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A 25-year-old built a tiny house using skills learned from YouTube videos after losing his job.
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It cost him less than $6,000 and he completed the house in four months using some spare lumber.
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The small house has a kitchen, folding tables, solar panels and a mezzanine bedroom.
In the Cotswolds, a picturesque part of the English countryside, a video producer decided to build a small house in his backyard after losing his job.
He threw a Youtube channel as a side hustle to keep you afloat while you look for another job and documented the process to build his little house.
Jacob Harrell, 27, told Insider how he built the tiny house in four months for less than £5,000 (about $6,000). He is now seeking planning permission to build more and rent them out as holiday homes.
Youtube diy
Harrell says he’s always been a bit of a “doer.” He used to live on a Dutch barge, a small houseboat, and learned how to do minor repairs and improvements by watching YouTube videos.
I used to work for CNN’s Great Big Story short documentary platform making videos. For one, she built a small office in a week.
After being fired, he created a YouTube channel and decided to turn the small office into a home.
“The idea came mainly from wanting to try and start a small house rental business, as the idea was popular at the time due to the coronavirus pandemic and people wanted to go on vacations,” he said.
However, obtaining planning permission to rent it proved much more difficult than he expected.
wood recycling
“It took a week to build the framework for the office, but it was not equipped or insulated,” he said. “The frame was essentially a shed on wheels at the time. The tiny house is completely unique: I designed it and built the furniture.”
The kitchen was built from scratch, as were the table and chairs, which were made from recycled wood. The work took four months to complete. “I didn’t grow up doing DIY projects or construction work, everything I learned how to do I learned from YouTube.”
Harrell’s father donated the rear window and French doors from his old house. “I saved a lot by using the leftover wood,” he said. “I used reclaimed wood to build the tiny house, and the kitchen cabinet doors were made from leftover cedar wood. The siding and the hutch were made with some leftover planks of wood.”
It cost Harrell less than £5,000 to build his little house, all for the materials, as he did all the work himself. He does not have a bathroom, which he plans to put in a separate structure. The house has a small kitchen, folding tables, solar panels and steps to the mezzanine bedroom.
The tiny house has a woven exterior. Harrell took piles of willow and hazel wood and twisted it to mimic the curved shape of the small house, giving it an elevated appearance. “It looks right at home in its woodland setting,” he said.
Pros and cons
Harrell said the most rewarding part was being creative and learning new skills. “I am very proud of the tiny house – the process of building something with your hands is very rewarding.”
The biggest challenge for Harrell has been obtaining planning permission to convert it into a vacation rental. “That’s because there are barriers to renting out the tiny house to tourists,” she shared. “The process is complicated because I requested a change of land use for tourism and renting more than one house.”
Harrell advises anyone considering following in his footsteps to be careful: “Building a tiny house is cheaper than buying a house and it gives you freedom, but the legalities are very difficult.”
Read the original article at Business Insider