The Apache Indian tribes used different shelters and building techniques depending on their location and its climate. There were several different tribes of Apache Indians and they built different kinds of homes not only teepees.   The women were in charge of building the shelters and of packing any objects that they took with them on the travels.

Tribes in the desert area built shelters called hogans. The frames of the hogans were built from logs and sticks, using saplings to weave the roof to the rest of the Hogan. They were covered with dried earthen bricks made of mud and sticks. The mud kept the Hogan cool in the warm desert weather. Male and female dwellings were classified by the shape; a male dwelling was cone shaped and a female dwelling was six or eight sided. The door of an apache always faced the east. Hogans were permanent homes and were meant to last a while.

Another shelter the Apache built in the desert heat were called Kowas. They had a dome-shaped frame made of cottonwood or other poles; they also used small saplings to mend them to the tops of the poles. The saplings gave it the dome shape. Next they used native grasses to thatch the frame and tied them together with strings made of yucca leaves. Sometimes these Kowas were built into the side of a hill or a mound of dirt. These were meant to be permanent homes much like the hogans.

The highland tribes built the wickiup or wigwam, which was the most common Apache teepee. The women were in charge of building the shelter. The frame was made of thick branches and put into a circle and then pulled together with a yucca plant. Then they were thatched with native grasses. Wickiups were very small and were mainly used for sleeping. They were one room shelters and were typically abandoned when the tribe moved on. The Apache abandoned them due to the fact that they were made of plants and trees and materials were particularly easy to find in most of the places they traveled.

The Apache in the plains used the most common Native American teepee we hear of today, a buffalo hide teepee. These teepees were built using tall poles and logs to make a cone shape and they would leave a hole in the top so the smoke from the fire had some place to escape. Then the frame was wrapped in buffalo hide. When it came time to move on the women would then take the teepee down and pack the poles and the buffalo hide and take them to the next campsite.

Though some of the shelters the Apache used were semi-permanent due to the fact that most of the Apache tribes were nomadic, some of the shelters they built were permanent. The type of teepee they built depended on their location and what kind of weather there was.

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