A man has shunned conventional houses in favour of living in a wooden home he built with his bare hands. Chris March built his two-bed house in his friend's back garden.
Chris, who is a builder by trade, claims he saves hundreds of pounds a month living the way he does. He says his only home expenses are £150 a month, which he pays to live on the plot, and his electricity bill, which is £80 a month, and allows him to leave his underfloor heating on for the entire day.
He pays the homeowners a standing rate for living in the back garden, and doesn't pay for the water supply thanks to the homeowners. His wooden homes, based in Riding Mill village, Northumberland, comprises of a bedroom, kitchen, living room and a bathroom.
Chris, aged 40, had rented one and off before deciding to build his own home. In 2018 he was spending £800 a month to rent a two-bed flat in Hexham, Northumberland.
He also forked out £80 a month on electricity, £70 on gas, £25 on water and £160 on council tax - bills he says would have doubled amid the energy hikes. Speaking about his current home, Chris told The Mirror: "I'd always had a vision of building something and living in it and living in a garden rather than a traditional house. That's where the tiny house concept came into play.
"It just seemed to work for my needs and it's a very comfortable way of living. It's a minimalist lifestyle, absolutely. When you rent, it's just disposable money that you never get back really. Building something of my own was a bit of a win-win."
This isn't the first tiny home Chris has lived in. The first home he built was larger than the one he is in now, and cost around £50,000 to be done to a high specification, made from natural timber.
Standing at 180 square feet, it was too big to fit on his current spot, so he had to build a smaller property to size. Chris started out in manufacturing and learnt how to build tiny homes himself, and set up his own business - Tiny Eco Homes UK - which he launched in 2017 and sells to 'people from all walks of life'.
He said: "It's just a nice way to live without having the burden of worrying about hundreds of pounds going out every month. I get on well with the owner which is obviously important.
"My electric has gone up quite a bit, like everyone's, but in a tiny house, you're essentially heating one room, and a small one at that. The building is very efficient.
"The underfloor heating is just left on all the time and it maintains that temperature rather than traditional houses I used to live in that took a lot to heat. Now, I'm always walking into a nice warm house.
"If you take your rent, council tax, utility bills, I'm saving at least £600 a month living this way." It's been a busy period for Chris and his team of five staff, building tiny homes across the UK for people.
The houses are fully mobile on wheels, so they can be moved around, but most of them are built bespoke to fit onto particular sites. He said: "Every single person is from a totally different walk of life - age, couples, single, which is quite surprising.
"You thought it would have appealed more to a certain generation. Everyone that's done it is kind of like, 'Oh, I wish we did this years ago.' It has totally changed the direction of their lifestyle.
"It's allowed them to be in the open and outdoors, in touch with nature. A lot more stress-free.
"I think some people find brick and mortar just doesn't work for them. And it allows them to be in an area that they want, in a nice garden, in the countryside. You manage to get in nice areas at a low cost.
"I'm free to up my lifestyle a bit more and not have so much disposable income going out, I manage to save." Despite running his own successful business now, he's residing in a smaller home than what he started out in.
But has plans to build his own unique tiny home on his own land in the near future. "In two years I'm looking to buy my own land and build one with a totally different design and lay out," Chris added.
"You'd think after building all these homes I'd end up in quite a big one myself but I'm still happy because it's got everything that you need really."
