[Tony] We're building our off-grid A-frame
in Southern Utah.
[machinery whirring]
[Karen] We really did
choose the spot with the most boulders and shrubs.
It's gonna be a big change.
[Karen] Tony, that's his last scoop.
We're not gonna have enough.
We're in a lot of trouble.
[Karen] This is gonna be one of the most challenging things
we take on as a family.
Just loosening them, right?
[all exclaiming]
[Tony] Guys, I'm way too high up in the air.
I literally feel like I'm about to flip.
-Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! -[Karen] Whoa!
Is there a plan B to this?
[Tony] This is sketchy.
-Oh! Angel! -[Karen] Oh, no!
Seems like we chose the windiest spot
of Utah to build our A-frame.
The wind is not helping.
[Tony] This delays our build
and it costs us a lot of extra money.
-Whoa! -Oh, my... Tony!
-You cut your arm. -[screams]
All these little mistakes
are starting to add up.
[narrator] Are you ready to go off the grid?
All right. So, this is the part of the land
that I really like.
I love the view, the boulders. There's trees.
We're from Las Vegas, Nevada,
and we found an incredible gem in Southern Utah.
It's a beautiful property
where we're looking to build our A-frame tiny cabin.
[Karen] Okay, so I love the scenery on this area.
It's definitely gonna be a lot of work to take out these boulders
and flatten it all out, right?
That is... Yeah, the boulder's gonna be tough.
So I grew up in Las Vegas.
All I really have known growing up is city life.
It's always hearing cars driving by, horns beeping.
So, to be able to unplug and go to a place that's very remote,
it's gonna be a big change.
-I'm Tony. -[Karen] And I'm Karen.
[Tony] And we're building our off-grid A-frame in Southern Utah.
[Karen] Do you think Levi's gonna like this area?
I think Levi is gonna love this area.
He loves to play in the dirt,
and it looks like we got plenty
-of dirt here. -[laughs] We've got plenty of dirt.
[Tony] Levi, come on.
We just had our son Levi. So, he's one-year-old now.
And in Las Vegas, it's just hard for us to be outside.
[Tony] It is literally like a 120 degrees there,
four months out of the year.
And so to have a place that we can kind of escape to in the summer.
And ultimately, it provides us
a great environment to enjoy
and spend time together as a family.
Give the camera high five.
[Tony and Karen] Whoop!
[Tony] The build site is located near Iron County
about three and half hours south of Salt Lake City.
So, our property is surrounded by truly incredible views
from the massive mountains that are around us.
You can see snow-capped mountains.
The land out here is full of wildlife.
So, you're gonna see eagles, sheep running around,
all kinds of stuff. So, that is one of the things
that has really drawn me to this piece of land.
Well, should we measure it out?
-See where we're... -Yeah.
-Let's do it. -Okay.
-Maybe you just right over here to that area. -Okay.
-This really is a lot to clean up. -Yeah, it's a lot of brush.
We have a background in construction.
We build shipping container homes across the United States.
But I've never got the opportunity to build for myself.
Well, we just celebrated three years of marriage...
-[Karen] Whoo! -[Tony] ...and I will say
we've gotten a lot better at working together.
But there are those exceptions
-where we definitely bump our heads. -[Karen] Yeah.
Tony really likes to focus on getting things done quickly.
And I like to focus on getting things done right.
Yeah, often times, I feel like it's good enough,
-but Karen's standard is a little bit higher. -[laughs]
So, she challenges me.
My only concern...
is just the front door's gonna be in the middle
-of the home. -[Karen] Okay.
And that is right where this boulder's at.
So, after dreaming about a few different ideas,
we decided to build an A-frame.
I'm really excited because we're gonna give it a modern spin on the outside,
and I hope to make it really cozy on the inside.
[Tony] When you walk into the A-frame,
the first phase you're gonna see is the kitchen.
It will be right in front.
To the left of that is gonna be our bed area.
And right below is a pullout bed for Levi.
And then, to the right side of the unit,
is a full bathroom with toilet, vanity and shower.
While there isn't much of a living room space
on the inside of the A-frame,
uh, we're gonna say that we're gonna have
the world's largest living room on the outside.
So, we're thinking of creative things that will be part of that.
Oh, do you think we can get a hot tub?
I think we can do a hot tub. It's gonna have to be...
-Cold plunge? -...off the grid.
-I don't want a cold plunge, but that might be fun too. -[laughs]
[Tony] When it comes to being off the grid,
what really excites me is just the idea
of having to be innovative and creative
with how we're gonna manage our utilities.
For our off-grid features,
we chose to go with solar for the power,
a well for the water.
We do have a portable HVAC unit on the inside
to do the heating and cooling.
And then, we ended up using an incinerating toilet.
Okay, cool. I think that's a pretty good, uh,
-good plan. -Okay, cool.
So, our A-frame is gonna be about 300 square feet,
but with the outdoor space it will be a little over 500 square feet.
[Tony] This unit is gonna cost us around $50,000.
And we have six weeks to get this done.
So, we have a really tight timeline, which is gonna be interesting
because we're leaving out of the country
and we want to get this done before we leave.
[Tony] The next step is to clear all the brush.
The goal is to just get this piece of land very clear.
So, that we can then take in the gravel and start making our pad.
[machine whirring]
[Karen] Okay, let's get started.
I have never used a chainsaw before.
I would watch out.
[laughs]
[Tony] This terrain is very different than our home town
of Las Vegas
where it's very deserty and there's not a lot of bushes.
[Karen] Even though we chose a beautiful location, we really did
choose the spot with the most boulders and shrubs.
So, I'll just help clear out everything as he's going
so we can get the dirt in.
We got some three quarter inch rock,
and we are connecting with our friend, Steve.
He's coming over with his front loader, his skid steer,
um, and the plan is, there's a little bit of a slope going this way,
and so, basically, we just wanna add more, uh, dirt back here
to try to get this all level.
I'm a little bit worried that we do not have enough dirt.
I ordered 20 tons.
And if I'm honest, we probably need 30, 35 tons.
[Karen] So, Steve gets started.
[Tony] There's half the dirt. [chuckles]
[Karen] Picks up his first scoop
and immediately we're worrying because
it looks like half of it was gone.
That was a large percentage of our dirt. [laughs]
[Tony] I'm gonna get out of the way.
[laughs]
[Tony] So, we're about 30 minutes in, and already that pile of dirt
is just dwindling. It's almost out.
And I'm very concerned that we're not gonna have enough dirt.
I'll wave him.
What's kind of scary is it took us about a week just to have this delivered.
And we're on a weekend right now and no one's open.
So, there is really no hope to get more dirt today.
[Karen] Tony, that's his last scoop.
We're not gonna have enough.
[Tony] I don't know what to do.
-This is not good. -[Karen] Yeah.
[Tony] It's not gonna work.
[Karen] Tony, I don't think this is gonna be enough dirt.
[Tony] Yeah, this isn't looking good.
[Karen] I'm getting nervous as it dwindles.
[laughs] There's about, like, one more trip left.
What are we gonna do?
We need a plan B.
All right. I think we're officially on to plan B.
Is our foundation set at this size? Can we...
-alter it at all? -Sure.
I think the deck space that we wanna do
we might just have to do that out of wood.
And in the meantime, maybe create just the pad
for the base of the A-frame.
So, after some brainstorming we decided we're gonna stay on schedule.
So, instead of waiting for the dirt to come in.
We're going to make sure there's enough space
for the A-frame itself in the foundation.
And we'll worry about the deck space later.
[Tony] So, now that all the dirt is in place,
the next step is to compact it and then, level it.
So, we're gonna go ahead and go through it to make sure
things are being real smooth, real strong.
So, that we can then put our 4X4 wood skids down.
I think I'll make it work.
So, the foundation is all laid out,
and now it is time for our bases.
We had these things fabricated in Vegas. We drove 'em up here.
Loading 'em was kind of insane.
They were way bigger than I remember them being.
When we loaded them we had two forklifts
to helps us and four people.
So, now I have a lot of concerns about offloading them.
Luckily, my friend Adam came along to give us a hand,
and I really hope it's enough.
All right. Time for the fun part.
This things weighs about 1,600 pounds,
and the biggest fear is that as we're trying to lift it and swing it
that this thing wants to collapse into this one
and ultimately go over the top of us.
Oh, I think it can get up there.
And... stop.
-[Adam] We might need to untie it up top. -[Tony] Whoo!
I'm worried about if those are causing too much tension,
twisting that frame when they, when they pop together.
[Tony] Yeah, we gotta loosen 'em up a little bit.
The plan is not working like we thought.
I think we have to loosen up these ratchet straps up here.
We put some straps on the top, um,
for safer transport. And now we're finding that its buckling.
So, plan B is gonna be Tony climbing up this base
and loosening those straps.
[Tony] I'm afraid of heights. So, going up there
-I'm gonna be holding on really tight. -[laughs]
[Adam] All right, Tony.
[Karen] Just loosening them, right?
Um, I guess I can go one more. [laughs] It is high.
The middle one's pretty good actually.
So, we're, we're pretty good on that one.
[Adam] I think it's mostly this one.
[Tony] Is that what it is? Yeah, let's see.
[Karen] It's gonna be a little scary to watch him.
He's gonna have to hop
from one bar to the next.
It could end up closing while he's up there.
[Adam] Yeah, it is this one. This one is tight.
[Tony] Not really loosening it up very well.
I don't know if I'm doing something wrong maybe,
or if it got tightened.
Pretty scary to see him up there on that unsupported structure.
Holding on, pretending I'm doing something.
Makes me feel slightly in control.
So, Tony is up there loosening the last strap,
I thought we had cleared any of the danger.
[Tony] And all of sudden...
-[screams] Oh! No. -[Tony] Okay.
-[metal creaks] -[Tony] ...for whatever reason it gave.
The whole structure started to start moving.
And I just started envisioning myself flying
over the top of this whole thing.
We're done. [laughs]
Yeah, last moment there was...
-And we're back in business. -[Adam] Let's go.
[metal creaks]
Whoo!
Just shimmy it down there right now.
-Yeah, I think-- -[metal rumbles]
[Adam] Like that? [laughs]
[Karen] We're good.
So, once Tony safely dismounted...
[Adam] Back up.
[Karen] ...we were able to have Steve come in with a forklift
and they collapsed together.
And so he was able
to just lift them off of the trailer
and gently set them down.
-Wow. -That's what we got the pro for.
-Nice job, Steve. -[Karen laughs] Ka-boom!
[Tony] Well, we have the base unloaded
that's a big check mark.
But without Steve's help since he has to go.
We're kind of stuck in a bad position
trying to figure out how to get these on to the foundation.
[Karen] I'm starting to get a little nervous because
I don't know how much you can lift, [laughs]
but I can't lift 800 pounds.
[Tony] All right. One, two, three! [straining]
[screams]
[laughs]
You guys have gloves. Those work great. Oh, it's still together, okay.
Oh, my gosh. We are not gonna be able to lift this.
-[Tony] No. -[Adam] We're gonna need some...
We have to call in some reinforcements.
There is no way the three of us
are getting this to the foundation.
So I figured I'm gonna reach out to my friend Ryder
and see if he can give us a hand.
[Ryder speaking over phone]
What' up, Ryder? How's it going man?
I got a favor to ask. We're trying to move these big frames
for a house we're building.
And we're looking for some manpower,
and you were the first guy that came to mind.
[Ryder speaking over phone]
[Tony] Unfortunately, he is not available.
He is stuck at work through the night.
That means we have to stay an entire extra day
just to get this final step completed.
[Karen] So yesterday did not go as planned.
We were hoping to get the base down on to the foundation,
uh, but we realized they were a lot heavier than we expected.
[Tony] Today we're bringing in some heavy hitters. We got my sister Lyndon coming.
And her fiance Ryder.
By far the strongest person in the group is myself.
Just kidding. It's actually gonna be Ryder.
[laughs]
One, two, three.
-Oh, my gosh. -[Adam] Ready?
-[Ryder] All right. -[Lyndon] Oh, God.
-Watch your step through there. -Real slow.
[Tony] Watch the giant mound, Lyndon.
-[Lyndon] You guys... -[Karen laughs]
-[Lyndon] You literally set me up. -[all laugh]
[Karen] As we're going, it turns into an obstacle course.
-[Adam] Be careful. -[Ryder] That's a dirt road.
[Karen] We have to jump over the base that's still on the ground.
[Lyndon] Look.
[Karen] Lyndon's positioned in the worst area.
She's climbing over dirt mounds,
and there was a stake in the ground that she had to climb over.
-[Karen] Oh, gosh. -[Adam] All right.
[Karen] But we made it.
Go down with your legs. Ready.
-That looks great. -Okay.
[Karen] Good work, you guys.
Nice. That was good guys.
-All right. Round two. -[Lyndon] Okay, who wants my position?
[all laugh]
-[Tony] Oh, this one's heavier up on my arm. -[Lyndon] Help me.
[Adam] Not right now.
[Tony] So, for platform number two, it actually felt a lot heavier.
Or maybe our arms were just worn out from the first one?
[Tony] All right. We'll try to drop it kind of close.
And we're good. Good job guys.
-[Karen] Nice. -Good work.
-Whoo! -[Lyndon] Looks good.
Our next task is gonna be securing the two frames together
and then installing the subfloor.
I came out here and it is an absolute blizzard.
Looks like we got a foot of snow,
which is a big problem for our build schedule.
We were trying to do the subfloor today.
And this is not good.
I have no idea when we're gonna get back out here.
This build is at a total stand still now.
[Tony] It took two weeks for this snow to melt,
and this has now put us way behind schedule.
Finally it's a clear day. It's looking nice.
And so we're excited to get working.
For the subfloor we're installing 4X8 sheets of plywood,
three quarters inch thick.
We also have a waterproof membrane
that we are putting around the perimeter of it.
Now that the subfloor is down,
we're really excited for these next steps.
'Cause we get to spray foam the underside of the base
and then begin actually putting up our walls.
What I'm really nervous about is the wind.
It seems like we chose the windiest spot of Utah
to build our A-frame.
And it makes all of the parts of building so unpredictable.
[Tony] And this is definitely gonna present some challenges
as we have to actually elevate this base up in the air
to be able to get underneath it.
-Not sure how this is gonna go. -[laughs]
Come in.
[Tony] I'm gonna pull up the skid steer right up to the base.
We're gonna connect some straps to the far end of the base
and connect it on the bucket in the skid steer.
We'll have Cam and Angel on the back side
making sure it's being lifted properly.
The goal here is to be able to lift up that bucket
and hopefully, the base is gonna lift up with it.
So, be really careful. I know there is a ton of wind up here.
So, my fear is that we lift it up
and a gust of wind just wants to takes it.
If it starts sailing, are you gonna bring it back down,
or what's our game plan if it does?
I'll probably start screaming.
This skid steer is not that big.
And as I lift this thing up
if we get a gust of wind,
next thing I know, it could pull the skid steer with it.
Step one is we get these hooked up before I turn this back on
and then I start to try and lift it up.
-If this works I would genuinely be surprised. -[Karen] Really?
All right. Everybody stand back
and, uh, wish me the best. Here we go.
[engine starts]
-[Angel] Skid steer! Skid steer! -[Tony] I'll go back a little.
[Angel] Tilt the bucket. Tilt the bucket up.
[Tony screams]
So, I start raising up the base...
I can't see no more.
...and next thing I know
is this base is heavier than I expected.
And it's actually starting to pull the skid steer forward.
Well, you're tires coming off the floor.
[Tony] My rear tires are now off the ground
and I'm getting off balance.
Hey, have Karen watch my tire.
It's taking your wheels up.
Just let me know if it looks sketchy then I'll stop.
Okay, it does look sketchy.
[Tony] As the rear tires lifted off the ground
and my front tires started to press into the metal frame,
I started getting really nervous
that either one, the tire was gonna pop,
or that I was gonna flip over,
or God forbid the frame's gonna fall on us.
The last thing we want is someone to get hurt.
Needs to go up higher.
Keep going, dude.
Is there a plan B to this?
So, we finally got the base up as high as we needed.
And now the guys are gonna go in and reinforce it.
[machinery whirring]
So, we got the base in the air a little bit
just enough to get under there and spray foam.
But we have a lot of concerns. Obviously, this doesn't look safe yet.
And so we're gonna be putting in some 4X4 to support it throughout,
and hopefully, that will put us in a position
to be able to keep it up and spray foam it.
We're gonna have Angel and Cam do the spray foaming.
And the reason they're doing it and not me
is 'cause it's a really dirty job.
[laughs]
[Tony] Looking good.
So, a spray foam you're typically doing side walls and ceilings.
It's kind of rare to try to do the underside of something
like we're trying to do.
How do you guys feel about it? Is it going all right?
[Angel speaking]
[Tony] All right. Good job, guys.
-I think we're all done. -[Karen] Whoo!
Now time to lower this bad boy.
I'm expecting this to be even more challenging
than it was to raise it in the air.
The goal is to hope that we can just lower this thing down.
I'm afraid there's gonna be momentum it's gonna want to jump, you know?
I think what we need to do is, basically, have like some of these 4X4 cut down,
so that if it jumps, it lands back on 'em.
All right. We got this.
So, I'm in the skid steer, ready to lower this thing.
Want me to lift up more?
[Angel speaking]
[Tony] And the plan is for Cam and Angel
to chop down those reinforcements little by little
as we start to try to lower this thing.
[Karen] You're about five inches up now.
What scares me is that as soon as you move those posts,
I literally feel like I'm about to flip.
This thing doesn't feel safe.
What do we do next?
[Angel] We just start cutting them slowly.
[Karen] So, what I'm afraid--
-Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! -[Karen] Whoa!
[Tony] Whoa! What just happened?
[Tony] I literally feel like I'm about to flip.
This thing doesn't feel safe.
Guys, I'm way too high up in the air.
No more cutting.
[Karen] We really needed to stop
and reconsider how we were gonna do this.
We're gonna have to get the truck and tie this thing down.
Yep, keep coming.
Keep it coming.
That should be good.
So, I'm really concerned with this thing flipping
so we tried to come up with a solution,
I'm gonna chain it down to my pickup truck.
And ultimately that will ground it...
-[Karen] You're good? -All right. I think we're good.
...and not allow it to wanna flip forward.
[Angel] Those real tight. I think you're going nowhere, hopefully.
[Tony] With the skid steer chained to the truck
I feel way more comfortable
lowering this thing.
Even with all the pressure that it's applying.
And it's allowed us to now lower gently
all the way down to the ground...
-Am I good to go? -[Karen cheering]
[Tony] ...and get the job done.
-Keep going? -[Angel] All the way.
-All right. We're good. -[Cam] We did it.
[Tony] Good job, guys.
[Angel] It's getting there faster.
-Wow! -[Karen] Whoo!
So, we got the base down and now the next steps
are to finally get these walls up.
All right. We're ready for some walls.
-Let's go ahead and start bringing them over. -[Karen] All right.
[Tony] We ended up prefabbing six walls in our shop,
and the goal here
is to basically just assemble those right on to this base.
The poppets will hold it up.
Putting that top is gonna be interesting.
It's gonna be really hard.
It's gonna be a nightmare.
The first wall's up.
One of the things we're starting to notice
is that that first wall's pretty tall.
And we created the top of the A-frame
as a whole separate structure...
This will be the firewall.
...that has to get lifted
onto that first wall.
And as we're doing that all the weight's gonna be on those walls
as they really don't have any support right now.
[Karen] Whoo! Last wall.
I'm so excited to get the walls in place
and really start to see and envision
what it's gonna be like living in this A-frame.
It's looking good.
Feel like it's almost a home.
[Karen] When you're building tiny, every quarter of an inch counts.
-That was deep. That was profound. -[chuckles]
I want that on a shirt.
So, we're tired, we're hungry, it's getting late, the wind is crazy up here.
We got one last challenge, trying to get this rooftop up on here and it's pretty heavy.
No more challenges, we've had a long day.
So I didn't know that with the roof,
we were actually gonna have to carry and place it on top of these walls.
And being 5'3, I'm not of much help.
[Tony] Watch your step. Lots of boulders.
Karen, you're strong. How are you holding this?
It's all Cameron probably then. [chuckles]
I think the theme of our build has been lifting heavy things.
-[Tony] Be very careful. -[Karen] Carefully.
All right, let me just keep feeding it.
Nice job. Whoo!
Our home is up.
-Nice. -Good job.
We're almost there.
We're working the first roofing frame up,
we're able to get it up on to the wall and
thankfully, we are able to smoothly push it into place.
All right, let's go this way, we're gonna get this last frame.
The same team, same sides.
One, two, three.
So we need to lift up the roof and carry it over the boulders and brush.
-Over to the walls. -[man screaming]
[Karen] And the wind's going so it's making it a little unstable.
Wait, wait, wait.
I'm in a shrub.
[Karen] Can you stop pivoting?
[Tony] Angel is on the road less travelled.
[Karen] Pivot! [laughs]
Hold on, hold on.
-[Karen] Oh, no! -[Tony] Hey, watch out!
-[Karen] Man down. -[Tony] Ow.
All the weight is now on me and I'm trying to support this thing.
-You're gonna be okay. -All right.
-[Karen] Whoo! -We can keep going.
Thankfully, he was able to, kinda like, weasel his way out.
-He was in good health. -All right, here we go.
Picked it up.
One...
And we were able to move forward.
-Two... -[Karen] This is a big shoulder workout.
-Okay. -Three. All right.
[Karen] And I'm tapped out.
I really want to be a contributing member of this team.
So I'm trying to take on as much weight as I can.
[Tony laughs] Angel.
Karen, back in the game, quickly.
-[Karen laughing] -We need your help.
So we muscle this in the place.
Oh, this way, Angel. We gotta go up here.
And of course, as we're trying to set this frame up
as it wants to slide off to the right.
Shoulders burn so bad.
[Tony] And we're doing everything we can to just keep this straight.
All right, can you slide it gently?
Very gently.
At one point, I am underneath this frame
and I just had to get on my tippy toes to keep up with these guys.
Push, push, push.
-Come on. -[Karen] Oh, Lord, no.
-Whoo. [chuckles] -[Tony] We did it.
All right. That might be it for the day.
I'm super excited to see everything take shape,
it's starting to look even better than I imagined.
[Karen] Over the last two weeks, we've gotten a lot done.
We got our water barrier out, we got our sheathing done.
The dormer where the door is gonna go.
It made the place look awesome, by the way.
All right. Be careful on your way up.
[Karen]
[Tony] We start getting some exterior metal on this thing,
it's gonna be looking complete.
Then we also got the interior rough-in complete.
So the rough plumbing, electrical and insulation.
We're about to start the exterior roofing
which we've been really looking forward to,
and sure enough, a massive storm is coming in.
[thunder rumbling]
The goal of today was to get the exterior 100% done.
And the truth is we weren't even able to start.
Coming in quick.
[Karen] This was not on our radar.
[Tony] So, right now, it's just a complete scramble,
we gotta recoup all of our tools,
cover up all of our lumber,
and just make sure that we can weather this storm.
All right, guys, let's hurry and tarp this up
because this is all of our wood for the inside.
[Tony] This delays our build and it costs us a lot of extra money
because we have this team out here to perform the work.
And they just have to sit around and wait.
[Karen] The wind is not helping.
Woah.
[Karen] It seems like the delay just keeps snowballing
and our very tight schedule is getting tighter and tighter.
We're really gonna have to start pulling in some long nights
or doing something to make up time.
[Karen] So the delays just kept snowballing with the rain coming in.
So, finally, it's clearing up and we're gonna get to make up for some of that lost time.
The plan for today is to install the windows
as well as the exterior middle siding and roofing.
Today's gonna be a huge transformation day,
it's gonna go from just a plain-looking, wooden/blue building
to a finished out, beautiful, stunning A-frame.
Eli and his crew were here several days ago to help us get this roof up.
But the rain came in and forced us to pack up.
They're back today and hopefully we can get the job done this time.
The weather looks really good right now.
But as I know with Utah weather,
is it can change very quickly, especially in the afternoons the winds tend to pick up.
So we're hoping it'll maintain nice for us.
The first thing for today is to install this huge triangle window.
This window was custom made.
So we can't wait to get it installed.
Once we get this in,
we should be able to just attach the window to it.
-[Karen] Okay. -And we'll just push it all the way up.
[Karen] That's not right.
Okay, something happened here.
We go to put the frame up and this thing is way off.
It is not matching. The window hole is clearly different
than the window we ordered.
[Karen] If we ordered the wrong window...
Are we gonna have to cut the frame or order a new window?
Yeah, this thing took six weeks to get in
'cause it's a custom size window, they don't carry this in stock anywhere.
So when we see that the frame doesn't fit,
my first fear is that we got a window that was too big for the A-frame
and we're gonna have to cut into the structure.
Can you just take this measurement as well?
-Yeah. -Yeah, this is 81, 81, 81.
-[Tony] So we messed up. -[Karen] So this is a perfect triangle.
It is a perfect triangle but our window is not.
So what kind of triangle did we put in there?
I thought we ordered a equilateral triangle.
Obtuse?
Uh, it's not obtuse.
Acute?
-You're cute. -[both laugh]
-[Karen] So, we just bring the windows-- -Yes, bring the window.
[Karen] Okay.
So the next step is to see what it might look like if we just
get rid of the frame altogether,
and try to just install the window directly to the existing structure.
We'll need a few hands to try to lift this thing up here.
[Karen] Okay.
Oh, well.
Okay, so...
-Can it... still fit through the inside? -[Karen gasps]
We're close. [chuckles]
-Close just not on the side. -It's not a match.
Thankfully the top and the bottom fit,
but the sides were not wide enough.
So now we have to add about four inches to each side,
fill that space in so that the window fit in snug.
-[drilling] -Nice.
-Karen, we're ready. -One, two, three.
Yeah, let's have Angel inside.
Beautiful.
It's stuck, up in the top.
-There you go. -[Karen] Whoo.
-That was the one. -That was a tight fit.
[Karen] Yeah, that's great.
It's a massive relief that this window fits
and we don't need to wait six more weeks for a new one.
It looks good, well, let's go ahead and secure it in,
and we'll be good with this window.
Making the window fit definitely adds additional time,
so all these little mistakes are starting to add up.
All right, last one.
[drilling]
-Whoo. Looks amazing. -[Tony] Looks wow. What a big window.
-Love it. -It's huge.
Now it's time for the roof.
-Great. -Let's go.
In order to make up some time, Tony and I are gonna help Eli and his team
get this metal siding up.
-I'll let you lead us in. -[Tony] Okay. Cool.
My metal siding installing experience is virtually non-existent.
A couple of my concerns of the fact that this is roofing
and the wind is now picking up.
[Karen] Awesome.
Another sheet.
So when we do this, we have to
make sure you clip this side to safe first.
Push this as you hammer up.
That way it can latch up on the cleat.
[Tony] Right now, we're fastening
all of the sheet metal panels to the wall.
Just to make sure everything's nice and secure.
So every 20 inches, this gets one of these fasteners.
And it gets overlapped by the next sheet to help keep it in place.
So, as we're installing the metal roofing, the wind starts picking up, of course.
[Tony] This is a big concern because we're carrying these massive metal sheets
that basically turn into sails when you add wind to the equation.
All right, watch your steps.
All right, this is getting way too windy.
Woah.
-Oh, my, Tony! -[Tony grunts]
[Karen] Are you okay?
[Tony] Ow.
It hurt my wrist.
-[Karen] You cut your arm. -Ow.
The wind is really picked up and there's just no way
we're gonna be able to continue doing this roofing.
Uh, fell in a bush, scratched up my arm pretty good.
And my wrist is hurting.
I'd like to keep doing it but this wind is too much.
All righty, that looks like... With the wind, man,
I think this will have to be our last panel we do.
[Karen] We had really optimistic plans to finish the exterior today.
So, it's really just a huge bummer that we have to stop.
[Tony] Really got halfway through the roofing that we planned to do
which is super disappointing
and it just means we have to hold off and put more delays on the project.
[Tony] It took quite a few days for the storm to let up
but finally, we've been able to put up our roof
and get started on the interior.
The bed over there, Cam's knocking that out.
And install our front deck.
We originally ran out of dirt for the deck but we were able
to get another shipment to come in.
And that's gonna help us to get this space level.
It is crunch time, we have had so many delays
and our timeline is coming up quick.
So we are really gonna have to pull in some long nights
to get this project done on time.
[Tony] This is a great environment for a pool.
The winters can get pretty cold, the summers do get really hot.
One, two, three.
[Tony] So the pool is really unique,
it's eight foot around, it's galvanized steel exterior
and it's actually a real pool, like, it heats up, it has pumps, all of that.
All right, nice and slow, Cam.
This thing is probably twice as big as I was picturing.
Maybe I should go on this and help you stop it.
[Tony] Yeah, no runaway pools.
Yeah, we're getting close.
[Karen] Okay, now what's the game plan?
[Tony] Maybe we just rotate it and drop it actually.
So, let's go ahead and do a rotation with it.
All right, coming down.
-And, it's been dropped? -[Karen] Yep.
Okay, one, two, three.
I dropped on two.
[Tony] We finally put the pool in place and it looks incredible.
The thing I'm most looking forward to
is relaxing in the pool and enjoying the views.
Now that the pool's in place, we have one final test.
Levi has to approve.
Come to mama.
He's a tough critic, I don't know.
-Let's see. -[chuckles]
[Karen] Who are you gonna invite into your pool, Levi?
Dada.
-[Tony softly] Levi. -[Karen] Hey, Dada, come in.
Levi was a little shy at first but once he got his hands wet,
he loved it. He did not want to get out of that pool.
What's next?
I'm so excited for this next stage of the project.
It's definitely my favorite. It's turning the interior from a house to a home.
[Tony] Just because we're off-grid doesn't mean
we don't want some of the luxuries of being on-grid.
[Karen] Okay, let's get this projector in.
[Tony] For that reason, we ended up getting a projector with a screen
so that we can hang out, watch TV, and watch movies.
[Karen] We use Science as our friend. Here you go.
[Tony] For the screen, we got creative and just
put some hooks into the shiplap
and it's gonna hang there.
Science, it works. [chuckles]
-Really nice. -Cool.
-Oh, that's gonna be so nice. -Okay, so the next step
is to take the projector, we'll just set it up across from here.
All right, sweet. Well, I like that it's very portable.
So, we can set it up here, you know, when you're in bed and you wanna watch something
-and really relocate it anywhere. -Yeah.
Good job there.
So it's time to work on the kitchen.
The first step is to install the butcher block.
[Tony] A slide into the corner.
-Perfect, the angle looks good. -It's good.
The plan is for the stovetop right here in this space.
-Okay. -And the sink will go right with this cabinet.
-All right. -And the fridge will go in that opening.
-Beautiful. Okay. -And we can throw some shelfs here on this side.
That's gonna look so good.
So now for my favorite part of this entire build,
-installing a toilet. -[both laugh]
I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
So, how does it work?
So, basically, uh, you go to the bathroom
and it'll actually burn the waste.
I've never heard of an incinerating toilet before.
Where does it go?
There's a little tray on the bottom.
And then eventually, you just dump out the tray.
And, uh, that's all you need to do.
This is as off-grid as it gets.
Not sure what I think about it but the said he would clean it up, so here we are.
-[Tony] Let's go ahead and move this in. -[Karen] Okay.
[Karen] Wow, there she is, in all her glory.
[Tony] That is one fancy toilet.
[Karen] The toilet is in place and I'm proud to say,
it is the most high-tech thing we have in this home.
[Tony] I love it.
So, the last thing for today is install the front door
and seal up the house.
All right, we got to get going before the storm rolls in.
Yeah. Close the hatches.
-All right, let's screw. -[Karen] All right.
Of course as we begin to install it,
the Utah storm start rolling through.
You hear that?
-Right in time. -Mother Nature is calling. [chuckles]
The door's installed. It looks great.
It's cozy inside.
[Tony] Looks great.
-Yes? -[Tony] Hey, let me in.
-Nope. [chuckles] -[Tony] Please.
I guess I'll let you in.
[Tony] I gotta go.
[Karen] We have a lot of work to do, still.
We have a lot to do on the interior, on the outdoor space.
[Tony] I just hope that at the end of it, we can actually get it done on time.
There's been a ton of long nights,
lot of long days
and a ton of extra effort
that we didn't even think
we're gonna need to get this done.
But now that it has been accomplished, it feels so good.
I'm very happy with it. Honestly, it looks better than I could've imagined.
Tony and I, typically, have very different work-styles.
He likes to get things done quickly
and I like to get things done very detailed.
However, we made it work.
Our original timeline was six weeks but it ended up being seven
because of all of the weather delays.
But we ended up making it on time to go on our trip.
[Tony] And the original budget was $50,000.
We ended up spending $65,000.
And that's because we spent a lot more money on upgrades
on the inside and the outside.
-[Karen] Hi, guys. -[Tony] What's up, guys?
Today, we're gonna be showing off the A-frame to our friends, Kyle and Nicole.
I think they're gonna be really blown away by what we were able to accomplish
in such a short amount of time.
-[Kyle] Wow. -[Nicole] Oh, my goodness.
-[chuckles] -[Kyle] This is amazing.
[Karen] This is it. What do you guys think?
It actually looks really big, you guys, like, the shape is really unique.
I've never seen that before.
[Kyle] And when you said, "A-frame," I was thinking
it was, like, camping ones that people stay in.
This is like a lot larger.
What is that?
[Karen] So, I convinced Tony to get a cold plunge.
[Kyle] Has he actually done it?
-[Tony] I have not done it yet. -[both laugh]
-[Karen] We thought today was the plunge day. -Today is the day.
-You do it, I do it. -[Kyle] Oh, God.
Don't get me involved in this, I don't wanna get involved.
And we got Levi this awesome pool.
Secretly, it's ours as well but, uh...
super fun, we love the aesthetics of it.
There's so much stuff out here, like, it looks awesome to hang out.
So, we really wanted to, like, maximize the outdoor space
with it being a little bit of a smaller home.
There's not a huge kitchen so we tried to create a little
outdoor space you can barbecue and things like that.
So my favorite thing about this is really the views.
I mean, honestly, like, wherever you are on the property,
you have incredible views,
especially the sunrises and sunsets here are awesome.
-[Kyle] Oh, yeah. -You guys are really off the grid, aren't you?
-[laughs] -[Kyle] Yes.
[Nicole] I can't wait to see what's inside.
Oh, my gosh, guys. [chuckles]
-[Karen] What do you think? -[Nicole] It looks so good.
-It's big. [chuckles] -[Karen] Right?
[Kyle] Honestly, I wasn't expecting this at all.
This looks really nice.
And the shape of it, too, inside, it's cool.
-[Kyle] Yes. -Fun, right?
This bed looks really cool.
-[Karen] It's a sunken bed. -[Kyle] What?
-I want that in my house. -[Nicole chuckles]
And the best part is underneath,
these little cabinets open up
and Levi's bed's under there so we just have to slide it out.
-[Kyle] This is cool. -[Nicole] It's really good, guys.
[Karen] And then, during the day, we could tuck it in
-and he has his play area. -[Kyle] That's cool.
And look at this view, guys. Like, that window's...
-It's awesome. -Yeah.
[Karen] This side we get the sunrise.
At night, we see the stars.
And then we have our, um, HAVC, because it does get warm here in the summers.
-[Kyle] Yeah. -[Karen] And cold in winters, so...
Wanna be comfy in here.
Another thing that's, kinda, nice on the bed here, is we got the projector,
so even though you're off the grid,
I still can connect to the internet.
We can just watch TV, watch movies.
Okay, how do you get, like, power in here and everything?
So, the main way we get power is through solar,
we got our panels on the outside.
And then it all goes to a box that's right over here,
-which is great. -[Kyle] Oh, no way.
'Cause, usually solar, it's like a 100 components.
This is just all-in-one unit.
-Oh, that's really cool. -Goes to a battery. It's great.
-That's really cool. -Yeah.
And then we have our kitchen area.
So we have our hot plate to make our meals,
we have a lot of cabinetry space.
Coffee, mini-fridge, we gotta have it all.
[Kyle] Yeah.
Okay, now, the bathroom.
This is Tony's favorite room.
[both chuckling]
-[Nicole] What? -[Karen] Tell them why, Tony.
Yes, so my favorite feature in this space is actually the toilet.
The toilet, why the toilet?
It's not a normal toilet, it actually burns your waste.
After you use the bathroom,
it drops into the bottom compartment
and you press that button, and it just incinerates it.
-Oh, wow. -Oh, really? Wow.
[Kyle] How do you get water and everything?
[Tony] So, we're actually on a well, so we're tied into a well...
-[Kyle] Okay. -...and that's how we get all the water here.
-Nice. [laughs] -Yeah, it's fun, right?
[Kyle] Tony and Karen's attention to detail,
how they decorated it, the space, the layout
I think it was just beautiful.
It was a lot better than I expected.
Out in the middle of nowhere, off the grid.
[Nicole] It is a great way to unplug and get out here and be with nature.
And just getting to spend time with the family.
You could see how much hard work they put into this
to make this such a beautiful family home.
[both] Yay.
[Tony] How fun.
You like your pool?
You like it, huh.
[cooing]
This is the hardest build that I have ever had to do
but in the end we're so happy with how it turned out.
[Karen] I've already imagine telling 10-year-old Levi
how we spent this year building this A-frame
and just a reflection of all the memories we're gonna build here.
I'm so excited to have a place for him to grow up,
play outside and spend time together.
All right, Levi. Here are the keys to your home.
You wanna take us inside?
Wow.
[Tony] Good job.