I hear your logic but my brain heuristics tell me it doesn't compute. I could be wrong but my guess is you are underestimating costs and troubles of actually building this, and overestimating how expensive it would be to buy something reasonable used. My advice, keep enjoying planning it and keep looking for a used one to buy.
-mouser
I am going into it with my eyes open in the sense of how painful and time-consuming the project will be at certain points, however, that is also why we are giving ourselves around 6 months to build it. I don't think that's unreasonable in terms of timescales and doesn't put a huge amount of pressure on things. Maybe it will take more time, and maybe it will take more money, but the beauty of it is....it doesn't really matter, because it won't be an "all-in-one" expense. If it takes another 2 months and another £1200 to build, then so be it. When the end goal is to have no real outgoing costs (other than insurance and fuel), and to be able to afford to move away from here to Katie's home town (which, just so you're aware, would cost us around £5000 to do, into a rented house, then at least £850/month just for rent!!!!!!), I personally see it as a project worth completing. Buying a used van, even if by some miracle there is one that comes up for a price we could afford all in one go, still would mean we get one with very little floor space, and has been designed for use by people on holiday and not living. This has to be able to accommodate 2 of us and Munch, comfortably, for an absolute minimum of a year. If we can manage it for a year, then we do aim to stay in it longer, so we can save enough for the deposit to buy a house (rather than just dumping our savings into rental property). The ultimate aim, would be to stay in it until we have both graduated from University (which is distance learning) - By doing this, we will be able to save around £21,600 (£600/month for 3 years), which works out at a 10% deposit on a £210,000 home (probably the lowest end of the market in the area we will be living/working), or a 5% deposit on a £420,000 house (I don't want a £420,000 house, but it's nice to know we could have the deposit for one haha) - If we are living in rental housing, then that saving, over the space of 3 years, would probably be more like £5000, at the most (again, outgoings £850/month on rent, then council tax (£110/month), water rates (£20/month), gas/electric (£80/month), insurance (£30/month), food (£150/month) and other associated costs of running a house - Minimum of £1240/month, opposed to the outgoing costs of £120 for insurance(s), £100/month on fuel, and £150/month on food (£370/month total) on a van!) (£870 total saved per month, putting £600 away for the deposit on a house, and having an extra £270 as disposable income).
I guess the ultimate aim of staying in it for 3 years will probably not happen, but it's handy to know the potentials of doing so (and we wouldn't be the first people, by a long way, to live in a camper for such time).
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