A Brit built a house in the Caribbean for £3k - to live mortgage-free and escape the UK's "miserable" weather.
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 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.
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🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00I built a house in the Caribbean at 22 years old, so this is how I did it.
00:04So, I have a stepdad who is a national of Trinidad and Tobago and he owns a piece of land here.
00:10He asked me, do I want to build a house? And I said, yeah. So, we started to do it.
00:15Let me show you.
00:17So, we've got the balcony area, that's the chilling out area.
00:22We have the bedroom.
00:24Sofa bed.
00:26We also have the kitchen, fridge, sink and stove.
00:32So yeah, this cost me £3,000 to build.
00:35So, we have shower, little sink and toilet.
00:43£3,000 and this is what you'll get.
00:46The reason it was cheap, I did a lot of the labour myself.
00:49The labour cost me around about £1,000 and the materials was around about £2,000.
00:54I have running water, I have Wi-Fi and I have electric.
00:58So yeah, this is £3,000 and this is what you'll get.
01:01No council tax, no mortgage, just start to build and your happy days.
01:13So yeah, £3,000.
01:15What would £3,000 in the UK get you? Probably not that far.
01:20So yeah, no heating either.
01:23The reason I don't need any heating because it never gets cold.
01:26Coldest in the night it will get is probably around about 20 degrees.
01:30I think the coldest I've ever experienced it here was about 18.
01:34So yeah, that's a cold, that's a really cold night here.
01:37But yeah, most nights it's around about 25 degrees.
01:40So yeah, beautiful views, surrounded by nature.
01:45This is what living is supposed to be like.
01:49A lot of people would say this is a glorified shack or it's a shed.
01:52But to me, it's my house and I love to live in it.
01:56I like to live in it and I do live in it.
01:59So yeah, take care, God bless, everyone have a brilliant day.
02:05Oh, you live in a shed from B&Q.
02:07I'll tell you what, I don't ever have to pay a mortgage.
02:09I never have to pay council tax and I can live in a beautiful place like this all year round.
02:15Unfortunately, I can only live here for half the year.
02:17But I would rather live in this house here than a £300,000 house I have to pay or spend paying for 35 years on a mortgage for.
02:26I have to give all my time to the government just to pay that off.
02:29No, thank you. I own this.
02:31I never have to pay anyone a cent apart from my electricity bills and my water bills.
02:35So yeah, and also my bills are a lot cheaper.
02:38I would rather live in this house here than live in a fancy £300,000 house,
02:44which isn't even that big in the UK because we all live in shoe boxes in the UK.
02:48I'd rather have this over that any day of the week.
02:51I don't have to work 35 years to pay a mortgage to live in a cold, miserable, boring country.
02:58I live out here peacefully and quiet.
03:01No one disturbs me out here.
03:03I have no neighbours.
03:05It is just me, myself and I.
03:07So yeah, take care, everyone.
03:09God bless.
03:10Laugh if you want to live.
03:12I say I live in a shed.
03:14It's a house to me and it's mortgage free and rent free and this and that free.
03:19So yeah, happy days.
03:21Take care. God bless.
03:22See you soon.
03:24Every three months I pay about £50 for electricity.
03:28I pay just a bit more every three months for water.
03:31And Wi-Fi is about £30 to £40 every three months as well.
03:36Very cheap indeed.
03:38I know people in the UK, they're paying almost like £200 a month for electric alone.
03:44So yeah, utility bills are very cheap there.
03:47Somehow, I don't know how, but they are very, very cheap.
03:50And it puts it in perspective.
03:52One thing I've noticed here, I've never seen anyone with solar panels here.
03:55Probably because electricity is so cheap.
03:58The people are very friendly.
04:00They're always looking after me.
04:02And here's something as well.
04:03I could be at the bar till three in the morning here and there'll be no fights.
04:06There'll be no quarrels, nothing.
04:08Now you go to England, if you go to a club and it's like two in the morning,
04:11there's people throwing up everywhere.
04:13There's fights.
04:14There's all sorts of, you know, badness going on.
04:18Always something going on.
04:20There's always fights and this and that.
04:21You don't really see that here at all.
04:23You don't see that.
04:24There's a lot more love and unity and a lot more maturity as well within the people
04:28compared to what you see in England.
04:30So yeah, they're my three things.
04:33And I'll give you a bonus one as well is the food is amazing.
04:37The food is so good here.
04:39Way better than what we get in England.
04:41If you've never had Caribbean cuisine, you need to try it.
04:44Pretty much what I do is I'm a musician in England.
04:47And I do gig to gig.
04:49I probably do about 70 to 80 gigs a season.
04:51And I also work in a cafe.
04:54And I pretty much work as a cook.
04:57And it is stressful because the cafe is tiny.
05:00Tiny little space.
05:02You have about 10 tickets on.
05:04I stay with my parents half the year in England.
05:06And then I come down here and I live in my own house.
05:09So that's how I'm making it work for myself.
05:12I'm quite lucky.
05:13Yes, I'm lucky because I've been in the situation.
05:15But I'm not rich at all.
05:17I work very, I do like 12, 13 hour shifts pretty much every day in the summertime.
05:22Just so I can survive.
05:23I barely go out because I'm saving up so I can live down there.
05:26So this is really, I can make a sacrifice in the summer.