UM Student Builds Solar-Powered House to Avoid Dorms

Submitted by Geaux_Blue on

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2015/09/21-year-old_u-m_s…

The 21-year-old Traverse City resident moved back to the Ann Arbor area Wednesday to begin his third year at U-M, and he brought his own house with him on a trailer — a house that is just 170 square feet and took him more than 700 hours to build over the last two summers.

 
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MGoBender

September 6th, 2015 at 9:37 AM ^

Read this and was annoyed by it because it was clear Mom (and Dad?) is paying for it all.

That's nice that your mom is going to front you a bunch of money so you can be a hipster, anti-establishment, trendy, whatever.  (And I say this as someone who lives a fairly minimalist lifestyle).

I don't know.  There was just something about the whole thing that was off-putting.  I like the tiny-house movement, I like that he built it himself, I like that  he's bringing it to Ann Arbor.  But it all seems fake.  Mom's paying for it, it's not a true tiny house, he's still going to rely on other houses for water/laundry.  It's like super expensive glam-camping (or glamping as it's called nowadays).

EDIT:  Re-reading it, I think I was just perturbed by his reliance on his parents.  Like, he wanted to live in a Volkswagon Van, but mom said no, so he didn't.  He's 21, at what point do you gain independence?  I realize some (many?) students' parents pay for everything and therefore have the leverage to make decisions about students' lives, but man, when I wanted to move out of the dorms, I said "Dad me and some friends are gonna rent an apartment" and he was like "ok, make sure you read the lease."

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GoWings2008

September 6th, 2015 at 10:08 AM ^

As someone who does family financial planning, what parents want to do for their kids is what drives the kid's financial independence. If the parents are prepared to pay for college, what kid will turn it down? If the parents said they'd pay for half, or however much, of his education and no more, the kids figure out a way to make it happen. Don't blame him for the situation he's in, he is just making the most of it, which is what most people would do. If you wouldn't, then hey... You're better than the rest of us I guess.

Joined: 01/26/2011

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MGoBender

September 6th, 2015 at 11:28 AM ^

I guess.  I don't know, I'll likely never be in the position to afford college for my kids (unless I don't want to retire before 65, which I certainly do).  However, if I could afford to pay tuition, I'd certainly pay tuition with no conditions.  If I could pay more... I don't know that I would.  Maybe I would loan my kid $8000 a year or something - interest free.  $8k plus money from working campus jobs should be plenty.  I just don't like the idea of placing a bunch of conditions on a gift to an adult.

And I know as a student I was glad to gave complete financial independence.  Yeah, that means I have student loans to pay, but I never had to worry about answering to anyone but myself about how my money was spent.

 

Joined: 03/26/2010

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Maximinus Thrax

September 6th, 2015 at 10:23 AM ^

As a Traverse City resident, this sounds pretty typical. People up here are always doing "interesting" little things that end up somehow getting noticed and then get media attention. You would almost think that was part of the plan all along. Also, Traverse City Business news just did their annual "40 under 40" feature, and Northern Express just had their "20 most interesting local people" of whatever feature. Through personal knowledge or local hearsay I can tell you that a lot of those people were initially funded by family loans or are currently still receiving regular cash infusions from family members. Must be nice. Many of these people will no doubt consider themselves "self-made". Kind of reminds me of the rich kids I knew in college who were " putting themselves through college" on informal parental loans with unspecified repayment terms that were actually just ham-fisted attempts to reign in their college spending by creating the illusion that they would need to be paid back. I could go on and on with this.

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MGoBender

September 6th, 2015 at 11:20 AM ^

Did my post sound mad?  I said I was slightly annoyed - I pretty much admitted it was b/c his parents were paying for this, yet he has a bit of a "look at what I'm doing" essence.  I admitted I liked the idea, liked that he built it himself (that part is awesome) and like that it's happening in A2.  But there's something a little off by all of it.  A bit of "look at how different and better I am living."  

Joined: 03/26/2010

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MGoBender

September 6th, 2015 at 1:38 PM ^

Agreed, and I probably should have considered how well the interview is conveying the truth.  I tried to explain why something felt odd about it to the best I could.  Certainly, I hope I did better than the MLive flamers, but even now I feel I could have rounded down some of my rhetoric.

And the more I think of it, the more I can understand why his mom would require the hoops to jump through if she was paying it.  I think the thing that did it for me was that he wanted to do something, was to 'no', and decided to go a different route.  Which was the financially prudent thing for him to do, so maybe I shouldn't be annoyed.  

I think I'm sticking strong on the idea that he basically built a really fancy tent and still has to use another's house to take showers, do laundry, etc.  So, it's not really a tiny house, nor a complete living situtation. But I'm sure it'll be fun, nonetheless.

Joined: 03/26/2010

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WestQuad

September 7th, 2015 at 8:22 AM ^

The tiny house movement is fun.  It's basically buidling a tree house that can be moved around.  The environmental aspect of it is a little silly.  If you want to be environmental, buy a house in Ypsi or Detroit and fix it up.  

Good for the kid on the effort though.  He learned to build something, figured out how to negotiate a unique landlord situation and got some PR.  Probably a better learning/life experience than just renting and working a summer job digging ditches or cleaning dorms (both jobs I had.)

 

 

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M-Dog

September 6th, 2015 at 11:07 AM ^

I agree with you.  I think that's it's cool what he did.  But it didn't take very long for him to turn it into a lecture with the implied "You should live this way too and shame on you for not."

Why can't people just do what they do, enjoy it, and stay the hell out of everyone else's face?

He's young, single, admittedly adventurous, and has other people paying his bills.  Good for him.  Life's good.  But a tiny house lifestyle on someone else's land is not going to work for a family of 4 with middle aged working parents.   Nor is it supposed to.

Just do your thing if that's what you want to do and don't worry so much about having to make a statement.

 

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Optimism Attache

September 6th, 2015 at 9:34 AM ^

Good for him.

My idea is to jump on the tiny house bandwagon and buy a bunch of them. Then, to make the situation a litlte more livable, I'll buy a lot of land and merge all the tiny houses into one larger house. I'm aiming for 2000-2500 square feet.

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Cali Wolverine

September 6th, 2015 at 9:45 AM ^

of time that could have gone towards summer classes. Third thought....who lives in the dorms as a junior? Fourth thought...he does not do well with the ladies. Last thought was...where does he park it....down by the river?

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DonAZ

September 6th, 2015 at 9:45 AM ^

The article says he's getting use of land and use of some household amenities such as water and laundry, but it doesn't say how much he's paying for that.  I'd be curious to find out. 

HGTV runs a show on "tiny houses," and it's funny to watch some fo the participants talk about "living simply" while worrying about whether some 150 sq. ft. place can "hold all their stuff."  Concerns about closet space don't align with the tiny house movement, people. :-)

 

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Wendyk5

September 6th, 2015 at 10:07 AM ^

He should have videotaped the process to create a Youtube series of DIY homebuilding videos, and a reality show. He appears to be pretty photogenic in a hipster/rustic kind of way. He probably could have funded the whole thing through that. Laugh if you want but less interesting ventures have found success on Youtube.

Joined: 11/20/2008

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xtramelanin

September 6th, 2015 at 2:20 PM ^

in a weekend with my sons.  low-e windows, solid core oak doors, wood floor, raised base that can be loaded on a trailer.  if we'd have made it fancy inside it would've taken another 40-60 hours to insulate and trim it out.  this kid took 750 hours and 2 years to build what can be done in 2 weekends.   

i have a feeling there is a lot more to this story than is in print. 

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xtramelanin

September 6th, 2015 at 6:02 PM ^

but before we let the chickens in: 'when is the cable guy coming?'

i had gone to the lumber yard and gotten their discards and defects for the doors and windows. the chickens didn't care and for $20/ea i bought 2 x $200 windows and a beautiful 6 panel oak door that had a crack in one part of it's jamb. 

was a great project to teach carpentry to the boys as we built the hen house like i'd frame a real house, only smaller.  even taught them how to make simple trusses for the roof.   little did i know that my patience in those years (took longer to teach than if i'd just done it) would enable my own sloth as i got older.  now i can just point at stuff and say, 'hey boys, can you guys fix x,y,z while i'm at work today?' and when i come home, it's done. 

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Zoltanrules

September 6th, 2015 at 10:20 AM ^

I applaud the kid and his counter culture attitude but think the article isn't telling the whole story.  Wouldn't be surprised to see a follow up story regarding this type of dwelling being outlawed by the city.

To us older guys who criticize that his parents are paying for this, remember we could pay for a year's worth of tuition with a good summer job back in the good old days. Now tuition plus room and board costs (and rules for FAFSA for those who go to private schools) are just insane. My kids work all the time and there is tremendous value in that, but I'm happy to help pick up the balance of the UM tab.

 

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BayWolves

September 6th, 2015 at 10:27 AM ^

I absolutely applaud this young man but you make a great point about the city's potential next move. The "authoritays" can't stand independence, living off grid, and not being plugged into the control matrix so they can't keep tabs on you and manage your life for you. I bet it won't be long before they come to shut him down. It will be another in a long line of stories like this across the country.



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Rabbit21

September 6th, 2015 at 12:01 PM ^

That's not really the motivation, but it's fun to think so. The issue is that if the kid dies of exposure during the winter, the first thing the city is going to get asked is " Why didn't you do something?" And then get sued by the parents, who blessed the idea and paid for it. Fear of that kind of situation is what's driving this, not some weird need of an underpaid, stressed out worker in the city zoning office to exercise control over your life.

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