A MAN transformed a tiny shed into a house for just £30,000 and now makes a killing from renting it on Airbnb.
Daniel Salas from Texas, built the home out of a second-hand storage shed he found on Craigslist.
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The little house is only 245sq feet and sits at the end of the mans garden at his home in sunny San Antonio.
Daniel was inspired by the properties he had seen while travelling with his wife and soon created the colourful living space that he now rents out to holidaymakers on Airbnb.
“Me and my wife love to travel,” Daniel told Newsweek, “we started visiting more Airbnb’s around Texas and further afield and were fascinated by this one home we stayed in about an hour north of here”.
“We liked the intimacy,” Daniel added, “with a smaller space, we spent more time together. We said then, one day, we’d love to have something like this in our backyard”.
The DIY fan began researching tiny homes during the pandemic as this was a project he had always wanted to take on.
But it wasn’t until spring 2021 that a local man’s item on Craigslist caught his eye.
“He was asking a very reasonable price for it, but nobody bought it,” he said.
Daniel then reached out to the seller and asked if he could come and view the shed in person.
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“He had a beautiful set-up, and I went to look at the shed and it was fairly new—only about five years old,” he added.
The Texas man was sceptical though as the unit was only around £2000, but the seller then shocked him with an offer he couldn’t refuse.
The owner explained that he would reduce the price even further to just £980 – but only on the condition that Daniel didn’t take the shed apart.
And so after looking around some more, Daniel decided to take it home with him after paying an extra £400 for it to be transported.
“I got home and started looking at the backyard and thought, ‘Oh God, I’ve made a huge mistake.
“It wasn’t gonna fit between my neighbour’s house and my house with the fence”.
After some shuffling around of his garden furniture, Daniel managed to fit his new shed into his backyard.
His wife was surprised at his spontaneous purchase but Daniel got to work on the transformation that very weekend.
“I put aside about £20,400,” said Daniel, “I had to run plumbing, get the permits, electrics, everything. I used the contractor who had renovated my kitchen the year before.”
And by October 2022 the tiny house project was complete.
But Daniel had bigger dreams for the space and extended it by another eight feet by 12 to make room for a bedroom.
This process took another six weeks and by Christmas the couple were finally happy with their new little holiday home.
“With all the additions and everything, all-in-all, it was about £30,000,” said Daniel, “so, at that point, I said, ‘You know what? Let’s see if we can get this rented'”.
The Texas couple then worked on adding all the essential amenities, a fully functioning bathroom, kitchen, power, air conditioning and TV.
By New Years’ Eve 2022, they had already attracted their first guest and today they have a constant flow of visitors staying in their unique house.
“I joined a couple of Facebook groups, and I started getting people from all over asking me questions and wanting to come and stay,” said David.
“Friends and family come from out of town and want to stay in our house. It’s been pretty popular—from a small idea, it’s grown really big.”
The home is now available to visitors from around £60 a night.
This comes after one woman refused to pay rent for the rest of her life – so she converted her shed into a tiny home for only £500.
Another savvy DIY fan also bought a shed for £11,000 and turned it into a “gorgeous” little home – some have even called it the best conversion they’ve ever seen.
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