I couldn’t afford my dream home — so I spent $19,000 turning my parents garage into a palace

David Landsel
·3 min read
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A young man, Josh Jones, pointing at the door of a converted garage turned into a 1 BR apartment
Josh Jones, 21 found the housing market in his area to be too expensive -- so he talked his parents into letting him convert their garage into a 1 BR apartment.

A house? In this economy?

After being shut out of the hyper-competitive rental market in his hometown, an enterprising 21-year-old managed to snag the first home of his dreams — for just under $19,000.

But there was a catch — the ‘home’ was his parents garage. And the $19,000 is what it would cost to turn the damp, junk-filled space into a livable, one bedroom apartment.

Josh Jones, 21 found the housing market in his area to be too expensive — so he talked his parents into letting him convert their garage into a 1 BR apartment.
Josh Jones, 21 found the housing market in his area to be too expensive — so he talked his parents into letting him convert their garage into a 1 BR apartment.
Feeling priced out of the local rental market, Josh Jones built himself his first home.
Feeling priced out of the local rental market, Josh Jones built himself his first home.

Josh Jones, of tony Tunbridge Wells, England, successfully convinced his parents to let him move next door to the four bedroom family home in one of the U.K.’s priciest areas — and even promised to do the work himself, throwing the initial $5,000 he had saved directly into the renovation project.

“I learned to do it all on YouTube, as I have been in the building trade since I was 16,” Jones told South West News Service.

After spending a considerable amount of time convincing his folks, Jones began the build in January 2023, completing the project eight months later.

He did all the work on his own — clearing years worth of his dad’s junk out of the space, stripping the roof, leveling the floor, plus adding a kitchen and bathroom. By May of 2024, Jones and his girlfriend were moved in.

Jones said: “I had to completely strip the garage roof, repair it and then insulate it.

Jones spent eight months making his parents garage livable.
Jones spent eight months making his parents garage livable.
He said he’d happily live in the house for the next ten years — and he’s even considering going into business doing garage conversions.
He said he’d happily live in the house for the next ten years — and he’s even considering going into business doing garage conversions.

“I leveled out the garage floor, we damp-proofed it and added drainage.

“I added walls, a kitchen, bathroom and living room.”

Jones said the hardest part of the project was the drainage. We had to dig a six-foot deep hole and I dug too far down and broke a pipe that I didn’t need to so I had to replace that.

His favorite room to design and build was the kitchen — which he snagged on Facebook Marketplace for just a few hundred dollars, secondhand.

Jones hopes to sit tight for at least ten years and save, save, save for a home of his own.

“Renting is ridiculously expensive and never an option for me as I didn’t want to be paying someone else’s mortgage,” he said.

“I can see myself living here for the next 10 years – I don’t see why not. When I told my friends what I was doing, they were…super impressed.”

And the success of his first garage renovation has given Jones an idea — he wants to go into business with his brother and father and do more of them.