALLER.


My 12 year old grandson immediately saw the potential to use it for a small house, but realistically, in order to have a bathroom, you would have to butt a smaller garden shed onto a side or end.

This is a quick option for a small dwelling, if you have property where one of these sheds can be delivered, then you finish it inside.

This would probably not meet many building codes. Some places have a minimum size for a family dwelling or a mother-in-law-house.