Something new I’ve been learning about are Skoolies thanks to my daughter’s and her boyfriend’s idea they’re going to ‘build a skoolie’ and travel with their friends who are in the process of building their own.
This is not a new concept, in fact, my first response was along the lines of, oh, y’all are going to be traveling hippies? Completely unoffended, she said, Yup!
I’ve been watching videos with her. It has become, I don’t know if fad is the correct term, maybe its own niche within the niche market known as the ‘tiny house market’ as more people are looking for more affordable, as well as sustainable, living alternatives.
According to Business Wire, the global market research firm Technavio published a report in 2018 that the tiny home market could be expected to grow ~7% between 2018-2022. That was pre-pandemic. I wonder if that number has been adjusted higher since then.
A key factor driving the market’s growth is the cost-intensive construction of conventional houses. The demand for tiny homes is mainly driven by the high cost of conventional site-built homes. The prices of the latter are increasing at rates higher than the increase in the income levels of people, which is encouraging customers to opt for tiny homes that are less expensive living solutions than constructing a house.
Business Wire
Here is the U.S. there is Skooliepalooza meet up every year in January in Quartzsite, Arizona. They even have a website and bill itself as “A Camping & Skoolie Community Building Event.”
Skoolies are a cross between an RV and a tiny house on wheels, but for a fraction of the price of RVs in some cases.
Build with Rise describes it like this: “Skoolies are renovated school buses made into houses, an example of upcycling at its best. Upcycling is the art of taking something that can no longer be used for its original purpose and transforming it for different use.”
You can convert school buses, shuttle buses, even box trucks. You can DIY or hire it out for a custom build as well.
My daughter’s friends are building a ‘short bus’ skoolie. I refrained using my smart aleck comeback for that one. That would have gotten me the evil side eye so I had to seriously bite my tongue.
It’s similar to this. This is an example from Epic Skoolies. Near as I can gather they’re located in Seattle.
Here, Cole Webb also has other ‘how-to’ videos, such as how to install flooring, install a fan, building a bed with set and storage, on his YouTube channel.
Question of the night: Did you have to ride a school bus to school? Could you live in one?