INTERVIEW: We Chat With 16-Year-Old Tiny House Builder Austin Hay

What did you accomplish by the age of 16? That's how old high school junior <a href="http://www.minihousebuilder.com/" target="_blank">Austin Hay</a> is, and he's already built an entire house! Well to be more precise, the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/small-space-living">tiny home</a> will be officially done by November, but still - that's pretty impressive. What originally started as a school project has turned into a full-blown year-long construction job to build a 130 sq ft house based on plans from <a href="http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/" target="_blank">Tumbleweed Houses</a> that make use of recycled, donated, salvaged materials. We caught up with Austin in between school and homework to ask him a few questions about his tiny house.

Austin always thought it would be cool to build a <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/treehouse">treehouse</a>, but once he found out you could build homes on a trailer to make them mobile, he quickly changed his mind.

Basing his house on the popular <a href="http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/houses/fencl/" target="_blank">Fencl Tumbleweed House model</a>, Austin began work on building his tiny house in July of 2010.

He bought the trailer for $2,000 at a used car dealership in Oregon and just a few hours drive from his home in Sonoma County, California.

Over the past year, Austin has slowly built up the tiny home along with help from his father and friends.

Austin even has it planned out so there will be desk where he can do his homework and a futon in case he has friends stay over.

Austin carefully installs the roofing material.

After high school, the plan is to take the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/tiny-house">tiny home</a> on the road and set it up wherever he can.

Austin sitting in his first home that he will own outright with no mortgage.

He's gotten materials out of scrap yards and recycling centers as well as donations from family and friends. All of the doors and windows are <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/salvaged-materials">salvaged</a> and the wiring was scrap from an electrician friend.

A 130 sq ft doesn't sound like much to most of us, but Austin has it all planned out and thinks the lofted ceilings are key to the design and make it feel bigger.

A sleeping loft sits above the kitchen and bathroom area, which includes a shower, composting toilet, fridge, sink and even a stove and an oven.

He's still got two years of high school left and hopes to move in officially once it's complete in November.

Austin tests out his sleeping loft for a quick nap.