Homestead (Hearthfire)

"If you're like most people, you've always dreamed of owning your own steading and building your own home. But where to start? Never fear, you hold in your hands the guide to everything you need to know. Before long, you'll be gazing complacently across your well-tended lands from the porch of your own manor house."

- The Beginner's Guide to Homesteading

A Homestead is a house that can be constructed with various materials as part of.

Stage 1: Purchase
The first step to building a homestead is to purchase one of three plots of land available and obtain a title deed from the local Jarl or their steward. The ruling Jarl is dependent on the choices made during the civil war questline.

In addition, each plot of land requires one or more quests to be completed before the Jarl will allow the sale to take place. Each plot of land cost 5000.

Stage 2: Planning and preperation
After a plot has been purchased, the building site can be visited to begin planning. A building is typically comprised of several housebuilding materials that, when combined, make up the structure of the house.

Upon arriving at the site, a Drafting Table and Carpenter's Workbench can be found nearby. The Drafting Table is used first to plan any structures to be added, and the Carpenter's Workbench is the used for the actual building of the house.

In addition, a starter chest containing 30 Clay, 1 Corundum Ingot, 6 Iron Ingot, and 30 Quarried Stone can be found by the workbench - enough to build a Small House.

Sawn Logs
The only material missing at this stage are Sawn Logs - a core material in both constructing and furnishing a homestead. Lumber can be purchased from the owner of most lumber mills throughout Skyrim. The fixed rate is 20 sawn logs for 200. It is possible to use the Saw Mill to cut lumber for free, but only if the miller's gives permission first.

Unlike other building materials, sawn logs are not added to the inventory, rather they are deliever to the building site. Here they exist as a physical object called a "Log Pile". It's possible to see how many are available by pointing the crosshair at the logs. Once the lumber has been purchased, construction can begin.

Stone and Clay
Additional Quarried Stone and Clay for future projects can be mined from nearby sources, called "Stone Quarry" and "Clay Deposit" respectively. These source can yield 4000 units each before depleting.

Iron
Iron is readily available from Blacksmiths and General Goods Merchants, or it can be mined. Typically, large amounts are needed in the construction of a homestead, meaning several trips to a merchant is required.

Stewards can be asked to have Sawn Logs, Stone and Clay delivered, but they can only be hired once the Small House has been constructed.

Stage 3: Small House
Activating the Drafting Table will allow the first basic layout to begin construction. Choosing a Small House Layout will mark a rectangular plot on the land where the house will be built.

Next, move over to the Carpenter's Workbench where the foundations and supports must be laid. The required materials include Quarried Stone, Clay and Sawn Logs. Once all the required items are in your inventory, the sections of the small house can be built.

The small house consists of 7 components that are spilt into 5 stages of construction:

Stage 4: Main Hall
Once the Small House layout is complete, the option to add a large main hall is available. Like the small house, the structure and furnishings of the Main Hall is identical no matter what location the homestead is built upon.

The main hall consists a large dining hall on the ground floor flanked by two wooden staircases. At the north side of the hall is a smaller back room where an optional cellar can be accessed. Upstairs is an open plan balcony area that leads to a master bedroom on the east side of the house and an identical second bedroom on the west side. The master bedroom can be fitted with a double bed, while the second bedroom can be furnished with two single beds that will be used by the assigned Housecarl and/or Steward.

The main hall consists of 10 components that are spilt into 7 stages of construction:

Entry Hall
After the Main Hall has been built, the initial Small House can be remodeled into an Entry Hall. This gives the option to add a different set of furnishings that are more suited to an entryway.

Stage 5: Wings
Once the Main Hall is complete, additional wings can be constructed that connect to the Main Hall. A maximum of three wings can be added, and each wing gives three possible choices. This allows for 27 possible combinations, however the choice for each wing once constructed is permanent.

Sub types
All nine wings can be grouped into one of three distinct sub-types.


 * 1) A tower with a balcony and canopy on the roof.
 * 2) A downstairs room with a second floor outdoor patio connected to the house.
 * 3) A downstairs room only with no second floor additions.

Each wing sub-type is identical to its counterparts, both inside and out, and they require the same amount of building materials to complete. For example the Library and the Enchanter's Tower are essentially the same construct, the difference being their location.

The table below illustrates what wing options are available when planning. Each wing offers three options, but only one can be chosen from each row. This means a homestead can potentially support an Enchanter's Tower, Trophy Room and Armory. It could not however support a Library, Armory and Kitchen, as these three additions are all part of the East Wing options. Despite the appearance of the sub-types being identical, their furnishing vary greatly and it's what gives them their unique function.

West Wing
The west Wing may consist of either:

Enchanter's Tower
Includes an Arcane Enchanter, several display cases and a mannequin. It also leads to a canopy on the roof.

Bedrooms
To create more living space. Includes a master bed and two children's beds, several display cases and an outdoor balcony.

Greenhouse
For growing food and alchemical ingredients. Includes satchels and chests.

North Wing
The available options for the north wing are:

Trophy Room
For flaunting difficult or memorable conquests.

Storage Room
For storing collections of items.

Alchemy Laboratory
For creating potions and poisons. It is in the form of a tower with a small room on the first and second floor, it has a small rooftop perch.

East Wing
The east wing choices are:

Library
With bookshelves for the collector.

Armory
For displaying and storing weapons and armor.

Kitchen
With a cooking spit, stove, and cupboards.

Exterior
The area surrounding the house may also be developed to include a vegetable patch, a fish hatchery, mills, an apiary (beehive), a complete set of smithing equipment, and a stable for cows and horses. † Apiary is only available for Lakeview Manor. ‡ Fish Hatchery is only available for Windstad Manor. § Mill is only available for Heljarchen Hall.

Apiary
An Apiary is a beehive enclosure that can be used to breed bees and produce honeycomb. These can be collected to use as ingredients to brew potions at an Alchemy Lab. It can only be crafted at the homestead of Lakeview Manor.

After the Apiary is crafted, bees will soon start to begin to fly around the vicinity. Honeycomb and bees can be collected by activating the Apiary, much like a container. However, removing these may prevent new bees from spawning. Replacing these items will re-start the bee spawning.

Fish Hatchery
A Fish Hatchery is a fish breeding enclosure that can be used to breed most of the fish species found in. These can be collected to use as ingredients to brew potions at an Alchemy Lab. It can only be crafted at the homestead of Windstad Manor.

Grain Mill
A Grain Mill is a workstation that can be used to produce sacks of flour from a sample of wheat. Activating the mill will begin an animation of pushing the mill and a crafting menu will appear in order to make the sacks of flour. The Grain Mill can only be crafted at the homestead of Heljarchen Hall.

Bugs

 * Display cases in houses don't accept weapons placed in them.
 * Weapons placed on weapon racks may not show up on the rack and be unobtainable. This can be fixed by loading a previous save.
 * Sometimes when you enter your house with all three wings, the stairs and second floor will not show up. This can be easily fixed by leaving the house and re-entering.
 * On a rare occasion, when you make an expansion to your house and complete it, when you enter your house the door will be there but it will exit to skyrim.
 * Sometimes when using the Carpenter's Workbench in your home it may revert to a menu of items you've already built in the room, essentially wasting your supplies. To correct this exit the menu and re-enter it, it should correct the problem.