21 Year Old’s Ingenious £5,000 Tiny Home!

This weeks episode is my absolute favourite kind. An innovative tiny house design which has been DIY built and for a budget which is truly hard to believe!

Over the past years we have seen the cost of building sore to new heights and I never thought I’d see another tiny home built for a budget even close to this! In a world where now even the majority of DIY projects can be accompanied by some huge budgets, it’s amazing to know that this is still possible!

Jack’s project was made possible by a tremendous amount of hard work though. Doing the build over a period of three years gave him a lot of time to cleverly source materials and chip away at the project. Still, he is now only 21 years old and has his very own tiny home! What an accomplishment!

We hope you enjoy this episode! You can follow Jack and his tiny house / filmmaking adventures here: https://instagram.com/jack._mckenna

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Find out more about this tiny house and others on our website: https://www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/

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Presented and Produced by: Bryce Langston
Camera: Rasa Pescud & Bryce Langston
Editing: Sarah Binder & Rasa Pescud

Title music in this video by Bryce Langston: http://www.youtube.com/brycelangston

‘Living Big in a Tiny House’ © 2023 Zyia Pictures Ltd

#tinyhouse #tinyhouseuk #tinyhousetour

imagine being only 21 years old and living in a beautiful tiny home that you built with your very own hands today here in the UK we’re about to meet a man who took that dream and turned it into his reality and all for a budget that you will not [Music] believe hey Jack how’s it going hey Bry Lov to meet you mate it’s so good to meet you and what a cool little house you’ve built here thank you very much now this one has actually been built on an Old Farm trailer hasn’t it yes that’s right so the trailer was brought at a farm auction for £60 and it was like really rusty and old and like it had one of the tires like bent over but we cut off a bunch of the stuff and we welded some new bits on and uh yeah so now we have what we have here brilliant the foundation to a super cool little house thank you very much and what was it that inspired you to build this home when I was about like 13 I saw this video online of this um guy who’ built a 1 M Square home you could like tip it over and like it would be the bed and then you tip it up and it’ be the office and so I saw that and then I wanted to build one with my dad so we built one and there is part of that house in here in the steps on the inside so that’s what inspired me and then I went on like a deep rabbit hole and I was like 13 like looking at all these videos online so like your videos and like all these other videos as well and so I took ideas from there and here and then I designed it when I was like 16 and then I brought the trailer and then got to work and then yeah and now here you are here I am that is so cool and so you built the tiny house yourself what was the process of building it like yeah it was a long process though started in I think 2020 and so yeah all throughout my three years of University I’ve been doing when I was home with my dad and my dad has been a massive help and he’s helped me do but he’s probably done more of this and than than I’ve done but yeah it’s been a fantastic project building memories together while you’re building the home as well it’s actually so special to be able to create something like this together with your dad yeah yeah 100% yeah it’s just been lovely and uh because i’ I’ve learned so much doing it as well cuz it has been very much DIY process all like the materials are like salvaged and reclaimed and given to me for free which was great so I’ve yeah not had to spend too much on it which has been amazing the most expensive thing has been the fire and that was like half the budget basically really but yeah had to use my savings for that one but yeah no it’s been it’s been great it’s been really great fun that’s incredible so how did you go about sourcing all the materials then so the hardwood came from Colchester and it came off of a car park and it was all this like bitchman paint on it it took a long time getting that up and looking how it does now but really well worth it and the palletwood uh that all comes from uh my uncle’s like pallets that were left over and then so I had to I took them all apart and then sanded them all all down so that took me a long time but yeah I think the effect is is good and what about the cladding and the doors and windows so the cladding was left over from one of my uncle’s building sites and he said you use it cuz otherwise it’s going to go to waste you know it won’t be used something like this so you know use it so so I did and uh yeah so cement fiber boards so it’s like a Hardy Plank and it’s quite tough so had to do it with the grinder and things like that so I was very dusty and quite Fed Up by the time i’ finished actually doing it but yeah it looks good I it certainly does and what size is the tiny house so the tiny house is 16 ft long by 8 ft wide great size and can you tell me about the design so I wanted to build this to look like the farm buildings that are on the farm uh to like match in with everything else so our main house where my parents live that’s got like black weatherboard on it and uh so does like The Barn at the side and The Barn at the back as well so I wanted to keep it in with that and the main house also has gray windows and doors so I wanted to keep it in keeping with that so like you know it all feels like one unit yeah you’ve done that brilliantly and I totally agree with you as well if you can match in the style of all of the buildings it just makes everything feel like it belongs together eh yeah totally and can you tell me about the property that we’re on as well cuz this place is something really special isn’t it yes yes so this is my family’s farm and since the 50s or 40s we’ve been keeping it very much in the idea of conservation and around that idea so my great-grandfather he spearheaded like conservation at the time and all the other Farmers around the area would like laugh at him uh and like why are you doing this why are you keeping it like that why you not growing crops that kind of thing so he’d be like digging out ponds and scrapes and things like that to introduce wildlife and keep things like that he had loads of red geese in his garden I always remember going around there as a kid and just seeing all these amazing like animals also being a bit terrified because geese is scary and horrible but uh and now we keep it under the stewardship scheme so wow uh we keep habitat in certain ways that they tell us to keep them in and we have loads of rare animals so we have the Lesser spotted woodpeckers been spotted here which is very rare we get snipe and things like that and uh we have a moth at the end and that’s the Essex Fisher esterine moth and that’s only can grow on like this one plant called hog fennel and so we grow that and uh it literally only reproduces on this plant and it’s crazy I don’t know how it survives but yeah that is so cool and the property is 100 acres so it’s sizable as well yeah yeah it’s a pretty decent size yeah yeah it’s really great and it looks like you’ve built a really interesting gray water system for this home as well yeah so yeah I’ve got a read bed system and it feeds from the kitchen and from the bathroom on two separate feeds it comes into a wory and then the wory the worms will eat anything that’s like nasty and horrible um the grease trap in the kitchen gets rid of any fats and things like that so that that doesn’t get introduced and clog up the system y we have two dust bins as well uh and those get fed from the wory and those contain duvet pillows shingle bark things like that and that filters out all of the nasties in the water and then those get fed into the other two beds as well and they’re all filled with reads and so the reads filter out anything nasty as well and they Ed that to grow and Thrive so yeah yeah what a great system thank you well done well from here the place just looks so good and I cannot wait to see what you’ve done on the inside can we take a look of course you can come on in thank you very much hey this place looks so good especially all that pallet wood in here really pops doesn’t it yes yeah thank you yeah a lot of hard work but it’s um paid off absolutely that is one thing about using Salvage materials is it’s so much more labor intensive a but the result is always worth it 100% yeah it definitely wouldn’t have taken me half the time if I’d been using stuff off the shelf but I’m really glad that I decided to go down this route yeah and for such a compact home it feels so spacious in here as well yeah so I designed it with like quite High ceilings so that we could do the split level kitchen with the bed underneath and so the the high ceilings were like a perk of that I feel like it makes it feel bigger because those ceilings are high absolutely and for such a compact home as well you have squeezed a lot of function into this space I’ve tried to get everything I would ever want in here so from my guitar and and you know things like that so yeah I’ve tried to get everything in and the way that you’ve done the combined bid and couch down here is brilliant thank you yeah so I designed it so that this space could be completely open and the bed could tuck all the way underneath the kitchen uh as well as the under bed storage as well and then you can have it all the way out as a double bed at night time so yeah amazing it’s just such a spatially efficient way of doing it and as you say it just makes the space feel so much more open and you don’t need to enclose any of the space with sleeping Lofts or anything like that as well yeah so I really didn’t like the idea of having a sleeping Loft I’ve slept in like bunk beds and things before and being close to the ceiling I just not for me so I wanted to have that space and when we’ve been sleeping in here we really appreciate having that like space above us it really feels big and open and Co as well because of the wood cuz of course you’re here by yourself right now but you’re soon going to be joined by your girlfriend in this home as well yeah yeah so she’s been staying with me intermittently but she will be moving in permanently after University when she University so fantastic and what does she think of the space she loves it yeah yeah I mean she’s helped me pick out the colors and things like that so she’s been a great help throughout the whole process so yeah great that’s so nice and a combined entertainment and office area here as well which is really beautifully done yeah so that was really an for me having this area so I could watch TV and things in bed um but also so I could do like my video editing and things like that so yeah it’s fantastic nice and of course you are a filmmaker aren’t you yes yeah yeah so I’ve just graduated from University I’ve uh done my Bachelor of Arts in film and moving image production and uh graduated the first class H it so yeah I was very happy congratulations that’s really cool yeah and having this is just such a cool space to be able to create from and and build on what you want to do for your career yeah yes absolutely it’s going to be a really great space to work in I think and having this View and things like that is just going to be lovely a good tonic and behind me as well we’ve got the log burner obviously here in the UK it gets pretty chilly in the winter so that’s an important thing to have yes yeah I mean it’s pretty chilly all year round true true yeah yeah so um that’s been really great and it will be great in the winter we lit it last night as well just to get it going and and uh yeah it was lovely and cozy that’s so nice and nice shelving all around here as well for books and knickknacks yeah shelving was super important cuz I do have a lot of knick-knacks and things like that and uh like my filming equipment and things like that uh especially in such a small space you need to utilize all the space you can get really and these were the sort of only walls that I could sort of do that on without it being in the way or being intrusive yeah and also just to be able to display some items show some character in the home as well yeah no absolutely and the lights in here are so cool yeah thank you so they were savag from this Mexican restaurant in cester when it was getting ripped out uh and so my dad dad saw them I was like I need those they’ll look great so we got them polished them up and they’re brass and so they look great and they reflect the light lovely yeah I love those Salvage stories and the way that you have done this kitchen is just so nice thank you very much so yeah all handbuilt by me and my dad using a lot of reclaim material again so the work surface and all the framing is all built from that hardwood that we Salvage from Colchester great and so yeah a lot of work to get it looking how it does but worth it the style is just fantastic the green tiles offset against the timber work and the way that you’ve done the timber work on all of the different angles just looks so good as well yeah thank you that did take a while I B it um but yeah worth it worth it and yeah so a lot of things are reclaimed so the doors as well they’re from our house when we ripped it out and uh readed the house there and uh yeah draw units were all handmade and things like that so yeah I love that too being able to pull things out of your childhood home and incorporate them in a new project like this and sort of embedding that family history into the space as well is really special yeah totally there’s a lot of aspects like that in here as well the round feature window up there as well you built that together with your dad didn’t you yeah yeah so that was mostly my dad but um yeah so uh we had a former and we built it around a former uh that was like flexi ply around the outside then we used that nice hardwood stuff again to build the window and then we got the glass cup especially for it brilliant and the actual flow of the kitchen just looks so nice as well you’ve got lots of prep space lots of storage and I especially like the way that you’ve done this table can you talk to me about how all this works yeah so the table works on a pivot system and you take the chairs off of the back and you can open them up and then you flip the table up and there’s a bolt that goes through and then you have a solid table to work on so you can use that to do your work or you can do prep or eating so yeah it’s great it’s such an efficient use of the space and beyond that I love the way that it also creates a kind of visual barrier of separation between the living living space in the kitchen yeah totally that was an added perk of doing it was that separation cuz I think it’s important in a tiny space to still get that definition between the spaces otherwise it all feels like one big unit and it doesn’t feel so homey I would say I completely agree and of course that’s further accentuated by stepping up into the kitchen as well yes yeah so again the height of the house was important because as you’re stepping up you don’t want to feel oppressed in the space so that high ceiling was important especially when you’re cooking and things like that you don’t want to be crouching down absolutely and have you been able to build additional storage into the stairs here as well yeah so the steps open up and you have storage in there and they pull out as well and there’s storage all the way to the back same under the bed so the bed has got all our clothes underneath and so they pull out as well and of course in the kitchen as well you’re not wanting for any appliances are you no absolutely yeah I do love my Appliance so I’ve got an air fryer toaster Kettle uh stove and fridge as well fantastic absolutely everything you need then and I love the way that you’ve got the pull out rack for the DH towels too that’s really clever yeah really really handy and it also creates a space for me to put like trays and things like that for cooking and for eating as well and I’ve also used the Deep cupboard there in the corner to have some shelving for things I’m not going to be using as much and I also keep my laundry basket and a little storage unit there as well perfect nicely done and I’m guessing through here we must have your bathroom yeah absolutely let’s take a look let’s do it again this is really nicely done the tile work in here just works so well with the palletes thank you yeah so tiles were in a clearance sale I got those for very cheap as well same with the floor in here as well and I like what you’ve done with the composting toilet here too thank you yeah so I wanted to keep it quite Sleek but I also didn’t want to have to bring the waist through the house so I put a hatch on the outside so that you can take it all out from the outside and you know service it from outside very clever and a bit of storage up there as well too that’s right yeah so we had this mirror lying around I wanted to use so I built the unit around the mirror and um so yeah we got lots of storage in there his and hers and then you’ve got the shower over here as well mhm yeah so the shower we have a reclaimed tray we brought off of a gum tree for like 15 quid and then all the shower panels and things were quite cheap as well so yeah it was good great nice compact base in there too yeah I need to keep that small so that the space feels bigger definitely and you’ve got the excess hatch up here as well what does that yeah that’s right so the access hatch is for if the water heater ever fails or anything like that we can get to it easier rather than having to go up into the Loft and do it from there so we can take it out if we needed to such a good idea and now you’ve only just finished and moved into this house haven’t you yes I literally finished it yesterday and uh yeah moved in slept in it I’ve been sleeping in it for a while but it’s good to be to have it finished and now that the space is finished you just must have such a tremendous amount of pride encapsulated in this home 100% yeah I think being able to do this with my dad it has just been an amazing project and having my family help out as well some of my granddad and things he’s helped me do the read beds and things like that and like doing any digging he loves being on a excavator so he’s he’s right in whenever there’s some Digger work to do so yeah it’s just been great family project and having everybody involved and doing things so it’s fantastic I’m very proud as you should be and how long did it take you to build this uh so the home with the trailer it took about 3 years so yeah throughout University I’ve been doing it so yeah not too bad considering I’ve done it all myself but uh yeah and you’re still only 21 years old and you own your own home now that is remarkable it’s amazing I mean when some of my friends are like still renting and things like that or like not being even able to afford it with the property Market at the moment of course it’s sort of come at quite a good time actually to have built it myself given that the situation is kind of very expensive and and you know really hard to get onto this house has taught me that I’m strong stronger than I think and that like I can do anything I I put my mind to like I didn’t know I’d be able to do this to this quality like I was saying to my dad that I’m amazed that how good it actually looks compared to like how we thought it was going to look which wasn’t like it wasn’t great in our heads but now that we built it we’re really proud of it so I think it’s taught me to be like proud of myself as well and you know really show it off to people and like you know be proud of it can we talk about the cost that was involved in building this yeah of course so throughout the project I’ve kept like a spreadsheet of all my costs and the breakdowns and everything like that so it’s cost me about 5.6k so yeah 5.6 th000 yes yeah that is absolutely incredible it is very good like that is actually a mindblowing sum to have built your own home for isn’t it oh 100% 100% And it’s going to yeah save me so much money in the long run as well what’s the trick to doing it cuz I think a lot of people would hear that and just be like that’s not even possible yeah so I mean it has taken me a long time and using Salvage materials and things like that I think you have to be patient and look for these things sometimes like the material wouldn’t be there for me but I could find it online like in a week or two so you just have to be patient and find the right thing and then when you see it online or you see it like someone tells you about it or something you just know oh I need that oh this is good I can use that here I think you just need to be clever of where you use it but I have also been very lucky in the fact that I have been given some of the material yeah absolutely and you’re so right about that because building it over the course of 3 years it has given you a lot of time to source and carefully select all of those materials yeah no absolutely and so now the home is finished what does the future hold for you now well I hope to work in filming TV I’ve just come off of a feature film uh as a second AC congratulations thank you very much yeah so we’ll see I want to work in post production but I’m unsure yeah yeah I’ll see where I end up you’ve got your whole life and a very exciting future ahead of you and I love that you have got this very beautiful home as a springboard to make all of that happen from thank you so much for sharing it with me thank you br Jack has built himself an incredible home here for the size of this home there is so much functionality that’s been built into the space and so many clever ideas poured into the design I love the fact that he built this home together with his father as well and that within the walls of this tiny house so many memories are now encapsulated and the best thing of all is that he is still so young with so much to look forward to and this house in the future can be whatever needs it to [Music] be