What it's like to build and live in a $24,000 Tiny Home

Mark Su and his girlfriend were living in British Columbia, Canada where the average sale cost for a home was well over $500,000 Canadian dollars. The cities in BC are renowned for having some of the highest rents and lowest vacancy rates anywhere in the country. Facing that reality, Mark says, “I was inspired to build a tiny house when we were living in BC. Back then we were renting and we knew we couldn’t get into the housing market in BC.”

Over the course of eight months, during the brutal Canadian winter no less, Mark hand-built his own home for under $24,000 US dollars ($30,000 Canadian dollars), which included the cost of renting out a contractor yard where the home was actually built.

Mark is a nature photographer and environmental scientist by trade but found that a minimum of experience was more than enough to build a beautiful home with his own hands. “Back then,” Mark says, “I didn’t have any carpentry experience, so I decided one day to quit my job and take on a carpentry course and that was the beginning of our tiny house journey.”

As more and more young people are drawn to the environmental and economic benefits of tiny homes, it can be inspiring to learn how other young people who do not have significant experience as builders, contractors or carpenters have been able to build their own homes. Mark graciously took the time to respond to some questions about the process of building his own tiny home on wheels.

On a sustainability level, Mark's tiny home on wheels uses only a fraction of the raw materials that would have gone into a regular-sized home. Much of the interior design work is focused on reclaimed wood, used appliances, and even finding hidden treasures at antique stores such as a seven-dollar red kitchen sink.

If you want to see more of Mark's tiny home, he has a beautiful YouTube video that takes you on an entire tour of the home.