A Brit built a house in the Caribbean for £3k - to live mortgage-free and escape the UK's "boring" and "miserable" winter.
Alex Cassidy, 22, built the one-bed home on land in Tobago owned by his stepdad, Derek Sandy, 61.
After collecting materials, he spent three months building with the help of local tradespeople.
Alex now lives mortgage-free and only spends £130 on electricity, water and wi-fi every three months.
He spends six months a year in Tobago to escape the rainy and cold winters in the UK.
Alex, a musician, from the Isle of Wight, said: "I've got my own privacy.
"I bought my freedom.
"It's such a price difference to the UK.
"I spent £3k to build a whole house and never pay rent."
Alex grew up spending time between the Isle of Wight and Tobago - where his stepdad, Derek, also a musician, is from.
Now Alex spends half of the year in each country so decided to build a house on the land Derek owns in Tobago.
He started collecting materials in January 2023 but began properly building the home with the help of local labourers in January 2024.
Alex finished the one-bed home in March this year and spent just £3k on the whole build.
He said: "It was heavy labour.
"My house is on a hill.
"But it was rewarding.
"It's a really open plan space with a bed, living room, kitchen and bathroom.
"It's very simple."
Alex said the plumbing cost him £120 and the electricity £150 to set up.
He said: "In England it was £3k to £4k just to put electric in a one-bed flat.
"Some of the material prices were very similar to the UK but labour is a lot cheaper and I did a lot myself."
Alex said he loved watching his dream become a reality but it didn't hit him until he was putting the final touches to the house.
He said: "The realisation hit me.
"I have a home. This is mine."
Alex lives mortgage0free and spends £100 on electricity and water every three months and £30 to £40 every three for Wifi.
He said: "It's quite sad.
"A lot of my friends got good jobs and most of their money goes on bills and rent.
"It's impossible to get a deposit."
Alex spends the summer back in the Isle of Wight gigging with Derek but lives in Tobago throughout the winter.
He said: "It's a great life.
"The UK in summer is a great place.
"Winter is very boring.
"It makes sense for me to go out. It's cheaper.
"I earn a below average wage.
"But I don't spend much money."
Despite strangers online saying the house is a "tin shed" Alex loves his home.
He said: "I'd rather live here than a £300k house I have to pay for for 35 years on a mortgage.
"I own this, I never have to pay anyone a cent.
"I don't have to work for 35 years to live in a cold, boring miserable country."
Alex loves the six months he spends in Tobago.
He said: "The night life is brilliant.
"I'm always meeting new people.
"I'm never lonely.
"In the day I relax at the beach. The people are really interesting.
"I wanted to show the natural beauty of Tobago."
Alex Cassidy, 22, built the one-bed home on land in Tobago owned by his stepdad, Derek Sandy, 61.
After collecting materials, he spent three months building with the help of local tradespeople.
Alex now lives mortgage-free and only spends £130 on electricity, water and wi-fi every three months.
He spends six months a year in Tobago to escape the rainy and cold winters in the UK.
Alex, a musician, from the Isle of Wight, said: "I've got my own privacy.
"I bought my freedom.
"It's such a price difference to the UK.
"I spent £3k to build a whole house and never pay rent."
Alex grew up spending time between the Isle of Wight and Tobago - where his stepdad, Derek, also a musician, is from.
Now Alex spends half of the year in each country so decided to build a house on the land Derek owns in Tobago.
He started collecting materials in January 2023 but began properly building the home with the help of local labourers in January 2024.
Alex finished the one-bed home in March this year and spent just £3k on the whole build.
He said: "It was heavy labour.
"My house is on a hill.
"But it was rewarding.
"It's a really open plan space with a bed, living room, kitchen and bathroom.
"It's very simple."
Alex said the plumbing cost him £120 and the electricity £150 to set up.
He said: "In England it was £3k to £4k just to put electric in a one-bed flat.
"Some of the material prices were very similar to the UK but labour is a lot cheaper and I did a lot myself."
Alex said he loved watching his dream become a reality but it didn't hit him until he was putting the final touches to the house.
He said: "The realisation hit me.
"I have a home. This is mine."
Alex lives mortgage0free and spends £100 on electricity and water every three months and £30 to £40 every three for Wifi.
He said: "It's quite sad.
"A lot of my friends got good jobs and most of their money goes on bills and rent.
"It's impossible to get a deposit."
Alex spends the summer back in the Isle of Wight gigging with Derek but lives in Tobago throughout the winter.
He said: "It's a great life.
"The UK in summer is a great place.
"Winter is very boring.
"It makes sense for me to go out. It's cheaper.
"I earn a below average wage.
"But I don't spend much money."
Despite strangers online saying the house is a "tin shed" Alex loves his home.
He said: "I'd rather live here than a £300k house I have to pay for for 35 years on a mortgage.
"I own this, I never have to pay anyone a cent.
"I don't have to work for 35 years to live in a cold, boring miserable country."
Alex loves the six months he spends in Tobago.
He said: "The night life is brilliant.
"I'm always meeting new people.
"I'm never lonely.
"In the day I relax at the beach. The people are really interesting.
"I wanted to show the natural beauty of Tobago."
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FunTranscript
00:00 I built a house in the Caribbean at 22 years old. So this is how I did it.
00:04 So I have a stepdad who is a national of Trinidad and Tobago and he owns a piece of land here.
00:09 He asked me, do I want to build a house? And I said, yeah. So we started to do it.
00:14 Let me show you. So we've got the balcony area, that's the chilling out area.
00:20 We have the bedroom, sofa bed. We also have the kitchen, fridge, sink and stove.
00:32 So yeah, this cost me £3,000 a build. So we have shower, little sink and toilet.
00:43 £3,000 and this is what you'll get. Reason it was cheap? I did a lot of the labour myself.
00:50 The labour cost me around about £1,000 and the materials was around about £2,000.
00:54 I have running water, I have Wi-Fi and I have electric.
00:58 So yeah, this is £3,000 and this is what you'll get. No council tax, no mortgage.
01:05 Just start to build and your happy days.
01:13 So yeah, £3,000. What would £3,000 in the UK get you? Probably not that far.
01:20 So yeah, no heating either. The reason I don't need any heating because it never gets cold.
01:25 Coldest in the night it will get is probably around about 20 degrees.
01:30 I think the coldest I've ever experienced it here was about 18.
01:34 So yeah, that's a cold, that's a really cold night here.
01:37 But yeah, most nights is around about 25 degrees.
01:40 So yeah, beautiful views, surrounded by nature.
01:45 This is what living is supposed to be like.
01:49 A lot of people would say this is a glorified shack or it's a shed.
01:52 But to me, it's my house and I love to live in it.
01:56 I like to live in it and I do live in it. So yeah, take care.
02:00 God bless. Everyone have a brilliant day.
02:05 Oh, you live in a shed from B&Q. I'll tell you what, I don't ever have to pay a mortgage.
02:09 I never have to pay council tax and I can live in a beautiful place like this all year round.
02:15 Unfortunately, I can only live here for half the year.
02:17 But I would rather live in this house here than a £300,000 house I have to pay
02:22 or spend paying for 35 years on a mortgage for.
02:26 I have to give all my time to the government just to pay that off.
02:29 No, thank you. I own this. I never have to pay anyone a cent
02:32 apart from my electricity bills and my water bills.
02:35 So yeah, and also my bills are a lot cheaper.
02:38 I would rather live in this house here than live in a fancy £300,000 house,
02:44 which isn't even that big in the UK because we all live in shoe boxes in the UK.
02:48 I'd rather have this over that any day of the week.
02:51 I don't have to work 35 years to pay a mortgage to live in a cold, miserable, boring country.
02:58 I live out here peacefully and quiet. No one disturbs me out here.
03:03 I have no neighbours. It is just me, myself and I.
03:07 So yeah, take care everyone. God bless.
03:10 Laugh if you want to live in a shed.
03:13 It's a house to me and it's mortgage free and rent free and this and that free.
03:19 So yeah, happy days. Take care. God bless. See you soon.
03:23 Every three months I pay about £50 for electricity.
03:28 I pay just a bit more every three months for water
03:31 and Wi-Fi is about £30 to £40 every three months as well.
03:36 Very cheap indeed. I know people in the UK, they're paying almost like £200 a month
03:40 for electric alone. So yeah, utility bills are very cheap here.
03:46 Somehow, I don't know how, but they are very, very cheap and it puts it in perspective.
03:51 One thing I've noticed here, I've never seen anyone with solar panels here,
03:55 probably because the electricity is so cheap.
03:57 The people are very friendly. They're always looking after me
04:01 and here's something as well. I could be at the bath till three in the morning here
04:04 and there'll be no fights, there'll be no quarrels, nothing.
04:07 Now you go to England, if you go to a club and it's like two in the morning,
04:11 there's people throwing up everywhere, there's fights, there's all sorts of badness going on.
04:18 Always something going on. There's always fights and this and that.
04:20 You don't really see that here at all. You don't see that.
04:23 There's a lot more love and unity and a lot more maturity as well within the people
04:28 compared to what you see in England.
04:29 So yeah, they're my three things and I'll give you a bonus one as well.
04:35 Is the food is amazing. The food is so good here.
04:39 Way better than what we get in England. If you've never had Caribbean cuisine, you need to try it.
04:44 Pretty much what I do is I'm a musician in England and I do gig to gig.
04:49 I probably do about 70 to 80 gigs a season and I also work in a cafe
04:53 and I pretty much work as a cook and it is stressful because the cafe is tiny,
05:01 tiny little space. You have about 10 tickets on.
05:03 I stay with my parents half the year in England and then I come down here and I live in my own house.
05:08 So that's how I'm making it work for myself.
05:11 I am quite lucky. Yes, I'm lucky because I've been in the situation, but I'm not rich at all.
05:16 I work very, I do like 12, 13 hour shifts pretty much every day in the summertime just so I can
05:22 survive. I barely go out because I'm saving up so I can live down there.
05:26 So this is really, I can make a sacrifice in the summer.