Teen built ‘starter home’ for $1,500
Luke Thill is 13 and built his own house.
He doesn’t consider it a playhouse, and neither did those who invited him to speak Saturday at a tiny home festival in Colfax, Iowa.
The eighth-grader from Dubuque, Iowa, calls the 89square-foot structure in his parents' backyard a “starter home.”
He built it for $1,500 by cutting lawns, raising money online, gathering reclaimed materials and bartering for labor.
“I liked the minimalism,” he said. “And I wanted to have a house without a huge mortgage.”
Tiny homes less than 500 square feet have piqued the imagination of a nation fighting the American urge for more and bigger in the past decade, said Renee McLaughlin, the organizer of last weekend's TinyFest Midwest, who lives in a home that is 87 square feet, smaller than Lukes’s.
TinyFest was Luke’s first speaking engagement after gathering attention and more than 700 subscribers with his YouTube series on the build. His message at the festival was this: “I want to show kids it’s possible to build at this age.”
Luke’s dad, Greg, told him when he started the project 18 months ago that if he was going to do it there were simple rules: You raise the money. You build it. And you own it.
Greg Thill said he worked alongside his son to guide him, but that Luke learned much on his own — framing a structure and wiring, dealing with adults, making tough financial decisions and staying on budget.
“It was a chance for a kid to do something more than play video games or sports,” he said. “It teaches life lessons.”
Luke says his home, which is 5½ feet wide and 10 feet long, is made of 75% reclaimed materials, including several windows.
Inside, a small kitchen area with a counter and shelving leads to a back sitting area with a large ottoman for a couch, a flip-down table and a wallmounted TV.
A ladder leads to an upstairs loft with a mattress.
“The main purpose is to be my starter home,” he said. “I’m going to save money and expand.”