How To Build A Home For Less Than $50,000 | Indoor | Great Home Ideas

Shipping containers. They're affordable, transportable and people are coming up with inventive ways of recycling them. We've seen a few of them on the show. If you ever want to add a second story, just get another container and drop it on top. I mean, that's what they're designed to do. So we're going to show you now how to turn a shipping container into a house for under $45,000. Yep, a whole house for under $45,000. So I've come up with a simple design and we have to watch every last dollar and think outside the box for this one. Boxy, come on. Richie was sick of the city life and always dreamt of a tree change and found the perfect spot. Rolling hills, the aspect of the river, the beautiful big gum trees. I thought that's my dream home. He scraped together every last dollar to buy the land, so couldn't afford to build a house. A great temporary solution then would be a shipping container. You know, especially in the stormy weather and to have power and a toilet, you know, running water and essentials of life. He can turn his hand to just about anything and is really good at welding. And I think he's up for a challenge. Rich. Hello mate, how are you? Good mate. I always like to make friends with a man with an axe. Mate, you're after a tree change. Yes, that's right. Yeah, right. Well, you've got a magnificent site, mate. You excited about this container? I'm very excited. Siting it is so important. I've got a few spots that I want you to look at. All right, let's check out, look at the pros and the cons, eh? Oh, lovely. All right, let's go. Even though this will be a mobile home, the old chestnut about location still applies. So you want protection from the sun, but you don't want complete shade. A northerly aspect is the go. Good access to the river, but not close enough to flood. And the big one, what's the view? Rich, this is your tent? Yep, that's correct. Now, that's the first place that you pick when you first came here. I think this is a pretty good site to be putting the container. It's elevated, so we don't have the problem of the river rising. It's still on the northern side of that rocky escarpment, so we're going to get northern light, but we've got plenty of canopy. I think this site here is probably, well, I think it is the best site. Do you want to peg it out? Let's do it. Okay, come on, great. 12 metres long, we need to get this angle right. Geez, awesome. I'm excited. And here's Richie's new home. Containers come in various sizes. We're going for what they call a high container. That's three metres high, and it's a 40 footer. Make sure it's as new as possible, watertight, and hasn't been used for transporting chemicals. This one's new and costs $6,450. Now, similar prefab options start from around $30,000, but that's usually just for the shell, so our final cost for a custom fit-out home for under $45,000 is pretty good. We needed a crane to get our container into position, and that cost $250 an hour, and that's from the minute it arrives on site. So it's essential everything is perfect, and that includes the footings. It's not just an exciting project for Richie. Adam always wanted to convert one as well. Now, there comes a time where the architect has to hand the plans over to the builder to deliver the baby. Thanks, mate. No pressure there. Good luck. I'm looking forward to working with you on this one. Don't mess it up. She'll be right, mate. She'll be right. Ring me if there's any problems, will you? No problem, mate. So the plan is to have the bedroom at one end with a living area and kitchen in the middle. A wall at the other end will separate the bathroom. On the outside, there'll be a deck to double the living area covered by a pergola, and Jason will landscape, add a fire pit, and plant climbers to soften the look of the container. You've got to be excited, don't you, mate? I'm very excited. Can't wait. So this is going to be your deck, Richie. Yep. And I'll tell you, it is a decent size, mate. And the scenery isn't too bad either. Well, it's a little bit chilly this morning. Now, the best thing about this, Richie, is everything's temporary. The shipping container, we can unbolt it. You can take it wherever you like. And the deck is going to be exactly the same. We're not going to be digging holes in the ground, putting posts in. We're using these handy blocks. You just level the ground, sit them in place, put the posts in, and it supports our subfloor. That's handy. That's very easy, mate. It's a quick system, isn't it? Oh, it's fantastic, Richard. You all right, mate? Yep. And with views like this, a large deck is a must for outdoor living. That is huge. It's a good open space, isn't it? Fantastic. There's only one problem. You can't see that beautiful deck we just built. So there's only one thing to do, mate. We'll start marking out where the doors go, the windows. Let's bring that view in here. Lovely. You all right? Yep, perfect. This is going to be huge. It's exciting. You can do the honours and cut it out. Can't wait. Stay tuned to see how this turns out a little later. This could be a total disaster, you know. What could possibly go wrong? We're building a home for Richard out of one single shipping container. And lucky for me, he's got some useful skills on offer. I've been working with metal since I was 14. Steel work, blacksmithing, forging, welding. Which is great because there's a lot of work with two doors and four windows to cut out. Hello, mate. Hello. I've got my first window. How good is that? Ah, the serenity. I think Richie is a man possessed. While Richard's inside doing all my dirty work, the cutouts, I'll get on to making these windows. They're standard size windows that you can get off the shelf from Bunnings. Aluminium, double glazed. And double glazing is really going to help with insulation. But the best part about them is, with these joining strips, you can make them as wide or as high as you like. So you'll never have to get custom-made windows again. Now my window's made, I'm just attaching a timber reveal, which will allow me to fix it in place. It finishes it off nice. And just like that, we've got a custom window. Looks beautiful. Richie's also pre-made the steel window seals. It fits like a glove. Beautiful, mate. I tell you what, he's good. He is good. And remember, fight the urge to look at someone welding. It could blind you. Pete's clever design of angled windows not only gives you more shelf space on the inside, it also frames the view. I'm hoping this is going to fit. About the same. How are you looking? Good, mate. Are you? Oh, look at that. That is magic. Looks good, doesn't it? The measurements work. Beauty. That is awesome. I'm glad that fits. You're my babe. A bit of pressure. We've attached timber studs to the steel wall frame, ready to take the line in. But next, it's the deck. Nice colour. You like it? I love it. That's good. And no maintenance. So you don't have to paint it at all? No, no painting, mate. This is it. Yep, the EcoDeck is a composite of bamboo and plastic. But the best bit is, by using this tool to hide the fixings, you get a seamless look. That's awesome. For the ceiling in the shipping container, I'm basically making up a modular system. So I've got to make a standard frame and I'm going to clad one side with plywood, which will give it that real architectural feel. And then just pack it with insulation bats. Then I've got two angle brackets on the sidewall and it's as easy as just sliding them in place. Look at that, mate. That is awesome. And to create a shadow line, I've simply just painted some pine. I'm putting it on the edge and then the next panel, we'll just butt up against it. This is going to look great. At the other end of the container, we're putting in the only internal wall that will separate the bathroom. Righto. Then it's more insulation. Because we don't have much space in here, instead of building a timber frame where it would take up 70mm or 90mm, I've connected the studs directly to the shipping container. I then put the insulation in, then our timber battens. So that way we're not taking up as much room and our plasterboard can go directly on this. And next morning, when the plaster's dry, the walls are ready for a sand and a seal. And to give it a perfect finish around our fancy angled windows, we're using a flexible sealer. The views here are absolutely spectacular. Yeah, I'm very lucky. You are, but it's definitely not tools down yet. We have plenty of work to do to finish this house and we've got to get Jason here to work his magic. I'm looking forward to Jason coming for the garden. It'll be good. There's all sorts of modular homes. A kit home the size of our shipping container will set you back roughly $30,000, but that's before fittings, electrics, all plumbing. All up, including the custom fit-out, our shipping container is going to cost around $45,000. Speaking of fit-out, we're ready for the floor. Just putting down a timber floating floor. It's a great way to dress up any room on a budget, not just a shipping container. The beauty about this flooring is it has tongue and groove ends as well as the two faces. So the off-cut of this piece will be the start of the next row, which means minimal wastage. A bit more, mate. Yep. Hidden storage is the key to any small house or apartment. Ready? Yep. To keep costs down, I'm using standard off-the-shelf caboodle cabinets, but in a very clever way. Not only will this hide all of Richard's mess, but as you can see, it divides the bedroom from the kitchen. So there's no wall required. And for the kitchen, it's more cabinets. I love how it frames the area and turns the window into a splashback. For the benchtops, we're using form ply. And it's a good budget way to get a benchtop. And also, the good thing here is the edge matches with our ceiling, but you want to make sure that you seal it. And also, we get extra bench space because we're pushing it into our window box. You like it, Richie? Love it. Next day, we finish off the kitchen cabinets and get the appliances in. Beautiful. Bit of a chalkboard, mate. Yeah, I painted it up because it's an old fridge, so it goes in with the rest of the kitchen. Perfect. Our spark has been back to connect the lighting, and things are beginning to look pretty sharp. For the cladding in the bathroom, I'm using Vistel Sheeting. Now, this is a great product. You can use it as a splashback in a kitchen or as wall panels in your bathroom instead of tiles. The best part about this is it's a lot cheaper than glass and gives you the same look, and it's very easy to work with. Simply give it a quick sand to help it key in, then stick on some double-sided tape and apply silicone. The tape will hold it while the silicone sets. And it's as easy as that to get this paneling on the wall. Every house needs its own, but this one's a little bit special. It's environmentally friendly. There's no water required, so you won't need a plumber, which means you can pretty much put it anywhere. And with all this cutting-edge design, the only thing it won't do is put the toilet seat down for you. I think Richie's going to struggle. We're pairing along with our container house for $45,000. We've already built the deck, and now it's time to cover it with a simple pergola. Send her up, Richie. Yeah, mate. It's coming. Got it? Yeah, mate. And we're going with Zincaloon Sheeting, which is the cheapest metal option, because remember, we've got to keep our total build cost under $45,000. Lucky last sheet. Beautiful, mate. It's looking great. Hey, Jase. How are you? How's it going? Jason, how are you? Nice to meet you. Excellent. I love what you've done with the place. It's good, isn't it? Good. I'm glad you're up that ladder. I need two bolts put in here, because what was your firewood is going to be a fantastic screen, sculpture, even call it an artwork, if you like. Beautiful. Well, there's a drill. And we'll catch you later. There's your bolt. We're finished, mate. Oh, you've taught him well. Now, a little artwork's got a fair bit of weight to it. It's probably about 60 or 70 kilos. So attaching it to a big, strong beam, and I'm using a big, strong eyelet. Boys, as much as I don't want to ask, as much as you don't want to help, I need you to lift this up for me while I tie it off. A bit heavy? Yeah. I might take my time tying these knots. Come on, mate. Look at those cannons, boys. Take your time. Yeah, don't worry, I will. All right, boys, what do you think? I like it. Looks good. Well, I've got a garden to build. Now, I love the idea of a shipping container, but the only problem is 40 foot of stark white, staring at an environment like that, is too much for anyone. So I'm going to cover a little bit up. I'm going to plant up to it, and I'm going to grow on it. I can understand if you're not really a plant person, that you walk past that in the nursery, and you just think it's a dead stick. But it's called Boston Ivy, and it's worth the investment. You're going to get fantastic autumn colour, every colour in the rainbow. That means it's deciduous, the leaves fall off it. This wall can bake in the sun in winter to be nice and warm. Then in summer, you get all this lush green foliage, looks fantastic, and it protects the wall, which keeps the inside cool. For the veranda, a climber will frame the entrance nicely, and that's what the trellis is for. We've got some Rio mesh going up and across the beam. I love working with it, because it's dirt cheap. It looks good. It's industrial, so it ties into the house, and it's strong and robust. So no plant, no matter how heavy it gets, is going to break it. And the climber that I'm going to put up this trellis is Bougainvillea. You'll get a beautiful flush of colour. They're a great plant. They're so tough and hardy. And this is a safe spot for it. That's why I deliberately didn't put on the post here, near the stairs, away from hands and eyes. Let's face it, when you've got the natural beauty of the river and the land, you want to keep the garden to a minimum, so you can enjoy all the other things that the environment lends you to. So I've got quite a simple little garden here. A little wattle, a casea limelight. They'll just clump up, make little balls, but it'll be informal hedge with a dianella behind it. One tree, a water gum. When you're planting a decent-sized tree like this, I like to do a couple of things. Firstly, make sure you don't cover the root ball. You could suffocate it. But I do like to put a little sort of dam wall around the outside of it for about three or four months. That means you can give it a good deep soak and leave a little bit of water on top to penetrate in. Once you start seeing new growth on the tree, you just move it away with your hand and it's still at the perfect height. And then to make a big statement, I've got the biggest flyer pit I could get. Now this is 300 bucks at Bunnings, but when you think of the hours of entertainment and relaxing sitting around it, it's worth every cent. It's been a long road all the way from the yard for our shipping container. G'day mate. Hey mate, how you going? Very well, thank you. Perfect timing. What do you think? Oh, it looks unbelievable. Pete's design proved what's achievable in just a shipping container. The pop-out windows break up the boxy interior and it's a clever way to introduce extra space. There's heaps of storage which doubles as a dividing wall between the bedroom and the kitchen. It's both stylish and functional. Call this within a simple, sleek, Scandinavian-inspired design. It's going to change the way Richie lives. I've got a bedroom, I've got a shower, I've got a throne. You know, where do I, the list goes on. Beautiful kitchen. What's the one thing in there that's like really jaw-dropping for you? I like the way that's been set up, like the design from Pete the architect. It's quick to build, it's not taking that long and yes, it's a small space, but it's quite, there's enough room for me. We've managed to get all the creature comforts into a 55 square metre home and all for under 45 grand. That's an incredible achievement considering today's house prices. Jeez, I like the fireplace. How good is it? It's awesome. Mate, that is nature's television and with that as the backdrop, I don't care what anyone says, you're winning. Yep, I think Pete and Adam have done an incredible job creating a good-looking, practical home on a budget. Maybe we should have fish for dinner. You catching? No, I was gonna go fish shopping. What a perfect end to a perfect day.