How's this for breaking a trend: at a time when almost 40% of college grads are moving back in with their parents, 13-year-old Luke Thill has already built his own house.
The teenager started work on his tiny home in June, with no plans and no construction knowledge. He had become fascinated with YouTube videos of people building the trendy houses, and realized no one his age was making them.
"I was just on YouTube looking around and came across a tiny house idea and then that spiraled into looking at almost every YouTube video there is, it felt like," he told ABC. "I got obsessed with them and decided to build my own."
His parents, Greg and Angie, were encouraging, but set some firm ground rules at the start of the project. Luke had to raise all the money to build the home himself by doing odd jobs and chores, and they insisted he should stay under his $1,500 budget. To get him started, Greg showed his son how to build the frame for his house.
Learning from YouTube videos and local builders along the way, Luke traded time, money, skills and materials until he completed this seriously impressive project...
The finished home is an 89-square-foot clubhouse for Luke and his friends, complete with a sleeping loft, a folding dinner table and working lights.
"I have a neighbor who is a professional electrician so I cleaned his garage out and he taught me how to wire the house," Luke said. "And in Cub Scouts I knew a guy who was a carpet layer and I mowed at his apartment buildings and he helped me install the carpet."
Other features inside the "teenager pod" include a TV, chairs, and a mini fridge. Luke's friends love his clubhouse, but so do his fans. Luke filmed the entire project on YouTube, and his creativity is inspiring other young kids.
The results speak for themselves: when Luke began the project he couldn't find anyone in the tiny home community younger than 14. "Now lots of kids have messaged me and showed pictures of their tiny houses that they're building and they're even younger than me," he says.
Stay tuned, because Luke and his twin brother are planning to star their next project soon: a teardrop trailer.
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