How 2 Iowa college students built a home for $489

They had no construction background and no money.

But Amy Andrews and Ethan Van Kooten built a house.

They came in over their budget of zero. They spent $489, less than some people's monthly car payment.

The Central College seniors built a 260-square-foot dwelling made of old hog feeders, grain bins, demolished buildings and other dusty piles of junk headed for the landfill.

"If you scrounge around, you can save a lot," Amy said.

"Scrounge," added Ethan, "is our favorite word now."

In recent years, disciples of the tiny home movement have preached that you can make the most of 400 square feet of space or less, showcased in TV shows such as HGTV's "Tiny House Hunters" and DIY Network's "Tiny House Builders." But network officials say no one has done it so frugally.

Andrews and Van Kooten are classmates in an environmental science class at the Pella college. Inspired by last year's class trip to Costa Rica, where they were housed in small dwellings powered by solar panels, they teamed up to do research for a senior class project.

They discovered that the average size of U.S. homes is rising — from 1,525 square feet in 1973 to 2,598 last year — while homes are responsible for 18 percent of the carbon dioxide released in the U.S.

They discussed it in class with Anya Butt, the college's director of environmental studies, who wondered who would want to clean, heat or buy enough stuff to own a huge home.

"So the question was, 'Could you build a living space that provided what you needed, but wasn't so large?' "

Butt admits she had doubts that her students could pull it off, because there was one huge challenge.

"We didn't have any money," Van Kooten said.

What they had was a farm background. Andrews grew up on a small farm near Shellsburg, and Van Kooten's family farm skirts the edge of Pella. They both knew how to work and had a farmer's mindset: If something needs doing, you do it yourself.

When no grants were available for their project, they began looking around Van Kooten's family farm for materials, like two young fort-builders. On the property was an old granary built by three generations of Van Kootens in 1952, a bit ragged and holey and filled with junk.

"But it was square," Van Kooten said.

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Andrews and Van Kooten cleaned out the granary, which was built to hold field corn. They also found fiberglass insulation for the roof and foam insulation for the walls that was headed for the landfill during the demolition of a local nursing home.

They extracted cupboards, a countertop, a sink, carpet and a chandelier from a Pella home scheduled for demolition.

They gathered waste materials from local corporations, and old shed doors and other waste wood from the farm, and began piecing together the walls with the help and expertise of Ethan's father, Kent Van Kooten. They took the floor of an old hog feeder and built a sleeping loft, using an old ladder from a deer stand to climb into it.

They cleaned up an old wood stove sitting in storage on the Van Kooten farm and had four used windows donated to the project. The big expenditures were a stove pipe ($120) and plywood for the ceiling ($110).

After 500 hours of hard labor, it was done.

On a windy January morning, Van Kooten and Andrews piled into his pickup and drove down the pasture hill on his father's farm to show off the home, which is nestled between black locust trees near a creek.

Enter the wood-floored space with a vaulted ceiling, and visions of reading a book in a rocking chair enter your head. A small wood stove will heat the place nicely. Used furniture found in storage fills the living space — a little desk in one corner, a sitting bench along one wall and a small kitchen table along another. Van Kooten made vases in his glass-blowing class, and Andrews made the window curtains from old fabric.

It's not hooked up for water, but a future improvement will be a gravity-fed rain barrel system. Light comes from the candle chandelier that can be lowered by a pulley system and battery-powered wall lights, with solar energy a future option.

"For two students to do this on such a small budget is amazing," Butt said.

Where to put the home was another learning experience — "all the hoops you have to jump through," Van Kooten said.

The house was intended to work somewhere on campus as a demonstration for small living, but Butt said they ran into zoning issues and concerns about the expense of future upkeep once the students graduate. So the students decided to keep the house on skids on Ethan's father's land.

Zoning and building rules have hindered the small home movement. City and county building requirements restrict many of the homes. Sean Spain, who built a small home in West Des Moines that was featured in The Des Moines Register in November, solved one issue by building his on a trailer.

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Spain's $10,500 tiny home was recently sold to a woman who owns an acreage in Marshalltown. Spain said he plans to build two more for her because she has designs on a community of tiny homes.

The Central students' paperwork may not be done. City and county officials say they have no applications for building permits for the structure.

"If it's just a demonstration project that's one thing, versus something built for habitation," said Jerry Byers, a building official with the city of Pella. "It would have to go on a permanent foundation if it's a permanent structure."

Much is yet to be ironed out. For now, the students see it as a fun cabin. Andrews is already planning a "girls weekend," and Van Kooten one for his buddies.

They don't want it to overshadow the larger point, however. They believe their project is a demonstration of the wisdom of living sustainably, using less to simplify life and help the environment.

"We both farmed, so we know you have to use the land," Andrews said. "But you can use it more wisely."

Same goes for junk. It can become a nice little house.

What was bought for home

Following is a partial listing of items Amy Andrews and Ethan Van Kooten bought to build their 260-square-foot home:

• Plywood for ceiling, $110
• Exterior paint, $25
• Foam ceiling vents, $25
• Bolts, $10
• Door frame, $40
• Exterior door, $13
• Interior paint, $30
• Drip cap for windows, $60
• Wood stove piping materials, $120
• Total: $489

Iowa's role in movement

The tiny house movement owes some of its momentum to Iowans.

Jay Shafer, a former university art professor, built a 130-square-foot home in Iowa City, and joined Greg Johnson and others in 2002 to form the Small House Society (www.smallhousesociety.net), which fosters the development of smaller, sustainable living spaces.