The Long Answer, or three (and a half) things I should have done differently.
My jaunt to build my own shelter was born first out of pragmatism, secondly out of inspiration to do better by the planet and finally (and ultimately) out of curiosity.
Could someone with no previous construction experience, through the democratisation of knowledge via the internet, learn to design and build their own shelter? The short answer is yes, and you can see some of how it turned out in the Anyone Home? video posted in November.
The long answer is yes, someone with no previous construction experience can build their own tiny house, but holy heck it comes with its challenges. I should have done some things differently.
Full disclosure before we start: I knew how to swing a hammer, I have a strong organisational background, and I had help. See end notes.
While I could burn the ear off you throughout too many pints of Guinness and still have pipe left in the tank to talk, I’ll narrow it down to the key points here (for all of our sakes):
I (probably) should have spent longer planning it
I (definitely) should have approached the work differently
I (probably) should have set a lower tolerance of acceptance
I (definitely) should be less stubborn generally
I probably should have spent longer planning it
From the day I decided to quit my job and go build a tiny house on wheels to the day I stepped into the workshop for the first time, exactly 294 days had passed, or about 9 months. The background to this was the lovely global pandemic, a busy work life of virtual events and real life shoots and two house moves, so, its not like I was solely focused throughout this period.
I’m sure if someone came to me and told me they were going to quit their job, take on a massive project, risk their life savings on said project, and that at the core of that project was a bunch of skills they had no real experience in, and that they were going to do this in 9 months’ time, I’d have called them either extremely ambitious or a complete fucking idiot. Most people called me an extremely ambitious complete fucking idiot but hey, opinions etc.
Arrogance aside, I definitely should have spent longer planning it. I should have practiced construction skills more, probably taken a construction or design course, definitely conducted some field trips to a few tiny homes and stayed in them.
The pandemic made all of this quite difficult - tiny house builders I contacted just didn’t want to know unless you were committed to buying one of their houses, and travel was essentially off the menu largely so, it was me and Johnny Google looking all sorts of shite up.
When it came to drawing the house on SketchUp, I reached a point of critical mass where I needed to stand in the space to make any more decisions and know at all what I was dealing with. I’d be a firm advocate for map-territory relation, and while SketchUp has its strengths, its still just a fag box drawing when it comes to an actual living and breathing space.
My advice to you:
Once you’ve drawn your house so many times you’re snow blind, go and stay in a tiny house. The more similar it is to the one you’re designing, the better. Bring your measuring tape and some masking or electrical tape, and draw your floorplans over theirs.
Practice by building as many things as you can. Start with projects that are low stakes, like shelves for your mate, a spice rack, this nice simple kind of craic. Move into things with hinges and brackets once you nail this, and when you’re really feeling confident, try some drawers or even some joinery. Instructables is the best online resource for this.
Take as much time as you think you need, but set yourself hard deadlines too. There will come a point where you just have to jump in, lest Parkinson’s law rule your days (more on that later).
Get good at the phone. If you speak slowly, are clear, concise and a bit sound, people can be incredibly helpful. I called a lot of companies (hardwares, trailer builders, building suppliers, electrical trade outlets etc.) looking for various odd tiny house specific implements, from storm brackets to my trailer to my boiler. Some people did not want to know, but others were curious. The curious ones were incredibly helpful and pointed me in the direction of some great solutions and ideas.
I definitely should have approached the work differently
I binged the work, I didn’t take enough days off, and when I did take days off, I didn’t really take them off. The further I psyically got from the workshop, the stronger I felt its magnetic pull, coaxing me back.
I did become a little obsessive, I did burn myself out (was always gonna happen), I did bang my head against the metaphorical and literal wall numerous, numerous times and I did turn myself into an idiot by the end via all of the above.
Could this have been avoided? Yes. But also, No. See final point.
I was used to the binge-burnout cycle from eons of working in the event industry.
Working for just myself really brought that out in a whole new way, and although I didn’t enjoy the exhaustion, I did really enjoy the work.
I didn’t look after my nutrition or my sleep well enough. I should have been eating a lot more calories and lot more of these calories should have come from protein. Unfortunately, I was surviving on a diet of mostly plain wholewheat pasta and raw veg, through sheer laziness and a lack of investment of time in meal prep. This often led to diminishing returns, where I wasn’t firing on all cylinders some days in the workshop. It was people visiting me, mainly one of my brothers and some close friends, that repeatedly talked me into taking some time out to recharge.
My advice to you:
Meal prep and make sure your meals are hitting the right macros and calories for the hours your working and the physicality of that work. Minimum 1 gram of protein per Kg of body weight, ideally 1.2 - 1.4 depending. If you can’t make the time to meal prep or fill a freezer for the build, budget to pay someone else to do it.
Don’t forget to go home. There are times when you must push on to get shit done, stay late and kick ass, and there are times to go home so you can crack into it again in the morning, fresh headed and well rested.
Share the load. Depending on your skill level, complexity of design and budget, you’re gonna need help. Lean on friends where you can. While I had some skilled and handy friends help me, I had as many completely unskilled friends with no construction skills at all help me either by sharing a meal or having the craic.
I should have set a lower tolerance of acceptance
That’s really just a superfluous way of saying ‘be happier with your own shit work’.
This is a divisive and interesting one for any amateur/numpty/prevously mentioned extremely-ambitious-complete-fucking-idiot self-building their own house. When it comes to accuracy, how good is good enough? How far wrong is still tolerable?
Is it 1mm? 1/64th of an inch? A smidgeon?
I settled on the old agreeable ‘about a hair’ for most stuff. That’s to say, that if I cut a sheet of ply, or a length of timber, or a piece of steel, and it was meant to be 1000mm wide, but it was a tiny bit more than 1000mm, if there was about a hair in it, that was fine. Any more, do it again.
I eventually lowered this level of tolerance simply because I am an amateur and if I didn’t, I would still be in Loais, presumably buried by this house by now. Part of me knows I should have lowered that tolerance earlier. Part of me regrets it. Ah the daily duality!
Ultimately, sometimes, its not about getting things done perfectly, its about getting things done. I’d never skimp or cut a corner on anything related to the weather envelope or structural integrity, but there was plenty of finish work I either put on the long finger or just did a bit of a hatchet job on.
My advice to you
The more you can practise woodworking/metalworking before your build, the better you’ll be when you get there.
Work on your intuition of knowing when to redo something, and when to settle. Compare notes with the internet - honestly, there are so many of us on here doing construction work very very sketchily. Its inspiring to see what some people can pull off and its encouraging to see how the pro’s do it.
So, I should have done a few things differently, but what was the result? Is it any good or not? My next post is gonna delve into how its been living in my self-built tiny house for the last 16 months, so stay tuned for that. Until then, be good!
End Notes
I had help.
I had 300 hours of skilled help and 150 hours of unskilled help.
The skilled help came almost exclusively from Liam Clancy and Colm Daly. Liam designed my offgrid solar system and helped me with all things electrics. He is totally self taught and I reckon a bit of a genius. He designed the system to power a village, if but a tiny one. While it hasn’t powered a village yet, it does power a neighbouring family of four and also powered a 15 hour rave, all from the sun. Isn’t that class?
Colm was a plumber by trade and has worked in events for even longer than I have. He did most of my plumbing and all of my gas work (with a RGI), as well as helping me with numerous timber work. He was an essential sounding board for my mad plans and a constant cheerleader, inspiring and encouraging me to go for it.
Unskilled labour (but hard labour none the less!) came in the form of Brian, Julie, JOH, PTown Sean, Barry, Eugene, Luke, Paul, Eoin, Anne, Colm, Tasha, Cormac, Vestor, Sheffeild Sean, and Emma, to whom I am eternally grateful.
I knew how to swing a hammer.
My dad is a handy person, there were generally tools around my house and he certainly showed me a thing or two (or ten) over the years.
That said, there is a huge jump from having tool-literacy to building your own house from scratch.
While I knew how to swing a hammer/change a lightbulb/fix a leaky tap/wire a plug, I learned more about DIY and construction in the four months building my house than I did in the 28 years up to that point.
Want to learn how to swing a hammer? We occasionally run courses as do some of our friends. Register interest here and we’ll let you know when one is coming up.
I have an organisational background.
My professional background is in event management. I’ve been creating and organising events since I was 16. I’ve managed the creative and production operations of large teams and multiple large scale events for over a decade - long story short, I’m experienced at managing large budgets, multiple suppliers, spinning a lot of plates and usually this is under pressure. This skill set was useful when it came to building my house.
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