Tony Guo, a senior in high school, built a tiny house over the course of three weeks during last year’s summer break, with the initial planning process taking about a week to complete. He said he’s learned a lot of important things from that experience and originally sought to lead his group of teammates to work on the project together while also improving himself. 

“During that experience, I learned a lot, such as dealing with the children and being responsible,” he said. “I wanted to help others and learn more about architecture.”

Although building a tiny house was a completely novel experience for him, Guo revealed that he hadn’t initially felt nervous at all. Instead, he had felt excited to see his fellow campers and was prepared to build the tiny house. The tiny house had a purpose, though, and Guo thought that it was important to speak out about exactly why it had been built.

“It felt pretty good, and I personally loved it,” Guo recalled. “What it’s trying to raise is people’s sense of homelessness, that’s why we should help them.”

In general, Guo thought that the project was relatively easy and a fun experience for him. But there were also moments of difficulty relating to the young ages of the children. Guo also noted that nailing in the window was relatively easy, but putting up the window required some strength from the campers and was thus much more difficult.

“There was a moment where the kids were too young and didn't have enough strength, so we had to replace a younger kid with an older kid,” Guo said. He added, “The only difficult part in putting up the window was that it was pretty heavy with the campers we had, so it was a little bit hard to do.”

According to Guo, the money to fund the project came from a music show where he gathered all the fundraisers together, supported by the Social Security Administration (SSI) grant. He suggested that first-time fundraisers should go for double the budget.

“Basically, that’s how we got the grant,” Guo said. “Making it fun overall was pretty much all I needed.” Guo also said, “Since we did have cutting errors, just go above the budget and try to fundraise a bit higher; if it’s 100 bucks, go for 200 bucks.”

Guo admitted that the only tools and material that the campers had were gloves to prevent splinters, tools such as round saws, and safety hats, masks and glasses. He said that it was his first time using the round saw.

“It was electric, so it was a lot easier than the regular saw,” Guo said. “It was easy to use, just make sure to wear the safety glasses and wear a mask so no dust gets into your mouth or nose.”

Guo said that he hadn’t had enough time to create an adequate roof that they had originally planned for, so he came up with an ad hoc solution instead. In addition, according to Guo, the windows in the tiny house can be utilized, but insulation from outside elements, whether hot or cold, is nonexistent.

“We solved this problem by building a smaller roof inside the walls,” Guo explained. Guo also admitted, “As of right now, there’s only the windows which you can open and close, but there isn’t any insulation.”

Furthermore, after Guo completed the project, he noticed some problems with the roof that he wished he could improve in the future. Although the house had no electricity, sewage system, or related amenities, Gu said he would also consider adding a door and a bed if he had the chance to improve upon his existing product. 

“The roof was a little bit too tall and it was not functionable, so instead of making the roof so tall, we could have lowered the roof so that it’s easier and safer to build it,” Guo said. “Those are the only two things I absolutely need right now.”

Guo reflected that he learned how group projects work, and felt that it was a lot harder than he’d anticipated. But he also positively reflected on the future function of the tiny house that he built. Guo thought that his experience with the tiny house project went well, and that he could put these skills to practical use in the future. 

“Now that the project is finished, the tiny house can keep serving multiple purposes,” Guo stated. “Overall, it makes me happy to help others out and help them learn new skills.”

By Patrick Hao