Teen Builds Own House for $1,500. See What’s Inside His 89 Sq Ft Architectural Gem

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From the archives: This story was last updated in July 2019.

Summertime means summer vacations for kids across America. There’s nothing better than the first few weeks. No classes, no alarm going off early in the morning, no homework! But then it comes: the summer doldrums, and kids start getting bored.

But one Iowa teenager took that feeling and turned it into an inspiring project that should give hope to all those parents who want to see their kids become more self-sufficient.

Luke Thill is just an ordinary kid from Dubuque, Iowa. As a 12-year-old, he became interested in the “tiny house” movement, which promotes scaling down, getting rid of unnecessary stuff, and making the most of little spaces.

After saving up money from mowing lawns in the neighborhood, he decided that he wanted to build his own place in his parents’ backyard as a test case. As the Des Moines Register reported, Luke’s dad, Greg Thill, laid down some ground rules for the project. “You raise the money. You build it. And you own it.”

For Greg Thill, the project was an incredible opportunity for his son to learn about “life lessons,” not just about building a house. “It was a chance for a kid to do something more than play video games or sports,” Luke’s dad told the Des Moines Register.

But how did a middle-school kid get the materials and knowledge to undertake and complete such a big project? Well, he had help and guidance from his dad. But he also become resourceful and creative in finding solutions to building challenges. As the Des Moines Register noted, many materials were salvaged from his family, and he traded labor with skilled craftsmen.

“An electrician neighbor helped him wire it—if Thill cleaned out his garage. A Scout leader he knew helped him lay carpet in the loft bedroom—if he cut his lawn. He used leftover siding from his grandma’s house and a front door from his uncle’s friend.”

Bit by bit, the tiny house came together as Thill built up confidence and skills. “I wanted to show kids it’s possible to build at this age.”

Once Luke Thill finished the house, he had made a more or less self-sufficient space, just five and a half feet wide and 10 feet long. Most of the materials were salvaged, and the overall budget was an incredibly small US$1,500.

The 89-square-foot house has pretty much everything you ever wanted in your tree house, just a whole lot better. While it doesn’t have plumbing, as this would have necessitated planning permission from the city, it’s got electricity, a small kitchen with a fridge, a sitting area with a folding table, and an upstairs loft with a foam-mattress bed.

In a Facebook video tour of the house, Thill said, “I personally think it’s more comfortable than my own mattress in my bedroom.” Altogether, Thill was incredibly proud of his little house and has even been invited three years in a row to speak at Tiny Fest MidWest, an event promoting tiny-house culture around the region.

But this little guy isn’t done building yet. Since then, he has added a tiny Airstream-style teardrop trailer to his list of completed construction challenges. He even used it to go speak at the Tiny Fest MidWest meetup in Kansas, over seven hours away.

For Luke Thill, the tiny-house movement is the wave of the future, and he’s doing his part to show others how even a kid can do it. As he told the Des Moines Register, “you can save money, travel the world and do what you want instead.”