I have pretty basic building skills and have not had the cash to pay experts for my build. However, I own a very comfortable but not fancy cube van tiny home truck that I have lived in for 4 years --in Canada no less!
I got a lot of stuff free on Kijiji and I made use of a local motorhome and RV salvage yard (Haps just outside Orillia Ontario) and a local welder who works out of his garage (GP welding and fabrication) so is very affordable.
Where I had to spend cash, that I highly recommend as being very worthwhile, I paid professional spray foam installer after I framed up my empty van.
Also I would like to point out I started out with a square box as it is so much easier to build in. I also shelled out for a solar system that was very user friendly but not cheap. Yeti offers several sized systems that are all in one unit with solar panels that plug right in to the unit.
When I needed wood cut, I did a lot of my build in the Home Depot parking lot and used a power drill for the most part to build the whole thing. I bought plastic dresser drawer storage chest from Walmart as they are lightweight and stackable and the frames could easily be screwed into the wood studs behind the paneling.
I purchased a cheap Luggable Loo from Canadian Tire for around $50 and screwed silicone funnel to the front edge of the seat as a urine diverter. I just used a 4L jug from bottled water as the catch basin.
I got a free bathroom cabinet with sink on Kijiji and put a 10L jug from purchased water at Walmart, under the cabinet to catch the drain water. I installed wire baskets above the sink to hold two 7L jugs of water poised like taps.
By keeping all the water and waste needs inside the box I don’t have to worry about them freezing in winter.
Hope that helps those of you out there on a tight budget!
Greetings!
My best builds have all been extremely cheap, utilizing free, reused, recycled, & repurposed items. Today, most of my builds are modular, no build, builds that you just move in & secure. Fast, cheap, & easy for the win. No holes in the roof usually means no leaks.
Cheers!
Funny you should mention roof leaks- one of the reasons i went with spray foam was to prevent that. I also use tar backed self adhesive RV roofing and Eternabond tape for all the seams and edges.
My truck came with a translucent fiberglass roof which because it is over 10 years old becomes brittle. The spray foam insulation dries to a very hard and rigid consistency and has provided strength to the roof such that I can actually walk on it.
It can be really hard to put any kind of roofing material on fiberglass as even though it is old it still has a gassing off occurring which can create bubbles under your roofing. I have had a little bit of that problem but not enough to ruin the roof. By poking pinhole in the bubble through the tar, one can push the air out and then reseal it using the tar and a little piece of Eternabond tape to patch the hole. It’s almost 4 years now and although the box leaked when I bought it I have had no leaking problems since my build. 
Greetings!
Yeah, every roof vent I ever had leaked, solar panel mounts leaked, basically any and every hole leaked eventually.
I once had a step van with a translucent roof, and it leaked around the edges and at the seams, so I added a second roof over the top of it using those clear wavy roofing panels. That kept the light but fixed the leaks without dealing with repairing the original roof or panels.
I eliminated the roof vents in my bus, and totally replaced the roof panels, and sealed all the seams with HVAC tape prior to painting it with rubberized paint. So far, so good, and it’s been a really wet winter.
Cheers!
Vance,
Interested on how you got those clear wavy roofing panels attached to your roof? I know you’ve laid out the solution to my issues in another thread but now entertaining the roofing your mentioned on this thread for the 1999 Ford Truck E350 Super Duty Van 5.4L I’m working on. Thanks again!
Greetings!
They have wavy wood ribs to match those panels, so that makes it easy. I sandwiched the panels between two of them for added strength then through bolted them through the roof frame using large fender washers to spread any load. The I added a triangular air deflector in the front to prevent any air from getting underneath them.
The sides were flat, so I just sandwiched them between plywood strips, and bolted them downn as above.
Cheers!
learning how to do more with less and in the
simplest way possible." ~ Wise Words Wiki
Hi Vance!
Would you mind sending me links of the products? I am a visual person/learner so any visual aid/s and pics will definitely help me a lot. 