This guy built a one-bedroom home in the Caribbean for just $3800, which is around £3,000. He built it himself on his stepdad's land in Tobago. He outlined all of his expenses and stated how much cheaper it was to live in the Caribbean than in the UK.
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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. So, we've got the balcony area, that's the chilling out area.
00:22We have the bedroom, sofa bed. We also have the kitchen, fridge,
00:29sink and stove. So, yeah, this cost me £3,000 to build. So, we have shower,
00:40little sink and toilet. £3,000 and this is what you'll get. The reason it was cheap,
00:47I did a lot of the labour myself. The labour cost me around about £1,000 and the materials was
00:52around about £2,000. I have running water, I have Wi-Fi and I have electric. So, yeah,
00:59this is £3,000 and this is what you'll get. No council tax, no mortgage, just start to build
01:08and your happy days.
01:13So, yeah, £3,000. What would £3,000 in the UK get you? Probably not that. So, yeah,
01:20no heating either. The reason I don't need any heating because it never gets cold.
01:25Coldest in the night it will get is probably around about 20 degrees. I think the coldest
01:31I've ever experienced it here was about 18. So, yeah, that's a cold, that's a really cold night
01:36here. But yeah, most nights is around about 25 degrees. So, yeah, beautiful views, surrounded
01:42by nature. This is what living is supposed to be like. A lot of people would say this is a
01:50glorified shack or it's a shed. But to me, it's my house and I love to live in it. I like to live
01:57in it and I do live in it. So, yeah, take care. God bless. Everyone have a brilliant day.
02:05Oh, you live in a shed from B&Q. I'll tell you what, I don't ever have to pay a mortgage. I
02:09never 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. But I would rather live in this house here
02:20than a £300,000 house I have to pay or spend paying for 35 years on a mortgage for. I have
02:26to give all my time to the government just to pay that off. No, thank you. I own this. I never have
02:31to pay anyone a cent apart from my electricity bills and my water bills. So, yeah. And also,
02:37my bills are a lot cheaper. I would rather live in this house here than live in a fancy £300,000
02:43house, which isn't even that big in the UK because we all live in shoeboxes in the UK.
02:48I'll rather have this over that any day of the week. I don't have to work 35 years to pay a
02:53mortgage to live in a cold, miserable, boring country. I live out here peacefully and quiet.
03:01No one disturbs me out here. I have no neighbours. It is just me, myself and I. So, yeah.
03:08Take care, everyone. God bless. Laugh if you want to live in that. I 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. So, yeah. Happy days.
03:20So, yeah. Take care. God bless. See you soon. Every three months, I pay about £50 for electricity.
03:28I pay just a bit more every three months for water and Wi-Fi is about £30 to £40 every
03:35three months as well. Very cheap indeed. I know people in the UK, they're paying almost like £200
03:41a month for electric alone. So, yeah. Utility bills are very cheap here somehow. I don't know
03:48how, but they are very, very cheap and it puts it in perspective. One thing I've noticed here,
03:53I've never seen anyone with solar panels here, probably because the electricity is so cheap.
03:59The people are very friendly. They're always looking after me and here's something as well.
04:03I could be at the bar till three in the morning here and there'll be no fights. There'll be no
04:07quarrels. Nothing. Now, you go to England and you go to a club and it's like two in the morning.
04:11There's people throwing up everywhere. There's fights. There's all sorts of, you know,
04:17badness going on. Always something going on. There's always fights and this and that. You
04:21don't really see that here at all. You don't see that. There's a lot more love and unity and a lot
04:26more maturity as well within the people compared to what you see in England. So, yeah. They're my
04:32three things and I'll give you a bonus one as well is the food is amazing. The food is so good here.
04:39Way better than what we get in England. If you've never had Caribbean cuisine, you need to try it.
04:44Pretty much what I do is I'm a musician in England and I do gig to gig. I probably do about 70 to 80
04:50gigs a season and I also work in a cafe and I pretty much work as a cook and it is stressful
04:59because the cafe is tiny. Tiny little space. You have about 10 tickets on. I stay with my parents
05:04half the year in England and then I come down here and I live in my own house. So, that's how I'm
05:10making it work for myself. I'm quite lucky. Yes, I'm lucky because I've been in the situation but
05:15I'm not rich at all. I work very... I do like 12-13 hour shifts pretty much every day in the
05:21summertime just so I can survive. I barely go out because I'm saving up so I can live down here. So,
05:26this is really... I can make a sacrifice in the summer.