I’m Glad This Build Is (mostly) Done. I’m Proud of It!
Building for a client is a different beast to building for yourself. With my own tiny house, the frustrations were mine to deal with on my own terms. This time there were two of us invested in the outcome, and we didn’t always share the same vision. That added a layer of pressure I felt pretty much every day on site.
This was my first semi trailer tiny house client build and I’ll be honest, it took a lot out of me physically. I’m not as young as I used to be 😛, and tiny house construction has a way of reminding you of that fairly regularly. But there’s something that happens when one of these builds finally comes together; suddenly all the sore muscles get a bit forgotten in place of what has turned out to be a successful project.
Make no mistake; there were heaps of moments during this build where the stress was genuinely dragging me down mentally as well. Anyone who’s built anything with their hands knows that the Instagram version of the process and the reality of it are two completely different things. The reality involves frustration, mistakes, and days where you seriously question why you bothering with ay of it. I had way, way many of those. What I try to remember is that momentum builds the further you get in, and eventually the thing starts looking like something. I don’t understand the psychology exactly, but it’s like a bit of positive reinforcement or affirmation makes the hurdles and pain leak out of your brain.
The house itself turned out really well. Loaded with all the niceties: composting toilet, Cubic Mini fireplace, ducted aircon, bespoke cabinetry, a walk-in wardrobe that would embarrass most apartments — it punches well above its weight for the footprint. I lived alongside it for months during the build and genuinely think whoever ends up in that space is going to have a good life in it.
What made this one harder and also better than expected was the collaboration itself. The client was detail-oriented and deeply invested. My wife, who is a hawk-level critic, came and had a look and was quick to point things out. Between the two of them, I was pushed to dot my i’s and cross my t’s. The finished house is genuinely better for it, I’m sure.
The circumstances around what happens to it next are out of everyone’s hands, which is disappointing after a year and a half of work. That and councils interfering where they don’t need to, but that’s a topic for another post. At least it got built, and whoever ends up living in it gets a well-considered, eco-conscious little space that I’d be comfortable putting my name on.
Anyway, It’s done! And I’m pretty proud of it. 😊🙌🏼
For some work-in-progress footage and photos, check out my first post about this build.
These communities are just foreign places where a different breed of people live, and I think of the inhabitants as “the lucky few” who are able to get away with this lifestyle while the rest of us muck about in uncreative suburbs and traffic congestion.
A few days before that, I indiscriminately grabbed boxes of camping gear from our long-term storage, and packed them into our car without even looking inside them to check everything was there. Thinking of this now confirms to me the somewhat blasé nature of this current expedition we are embarking on compared to the “fanfare” of last year’s first trip. That’s not to say I am treating this trip lightly, but perhaps I am approaching it with a bit more knowledge and confidence in this life direction we’re learning about.
