He made a house that’s only 8 meters, but wait until you see the inside. Everyone admires him



Luke Thill bought his first house at the age of thirteen.

In the backyard of his parents, an eighth-grader in Dubuque, Iowa, had completed construction of an 89-square-foot small home.

At the age of 11, he worked on the project and earned $1,500 doing chores around the neighborhood.

The journey Luke was taking had just begun.

Together with his brother Cole, 17-year-old Luke Thill has added a teardrop camper to their expanding collection of tiny houses. According to an insider, Luke intends to adopt the small dwelling lifestyle.

Building the little house was "a huge experience," Luke told Insider. It altered my life in an irrevocable way.

Luke's 2016 summer was going to be uninteresting. The 11-year-old was looking for projects to work on because he didn't have any immediate plans and came across the small home trend on YouTube.

He was convinced, therefore he made the decision to construct his own little house.



Luke and his father calculated that it would cost $1,500 to build a straightforward modest house before they got began.

Like many young individuals, Luke started saving by doing odd jobs in his community.

Luke intended to get money throughout the summer by mowing lawns and performing other menial duties for his grandparents and neighbors.

Soon after that, he started constructing his future home.

Even though Luke said he had prior expertise with home renovation projects, this was by far his biggest undertaking.

Many of the building supplies, including windows and doors, were provided by friends, neighbors, and family members, according to Luke.

With the aid of his parents, Luke took around a year and a half to finish the project.

His mother handled the interior design, and his father handled the building. By the time Luke turned 13 in the fall of 2017, he already had his own home.


Plumbing installation would have been expensive, time-consuming, and complex, but Luke insisted he didn't intend to live in the little house permanently.

It was supposed to be a location for friends to come together and go away.

The simple architecture of the house serves as an example of this. There is a tiny kitchen with a microfridge, an electric burner, and a countertop, as well as a tiny living area with a drop-down dining table.

Luke spends some nights sleeping in a lofted area, where he also accommodates visitors for movie evenings.

Luke once hosted his family's Thanksgiving meal.

Luke was prepared to start a new project after building the little cottage.

Cole, his twin brother, was constructing a teardrop camper at the time.

Luke stepped in to assist the project about halfway through. By the time the brothers were 14, Luke claims they had spent around $2,500 on the 36-square-foot teardrop trailer.

Luke claimed that this undertaking was unexpectedly more challenging and intricate than constructing a tiny cottage.

You really have to do things correctly, Luke said. Nothing should go apart when you're traveling at 75 mph.

Luke and his brother were reunited because of the camper. In the more than 50 camping trips they've taken in Iowa and its adjacent states since the duo finished the build in 2018, they have.

Luke made substantial adjustments to the teardrop camper in 2020. He redone the woodwork on the camper, put in new cabinets, stained the inside, and polished the outside.

Luke's key lesson was the value of a sense of belonging.

Luke learned important life lessons from a small house he constructed when he was young, including the value of perseverance and fiscal responsibility.

Luke, though, thinks that one of the most crucial things he learnt was the value of group affiliation.

Luke said that he needed assistance from his neighbors throughout the building. For instance, he might trade goods or offer electrical help with a neighbor.

He said that his backyard project had brought his neighborhood and community together.

Luke is now prepared for the impending adventure because the camper is done. As a junior in high school, his top priorities include hanging out with friends, going to work, and doing schoolwork.

Although Luke is now concentrating on high school, he claimed that small-scale life will still play a significant role in his future. Even the thought of building a larger small house when he attends college has entered his thoughts.
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