I abandoned my seven-bed house to build a tiny home and live off just £200-a-month… but there’s serious drawbacks
A CARPENTER has traded in his seven-bed shared house for a 16ft-long tiny home and now lives on just £200-a-month.
Isaac Pryce, 28, built his £10,000 home from scratch and parks it up on farmland near Borth in Wales – but says there are serious drawbacks.
Isaac shares his home with his girlfriend Cara Hannon, 28, but says the couple make the most of the limited space.
Their bed moves up using a winch system, revealing a comfortable sofa below.
And a gap between the trailer and the ground has been turned into storage.
Isaac told Sun Online: “You could have loads of people sleeping there but it just has one double bed that goes up on a pulley system to the ceiling and there’s a sofa underneath with storage.
“It was really fun to build. The design was tricky to get right. I used counterweights and pulleys, like a sash window.
“It’s on a trailer so it’s three feet off the ground. Under the floor we have storage. One is a metal box that doubles as a fridge in winter.”
Isaac was inspired to start working on his home two years ago, and bought a trailer for £1,000.
He had been living in a shared house near Aberystwyth, but wanted his own space.
He added: “I bought a trailer and started building off that during the winter.
“I had a big workshop in a barn on a farm. It took about a year and a half to make it liveable and I was working at the same time. I’m a carpenter so I do building and joinery.”
The tiny house is 16ft long and six-feet wide – but is more roomy than you might expect.
And it cost £10,000 to do up – with Isaac sourcing a lot of his furniture and materials from Facebook marketplace.
He said: “It’s a small space for two people and all their space. I’ve built an extension since we’ve been there so it has a glass house which made a huge difference in the winter.
“Otherwise is was all one room. It really helps to have somewhere else to go.”
The couple has been living in their tiny home since February 2022 – and say they plan to stay a while yet.
They’ve dug out a big hole and built an outhouse around it to form a compost toilet.
And they even tend to a small vegetable patch – although high winds make it tricky.
They also run off solar power so pay nothing for electricity.
The tiny home isn’t connected to mains water so the couple has to go into town to fill up their tank.
But their only bills are rent, £200-a-month, gas for their stove at £15-a-month, and phone bills – another £15-a-month.
He added: “We run off solar and off grid. We struggle to run a fridge in the winter evenings because of the lack of sun.
“But a box under the trailer works as a really good food store because it’s so cold. We have a couple of storage things under the floor.
“We felt lucky in the winter though. It was so cozy. A lot of our friends worried we were up on a windy hill.
“But I had friends in cold townhouses that were expensive to heat. We have a wood burner that is warm and cosy.”
The couple have also been living without hot water – and don’t have WiFi.
He said: “We have to download films on Netflix while in town. We can use 4g on our phones but the signal is so patchy which is difficult. Luckily neither of us work from home so we make it work.”
Next, Isaac plans to scale up his tiny home into a normal-sized dwelling.
He just needs to save up and find land to build on.