At 77, He Started a New Life in an Off-Grid Tiny House

A tiny house can be a catalyst for a huge adventure and today we're about to meet an incredible man who at 77 years old gave up his life in the city and a four-bedroom home all to go off the grid in a tiny house. G'day, Gary. It's so good to meet you, mate. Hi, Bryce. Lovely to meet you. Check this out. What a smashing place you've got here. Isn't it great? It's a really nice spot. Just great view. It faces north, so you get all day sun. Not quite first thing in the morning or last thing at night, but that's really good because you can sleep in the morning without getting hot. And at night in the summer, you don't want the sun, do you? No, you do not. No. So it's a perfect spot, sheltered from the southerly winds. Yeah, perfect. So just, yeah, lovely. Absolutely smashing. And this is your land, isn't it? It is, yes. I bought it about a year ago. I was looking for somewhere out of town, but not too far out of town. And this is perfect. It's a lovely little community around here. So it was just ideal. It was interesting looking for a piece of land because, you know, developers... These days have all these rules about what you can do. The house has to be this big and it has to be this colour and the drive has to be this long and it goes on and on and on. And so I talked to the local real estate agent around here and he said, I think I've got a piece of land just ideal for you. He said, there's only one covenant on it and that's a piece of bush that you're not allowed to touch. And I said, that's fine by me. And that's how we ended up here. Perfect. And you've got your son on your property here with you as well. Yes, well, when I was talking about this, because I wanted to downsize it, a four-bedroom house in the suburb, and I'd been looking online, and I came across these tiny homes, and this guy, Bryce, he seemed to be sort of really promoting it, and I thought, that sounds something that I could do, and, you know, now that I get to my age, I mean, I turned 77 on the weekend, so I thought, you've got to keep moving, you've got to keep active, You know... If you slow down, that'll be the end. So I said, right, I'm going to sell the house and we'll look for a bit of land. And Jamie said to me, I think I'd like to do that. He spent a couple of years in the building trade, so he knows all these things. So we looked for land together, found this piece of land. It's ideal because he's around the corner behind a bit of bush there, so I can't see him, he can't see me. So it works perfectly. Absolutely spot on. And I would have pegged you at much younger than 77 as well. All this fresh air and a brand new adventure is keeping you young. Well, that's my surname, Young. There you go. Perfect. And when you come across the idea of tiny houses, what was it that made you think, yeah, this is really something I want to do? I think when you sort of listen to people why they go into tiny homes and then you think about all the stuff you've got in your big house and honestly there's stuff there that that I'd moved three times from three different houses and I don't think I'd ever opened the boxes yeah just think why am I carrying all this stuff around you know I opened it and I think I didn't even know I had that yeah So it was the idea of downsizing, of decluttering and everything. It just all seemed to fit with tiny homes. And I mean, I know some people say, oh, well, you know, can you live in such a small space? And what about those loft bedrooms? And I said, well, I'm not going to have a loft bedroom. I've got a bedroom pod. So I don't have to climb up the stairs, even though, I mean, climbing those stairs is a lot easier than climbing around this bit of land, I can tell you. Yeah, it's a steep section you've got here. This is definitely fit for mountain goats. Yes, but the trade-off is, of course, you get these absolutely fantastic views. Oh, I know. Yeah, it's just great. And I think that's what I like. While you like privacy, I didn't like to be sort of stuck in the bush where all you could see is just a small area. I'd like to be able to see right out to the horizon. Yeah. This tiny house here has just done so well. I love that you've got the bedroom pod. I love the way that the whole house just opens up onto this really nice undercover deck because you've got this wonderful sort of liminal space between the interior and the outside. It just gives you this wonderful indoor-outdoor flow in the home. Yeah, and I've got these blinds that you can pull down. So if it's windy or cold or wet or whatever, you can just pull them down. You've still got the view, so they're still clear, but you're protected from the weather in the winter. And my... The plan is to put a bit of a wood burner in the corner here. Not in the house because it doesn't need that. Yeah. But out here would be quite nice. Absolutely. Yeah, so that's kind of the plan. Yeah. And the house blends beautifully into the landscape too. Again, you've chosen that sort of dark metal with the classic timber exterior. It looks really good. Yeah, I mean, you've got to blend in and it's interesting. I've got a big water tank around here, which I've sort of covered up because, you know, it's a 25,000 litre tank, which is pretty big. Yeah. So we should get a concrete tank, and then it's got the name of the people who built it all across the front of it. Oh, yeah. So I've sort of covered up a bit, but I'm thinking of getting it maybe painted. And I see you've got a big solar array up here as well. Yeah, we've got 18 panels in three rows of six. That's, I think, about eight kilowatts. That comes down to a shared display there with a 10 kilowatt inverter plus we've got a generator as well which which automatically comes on if it drops to 20 percent. I mean so far it's never dropped below 80% so yeah great and then for batteries we've got four packs from old Nissan Leafs so that they're at 50% of their life so it's about I think 48 kilowatts in the batteries it's a really good way of doing it because you know the price of batteries these days is is the biggest thing when it comes to going solar yeah it is so to get those it Cost us a fraction of what it would have cost brand new batteries, and they work perfectly. Yeah, and it's great that you can share that infrastructure with your son as well, because he's down there, he's in the caravan at the moment, but he's building his own tiny house for the future. So being able to have a large solar infrastructure that you can share between both homes just makes so much sense. Oh, absolutely. It's all set up for both of us. I mean, we are... Totally off grid here so we've got water off the roof and because it's been a reasonably wet summer that tank is 25,000 litres and it's been full. Yeah. Since about the third week we moved in. Yeah so the only thing I have to get in is I've got two big gas tanks around the back here for cooking and for heating the water. Yeah. One of those tanks is now what we've been here four months and it still hasn't run out. Perfect. And what size is your tiny house? So the main house is about 12 and a half metres long, 2.8 wide and about four high. And then we've got the bedroom pod, which is about 2.8 wide and about five, I think. And then the porch, which runs almost to the end of the house here as well. Yeah. And the same width. So it's pretty much doubles the size of the house itself. Brilliant. Yeah. Well, I cannot wait to have a look inside the house and see what you've done in there. Can we check it out? Sure can. Let's go. Thank you. This is incredibly spacious. I think normally when I see tiny homes of this kind of dimension, you've got the dual lofts and you've got the walkway between them, whereas with this house, you step inside and it's just space. It just feels so vast. Yeah, I didn't want to have lofts at both ends and all of that because you feel cramped. So I got a loft at one end, all open, so you can see through. And then at the other end, very large windows, so more light. I think it works well because you don't feel as though you're in a tiny home. When you walk in, you don't feel cramped. Yeah. And standing in here, I now understand why it's so important that you paint the water tank because you've got this lovely sort of picture window right at the end of the home and it's just looking at your water tank. Thank you. It's the maker's name, nicely printed all over it. Do you remember what I was going to say? Yeah, so we will do something, but in the meantime, I've just put a bit of brushwood over it to soften it. You could grow some nice flowers or something in front of it. I don't know if you noticed, I've got an old 1930 Austin 7 out there, and that was parked there, and that was going to be part of it, but I've moved it around the front because it's better to have this back area as a barbecue area and fun. Yeah, for sure. And I love the layout of this house as well. It's so nice how you've got the kitchen so connected to the outdoors. And then what a cosy lounge space you've got there. Yeah. You don't need a big space because you've got the porch, which you're going to use most of the year anyway for space. And really that's just for the evenings if you're watching a bit of TV or something. You just need something comfortable. And I'm looking for a couch. The couch there is an old one of my son's. He was going to dump it. I said, well, Can I just have it until I find a proper one? Right. Right. So it's comfortable, but it's a bit low for me. Getting out of it is a bit of a... Gotcha. And you've got a great big television there too. I know. And the reason I've got that is because I already had it. Otherwise, I probably would have got a projector and just put it onto the wall, screen it onto the wall. But I had the TV, so I thought, well, I might as well... Bring it. Yeah. And it's fine. It works okay. Yeah. Yeah. And our internet and so on, which that works off, is Starlink. It's fine. I mean, you know, Starlink seems to work well. Yeah. And keeping the lounge nice and compact like that, I think just makes so much sense because the way that you've done this sort of outdoor area, it really is like another sort of outdoor room. So you can do your socializing out there and then that space is just when you're relaxing, We want to sit back, watch a movie, and enjoy. Yeah, and I like it because it's opposite the kitchen here, so you're straight through, you've got big sliding doors, so you've got plenty of access, it works. Yeah, and this kitchen is huge, look at this thing. It is, isn't it? It's great, lots of bench space. At the end there, we've got seating area, so I've got three stools there, so you can sit there, breakfast bar type approach. I just like plenty of room in the kitchen, I mean, it's one of the key areas, isn't it, of your home? Yeah. And of course, my son loves it because he's into cooking and he likes space. So he was happy with the size of this one, I think. His design for his place is going to be similar. Great. Yeah. It's an interesting one because normally when you see this U-shape, it's in a more compact space, whereas elongating it like this, it really stretches it out and it does just make it feels so spacious and everything's just so accessible. Yeah, and I think it works for me because with Jamie, when he and I are here cooking, he's the head chef, so I do as I'm told. It's cold. And it just means there's plenty of space for two people, whereas if you have that compact U-shape, often it's pretty hard for two people to be working together, isn't it? So this works well. The two of us can prepare a meal and it's fine. Yeah, and a great amount of storage in here too. And actually, it's not all that full. Oh, I think when I... Downsized to a tiny home, I downsized so much that I've left myself with lots of space here and there's empty everywhere. It's a great problem to have though, isn't it? It is, because now I can fill it up again. Exactly, exactly. Hey, I love these tiles as well. It sort of has that really beautiful water look, doesn't it? Yeah, I was looking around for a design that would mould into the background, but also just give a little bit of colour and so on. And I think that's a good colour. It's not too bright, but it stands out. Yeah, it does. And above us here, we've got the loft. What do you use this space for? Well, at the moment, it's just got a mattress up there, so it's potentially a sleeping place if you have a visitor. Other than that, it's just a spare space. I haven't filled it. A little bit. But great to have that sort of provision that you could have a guest room and stuff as well in the house if you wanted it. Absolutely, and I think because it's nice and open, then it doesn't really matter whether I use it or not. There's a space for a bit of storage if I need it. The way that you access it is great as well, putting the stairs right at the end of the house is just such a tidy way of doing it and it frees up all of the space in the main living area. Yeah, I didn't want to have stairs in the main area because they kind of come in on you and restrict your view and make you feel a bit enclosed. So I wanted to put the stairs out of the way, shall we say. Yeah, and you've got lots of storage in there as well. Yeah, well, there's storage in every one of the steps, so that's good. Fantastic. And next door is the bathroom. Can we have a look in there? Yes, let's go. Okay. Hey, this is a really cool design. I love the way that you've tucked the toilet around the corner there. Yeah, it's spacious, but it's out of the way. Yeah. Works well. Great size shower. Yeah, full size shower. Need that. So, no, it's good. Yeah. And it looks like you've got some extra storage along the back wall there as well. Yeah, so under the platform, there's storage all along that wall and then back underneath the stairs as well. Do you have a washing machine hiding behind there? No, it is actually set up for a washing machine, but we've got a shed just out at the end of the house there and the washing machine's in that. Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? Yeah, just makes it a lot easier. Yeah, absolutely. Nice size vanity in here too? Yep, big enough for me. It's good and a nice mirror. Plenty of light. Yep, keep your makeup looking nice. Yeah, it does well, doesn't it? What do you reckon? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Flawless. Flawless, mate. Yeah. And I really like that you've got the back entrance to the home as well. Yeah, that's pretty important when you're on a lifestyle block. You've got muddy boots and all of that. So a back porch was pretty essential. Because we've only been here four months, the porch actually isn't finished yet. That's one of the to-do lists. Yeah. Composting toilet as well? Absolutely, yes. Because we're off grid we needed to have something like that and it works really well. I mean I've got no problems with it at all. Yeah, nice and easy eh? Yeah, yeah they are. And can we check out the bedroom pod next? Yes, okay. Alrighty. This is brilliant. The views that you've got from your bed. I know, it's great, isn't it? Yeah. Just looking out over the bush and everything. It's brilliant. Although this week is probably not so good because it's a full moon. And so. It gets very light in here. Yeah. Other than that, no, it's great. You do have the blinds, though? Well, yes, but then you lose the view. So it's a toss-up, isn't it? Yeah, fair enough, too. And what I love about this as well is you've got such a big wardrobe space, too. Yeah, it's a nice big walk-in wardrobe. And I've got plenty of storage, more than enough. I haven't got enough clothes to fill it. I don't know, maybe I should buy some more. Nice to have that option. True. Yeah, yeah. I love your artwork in here as well. Yeah, I bought them from my big home. They are quite large, and I wondered whether they would work in here, but I think they do. I think they add a bit of character to the room. Yeah, absolutely. And it's great having immediate access from the bedroom pod right out onto the deck as well. Exactly. It's nice to be able to look out onto the deck, and also nice to have the sliding doors so you get plenty of fresh air through, so perfect. Yeah, the carpet in here is lovely too. I like carpet in the bedroom. It's great. But I wouldn't have carpet in the main part of the house because, you know, in a tiny home, it's just too much to keep clean. Yeah. So you've been living here for four months now. How are you finding life in the tiny house? I really enjoy living in the tiny home, and especially in the area that I'm in now, which is close to town but rural, and a nice little community as well. So it's working out well, yeah. Yeah. So you've downsized your house, but you have really upsized your backyard here, haven't you? Well, that's true. I've got just over four acres here. It's a lovely spot. So really, you just swapped a lot of housework for a lot of yard work. Yes, I did, didn't I? All right. At the house, I had a large hedge, which I said, I don't want to be doing this, trimming this hedge every six months or something. So I sort of got rid of the hedge and ended up with four acres of bush. But the good news about bush is you don't have to trim it. You just let it grow. That is true. And it looks beautiful. I know. It's wonderful. And it really is taking off. It's amazing how quickly. It grows, especially manuka and kānuka, it just goes like crazy. I don't want to do a lot with the bush, I just want to let it go, but I have got an area along the front here, which is grass at the moment, and I'm looking at putting some veggie gardens there, and I've also started to plant some fruit trees, so that can be along the front. I must say, since I've owned this piece of land and I've retired, I've never worked so physically hard for years as I have on here. But that's good because I think as you get older, you need to keep moving, you know, use it or lose it. And I'll tell you, this land is making me use it. I think there's a lot of truth to that. Move to a beautiful lifestyle block in nature and increase your chances of hitting that century mark. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Yes, well, we're only 23 years away from the century, so, you know, we're getting close. Exactly. I just enjoy it. What this house does is it gives me somewhere to live which feels really comfortable. which suits the kind of lifestyle that I want which is having worked for 50 years full-on in customer facing type role. It's just lovely and quiet. I'm surrounded by bush which is full of tuis and other bird life and it's just great. Just gives you somewhere to relax but equally when you retire you don't want to stop and so A lifestyle block, what it's done for me is given me heaps of things to do physically and I think that's just been great. This is such a beautiful home and it's so well executed. Can we talk about the cost of building this? Yeah so the cost of the house plus the bedroom part and the porch was about 390. And there's obviously been some extra cost on the solar. Yeah. But we did that really cheaply by getting the batteries from old cars and so on. So it's up there. Plus, I mean, obviously the land cost was quite a bit as well. Yes, of course. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's close to Auckland City as well. It's going to be pricey. Yeah. Yeah. To get 400 acres close to Auckland is not cheap. But... But... Hey, you know, I mean, I got money from selling But... But... the house in Auckland, so why not use it? Yeah, exactly. Just invest into the lifestyle. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Enjoying retirement. Yeah. Well, I just retired a year ago at the same time as I bought this piece of land. So the two things worked out well together. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Must have really enjoyed your job because retiring at 76, that's... I retired when I was about 72 and then I did three years of semi-retirement just to keep my hand in and doing something. Nice way of doing it. But then when this came along, I thought, no, no, got to retire. Fully focus on here. Yep, fair enough too. And now the house is so beautifully set up, no doubt you have lots of future plans for your land. Yeah, well, I mean, the first thing is obviously to sort out the bit around the house, get the paving in and all that sort of thing and a bit of an area for a barbecue and so on. But when it comes to the land itself, I think I'll probably just let the bush grow back where the grass was and they had sheep on it. So it's all taking off already. So I don't really have great plans other than maybe along the front of the house there's a nice open area where I might. Develop some fig gardens and that sort of thing. Yeah. Fruit trees, I've started planting a couple of fruit trees as well. Yeah? Yeah. Great plan. Well already the house just looks so good here, and no doubt as it settles more into the landscape, and as you do more work around the house, it's just going to look better and better. This is an absolutely smashing home that you've created here. Thank you so much for sharing it with me. Thank you for coming, Bryce. It's been a pleasure. Pleasure's all mine. Thank you. I am so inspired with everything that Gary is doing here. He has built himself such a beautiful home and I think what I really love about his story is that at 77 he's downsized his house but he's really upsized his life. I love that he wasn't afraid to tackle the adventure of going off the grid and moving to a lifestyle block and I think it's really special as well that he was able to do all of this together with his son who's building his own tiny house just down the road. I absolutely am just so inspired by everything that he's doing here.