the Barrel, Oamaru, NZ

First solo build

Challenge: From scratch 2 months from Design to Waterproof shell by myself. Labor traded for accommodation and food. Budget under 10.000$ nz.

As I drove to Oamaru for a stay of about a week, I didn’t expect I would end up building and designing my first commission built tiny house.
Sophia asked me to build a house for her mom who will be retiring in a few years and hope to have around, as she was still in Australia then.

That was an exciting project that came about very quickly as I was traveling through New Zealand.
My challenge: Design, plan and build a shell of a tiny house for less than 10k$ nz, in 2 months, by myself and out of a trade for food and accommodation.

After a good dinner and discussion about “going for it”, I went immediately on the classifieds to look for a trailer, and luckily we found this cheap 2000$nz flatdeck trailer.
It sure needed love and reinforcements but an affordable start, that tiny isn’t meant to be on the road, just be moved from one property to another on the same street, eventually. And they did! 5 years later, successfully!

Barrel roof & High ceiling

Gypsy caravan inspired, we went for a barrel roof design!

First thing with the trailer purchased was to get as much material as she could afford.
She insisted on waiting for some lumber to be recycled and reuse some good thick old corrugated metal roofing which we got to be curved by a local shop.
We did start recycling some great lumber but of local, insanely hard wood… so I ended up using it only for exposed lumber in the tiny, and convinced Sophia to get more dimensional lumber from the store, which helped a lot to stay on time and weight.

All those double pan windows were less than 100$nz down the street…. mind blowing.

Some very nice tongue and groove, with a citronella smelling specie for the ceiling that was giving the whole place a distinct lovely smell.

Mission accomplished

In 2 months, from idea to completed shell.
In less than 10.000$ nz in materials, some recycled lumber, metal, and trailer included.
Labor was a trade for two months of living accommodation and meals.