A tent is fine for a short period of time but doesn't work very well for longer periods. Tents don't lend themselves to much comfort either.

I tried a tent the other day. After a 45 mph wind blew it over and broke one of the poles, I drew up my plans for a cabin.

Tents don't work in West Texas.

Plus, I already have a generator and cooking gear. I want a permanent place to put it.

Todd,

What you are wanting to do is very do-able. 12x20 for $1k is gonna be pretty tight. But not impossible if you can scrounge some material here and there. Hit the construction surplus stores for the door(s), windows, and any other items they might have. You can get some irregular sizes for cheap at these places sometimes.

When we built the cabin I described earlier in the thread, I was on a jobsite when they were taking about 15sheets of 1/2" plywood down. They had used it to build a temporary wall. They were going to throw it all in the dumpster. I backed my truck up and they loaded it right into the bed for me. That inspired building the whole thing.

If you build it "panel" style, you are going into it for a bit more money due to the added 2x's you'll need over traditional construction. But 2x's are relatively cheap.

Anyone who says it wouldn't take the wind is just wrong. One trick is to set it up to where one corner faces south (or in the direction of the prevailing wind), not one flat wall. This helps shed the wind quite a bit. The cabin we built does have a lower wind-load than a 12x20 would, but it has take some serious storms. We thought it was going to lift off one night while we were trying to sleep. We even talked about sleeping in the truck. But it has never been damaged seriously, and it's not even tied down. I have seen plenty of travel trailers turned over after a good storm. So nothing is immune.

The only reason i haven't built a cabin is because i already own a camper.. So thought, i will be moving towards building a cabin..