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This is a 345 sq. ft. tiny house built in 2012 by college students Ashley Haugstatter and Michael J. Zella in Endicott, New York.

The two built the house together. It cost them about $35,000.

Ashley just shared an update in the comments about where they are now, and I thought you’d be interested:

Hi everyone! I’m the girl in the video, this is our beloved tiny house 🙂

Our original hope was to have a tiny house on a trailer to take with us, but due to the zoning laws, we found this to be our best option. $35,000 includes the land, the home, all of our landscaping, retaining wall, driveway paved, etc. We didn’t skimp on finishes, but we didn’t go super pricey either.

We did indeed build it just the 2 of us, which is why it took a while. We worked 10-12 hour days for about 2 1/2 months. It was grueling, but so worth it! It was actually costing the 2 of us ~$12,000 EACH for room and board at Binghamton, per year. So with my having 3 years left and Michael having 2, it didn’t make sense to stay on campus. Plus the accommodations at school are less than stellar. And we couldn’t have our puppy at school 🙂 We also saw renting as a waste of money — the cheap rentals are in the downtown area that we wanted to stay away from, and the newer nice rentals were way overpriced. We did end up selling the house and got all of our money back. We have re-invested and now have built another lakefront home on Oneida Lake in Syracuse where we moved following graduation. I’m a nurse in a Pediatric ICU here and Mike is a Mechanical Engineer at Carrier. We would have stayed, we both had good paying jobs offered to us, but I wanted to work in a PICU, and there are none in Binghamton.

The desk did go underneath the loft, across from the clothes. It was a perfect set up! It really couldn’t have fit our needs any better. The outdoor area was also great for having people over. I do miss it, but our new house by the lake is also beautiful! I am so happy that we had the experience though. It was an amazing place to live for 4 years.

Please enjoy, learn more, and re-share below. Thank you!

How These College Students Built a $35k Tiny Home!

Psychology major Ashley L. Haugstatter and mechanical engineering major Michael J. Zella, pictured Tuesday, December 4, 2012, built a 400-square-foot home off campus in Endicott during the 2012 summer. Image JONATHAN COHEN

Image © Jonathan Cohen via BU

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