Broke College Kid New to this Bus thing

[bdubble]

Hi all, first off I'd like to say that I'm very happy to have found this awesome site. As the title says I'm a broke college kid only 20 years old and I'm interested in converting a bus for me and my fiancé to live in off campus since apartments and crap and too expensive, I think I'd be willing to try and invest about 10K into this, any tips for starting off or if it'd even be a good idea?

[charles_m]

Its obvious, but do you have a place to park it? Will you need to be off grid/plan on using generator for power? Will you insulate/lift roof? Keep original windows? All these questions need to be answered, then you'll have some good info. Welcome!

[EastCoastCB]

Having somewhere to park/work on a bus is harder than it seems. I'd say have two or three places so when the first location doesn't work out there isn't that scramble to find a storage yard or whatever.

[bdubble]

well judging from the area I'm in here in northern Pennsylvania find a place to park it wouldn't be all that hard I don't think but yes I would want it atleast semi insulated and off grid with solar panels and heated with a fireplace. structurally I want it pretty untouched as far as windows or raised celling go since I would try and do this cheap. I would have a good place to build this though and if you more experienced people think itd be a more cost effective method of living off campus to start paying the bills then i'd like to start planning it now and complete it over my summer break, roughly 4 months.

[charles_m]

It could be awesome for you! How tall are you? If you're over 6' insulating the bus well and keeping any headroom will be almost impossible without a raise or finding a hi roof bus, but still might be a bit low.

For moderate power useage, id say your solar setup will run abour 3k

Dont plan on selling the bus when you're done with it for a profit. Youll be lucky to get what you put in it and probably lots less.

Wood stoves are cool for heating, but if you're gone all day, the internal temps of be bus will get cold in the winter and in the mornings. You dont want to leave a burning stove unattended if you can help it

[bdubble]

I'm 5' 6" so I think I might be fine with a simple insulation and as far as wood stove goes I'd be on campus most of my day so starting up the stove might not be that bad. Overall I'm just looking for a cheaper alternative to apartment living and being able to save money, I'm willing to take a hit and invest some money in order to save money in the long run. Would you say that 4 months is enough time to get a bus equipped and livable

[EastCoastCB]

5'6" is fine, that's about the cutoff of where you NEED a roof raise, IMO.

[somewhereinusa]

I'm 5'8" have almost three inches of insulation in the floor and still have room for another inch or so for ceiling insulation without even beint close. I do have a high roof Bluebird.

[EastCoastCB]

At 5'10 I'm out of headroom in mine. Standard height AmTran.

[nat_ster]

Do you have $20,000 min to build a bus for full time living?

Insulation, solar, appliance's, heating / cooling parts, ect all adds up far faster than anyone thinks.

A steel tent can be done cheap, but is no good to live in full time in any climate.

Nat

[bdubble]

would it actually be around 20k?

[The-Breeze]

You could go bare minimum to save money but there's some things that are costly that you would need.

You need to make a list of what you can live without and for those items that you just have to have, you need to consider the cost of installing to accommodate.

Are you going to have running water?

Are you going to bathe on the bus?

Are you going to cook?

Do you need electricity?

Do you need a crapper?

The original cost of a used bus does make this venture sound ideal, but it's the little things that will nickel & dime you.

With 10K it's doable depending on what essentials you have to have.

[CaptainInsaneo]

Originally Posted by bdubble

would it actually be around 20k?

If you wanted something nice, it would at least be $10K, if you scrounged for deals, went with the cheapest bus, did EVERYTHING yourselves and took over a year to do it. If you want something very nice yeah, $20k is probable. The less you do yourselves the more it will cost.

A bar napkin breakdown.
bus min $2k max $10k avg $3k
solar min $2k max $40k avg $4k
insulation min $0 max $6k avg $1.3k
heating min$0 max $6k avg $1k
electrical (just wiring and boxes).5-1.5k Depending on complexity
kitchen min $.3k(you won't cook much with this one) and you can spend as much as you could imagine on this one I am guessing most will spend either 1k or 3k depending on your tastes and appliances.
Plumbing probably at least another 1k and could spend as much as you can set on fire.
What kind of walls and floor and ceiling you want that will probably cost .5-2k
furniture?
propane tanks?
Tools?
Tires?


You see why Nat said $20k

If you want to live well on the cheap get a used prebuilt RV if you want to live in YOUR OWN RV then build a skoolie. It may not be cheap but in the long run it is worth it.

All that said $20k isn't a lot for a cool tiny house that moves itself.

[bdubble]

Thank you soo much for all the estimates and details of what to look for, I guess I'm gonna sit down and research the heck out of everything tomorrow and start adding it up

[karma8282]

Great place ( if you have one there) is a habitat for humanity store. I saved a bundle on lights, wiring, cabinets, sink, some tools, doors, paneling and such! Good luck

[Seb1]

My costs :
Bus 3800.00
Framing+ceiling 2033.63
Plumbing 1489.56
Electrical solar 1309.28
Electrical batteries 1191.97
Appliances 971.00
Electrical inverter 805.64
Floor 733.23
Electrical hardware 542.21
Gas 530.03
Insulation 469.53
Roof rack 449.79
Electrical alternator DC-DC 370.02
Electrical main 334.14
HVAC 223.97
Electrical shore 150.31
Matresses 90.00
Paint 83.00
Others 105.95

Grand Total 15683.26

Note that my bus was cheap = many repairs to come, not factored in the total above.
$10000 seems very, very tight overall budget to make it livable.

[CHEESE_WAGON]

It really comes down to the size of the bus, how much you pay for it, any looming issues that need to be addressed (rust can be a lot bigger deal than you think), and what you really need in your conversion.

For instance, as others have asked, do you plan to go off-grid? If so, you're going to need a serious battery bank with a serious solar array, with a backup generator for overcast / cloudy days.

You might poke around to see who might be selling a partially done or even finished conversion, you might get lucky and score a smoking deal. I myself was about to pull the trigger on a partially done full-size unicorn bus with one of the better mechanical setups, but I have had respiratory issues for several years now, and am just now learning that being around a diesel is veritably signing my own death warrant.

Hence, I had to pass up a smoking deal on a bus with most of the hard work already done for much less than I would have spent doing it myself. Especially as I cannot do much of any of this type of work myself, and would have to pretty much pay others in pizza and beer to do it...

So, as you can tell, it is very subjective. Best thing to do is compile a list of MUST-have versus what nice to have. You might want to look through the threads linked in my sig, there's a lot of info there that newbies find helpful in choosing a platform and build, or whether this type of project is really even for them at all. A lot of people get into it with rose-colored glasses and find out it is not nearly as easy or cheap as they thought it would be.

A very basic conversion on a small cutaway-chassis bus can likely be done for $10k if a lot of freecycling, wheeling and dealing, and repurposing is utilized in sourcing materials, but again, you must consider the must-have versus nice-to-have, and you definitely need to have or develop some handyman / DIY skills, or form a very good friendship / working relationship with someone who does.

But first and foremost, I would research ordinances and such local to the area in question and find out whether it would be legal to drive a larger bus (some roads and streets are weight and length restricted) and some localities prohibit living in vehicles. Even if the law allows it or does not expressly prohibit it, some yo-yo somewhere along the way could throw a hissy fit because they're paying rent and you're not.

Whatever you decide, good luck, and welcome to the community!