I built a house in the Caribbean for £3k to escape cold UK

NationalWorld.com

A Brit built a house in the Caribbean for £3k - to live mortgage-free and escape the UK's "miserable" weather.  Alex Cassidy, 22, built the one-bed home on land in Tobago owned by his stepdad, Derek Sandy, 61.  After collecting materials, he spent three months building with the help of local tradespeople.

Transcript

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.

00:17So, we've got the balcony area, that's the chilling out area.

00:22We have the bedroom.

00:24Sofa bed.

00:26We also have the kitchen, fridge, sink and stove.

00:32So yeah, this cost me £3,000 to build.

00:35So, we have shower, little sink and toilet.

00:43£3,000 and this is what you'll get.

00:46The reason it was cheap, I did a lot of the labour myself.

00:49The labour cost me around about £1,000 and the materials was around about £2,000.

00:54I have running water, I have Wi-Fi and I have electric.

00:58So yeah, this is £3,000 and this is what you'll get.

01:01No council tax, no mortgage, just start to build and your happy days.

01:13So yeah, £3,000.

01:15What would £3,000 in the UK get you? Probably not that far.

01:20So yeah, no heating either.

01:23The reason I don't need any heating because it never gets cold.

01:26Coldest in the night it will get is probably around about 20 degrees.

01:30I think the coldest I've ever experienced it here was about 18.

01:34So yeah, that's a cold, that's a really cold night here.

01:37But yeah, most nights it's around about 25 degrees.

01:40So yeah, beautiful views, surrounded by nature.

01:45This is what living is supposed to be like.

01:49A lot of people would say this is a glorified shack or it's a shed.

01:52But to me, it's my house and I love to live in it.

01:56I like to live in it and I do live in it.

01:59So yeah, take care, God bless, everyone have a brilliant day.

02:05Oh, you live in a shed from B&Q.

02:07I'll tell you what, I don't ever have to pay a mortgage.

02:09I never 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.

02:17But I would rather live in this house here than a £300,000 house I have to pay or spend paying for 35 years on a mortgage for.

02:26I have to give all my time to the government just to pay that off.

02:29No, thank you. I own this.

02:31I never have to pay anyone a cent apart from my electricity bills and my water bills.

02:35So yeah, and also my bills are a lot cheaper.

02:38I would rather live in this house here than live in a fancy £300,000 house,

02:44which isn't even that big in the UK because we all live in shoe boxes in the UK.

02:48I'd rather have this over that any day of the week.

02:51I don't have to work 35 years to pay a mortgage to live in a cold, miserable, boring country.

02:58I live out here peacefully and quiet.

03:01No one disturbs me out here.

03:03I have no neighbours.

03:05It is just me, myself and I.

03:07So yeah, take care, everyone.

03:09God bless.

03:10Laugh if you want to live.

03:12I 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.

03:19So yeah, happy days.

03:21Take care. God bless.

03:22See you soon.

03:24Every three months I pay about £50 for electricity.

03:28I pay just a bit more every three months for water.

03:31And Wi-Fi is about £30 to £40 every three months as well.

03:36Very cheap indeed.

03:38I know people in the UK, they're paying almost like £200 a month for electric alone.

03:44So yeah, utility bills are very cheap there.

03:47Somehow, I don't know how, but they are very, very cheap.

03:50And it puts it in perspective.

03:52One thing I've noticed here, I've never seen anyone with solar panels here.

03:55Probably because electricity is so cheap.

03:58The people are very friendly.

04:00They're always looking after me.

04:02And here's something as well.

04:03I could be at the bar till three in the morning here and there'll be no fights.

04:06There'll be no quarrels, nothing.

04:08Now you go to England, if you go to a club and it's like two in the morning,

04:11there's people throwing up everywhere.

04:13There's fights.

04:14There's all sorts of, you know, badness going on.

04:18Always something going on.

04:20There's always fights and this and that.

04:21You don't really see that here at all.

04:23You don't see that.

04:24There's a lot more love and unity and a lot more maturity as well within the people

04:28compared to what you see in England.

04:30So yeah, they're my three things.

04:33And I'll give you a bonus one as well is the food is amazing.

04:37The food is so good here.

04:39Way better than what we get in England.

04:41If you've never had Caribbean cuisine, you need to try it.

04:44Pretty much what I do is I'm a musician in England.

04:47And I do gig to gig.

04:49I probably do about 70 to 80 gigs a season.

04:51And I also work in a cafe.

04:54And I pretty much work as a cook.

04:57And it is stressful because the cafe is tiny.

05:00Tiny little space.

05:02You have about 10 tickets on.

05:04I stay with my parents half the year in England.

05:06And then I come down here and I live in my own house.

05:09So that's how I'm making it work for myself.

05:12I'm quite lucky.

05:13Yes, I'm lucky because I've been in the situation.

05:15But I'm not rich at all.

05:17I work very, I do like 12, 13 hour shifts pretty much every day in the summertime.

05:22Just so I can survive.

05:23I barely go out because I'm saving up so I can live down there.

05:26So this is really, I can make a sacrifice in the summer.

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