The origin story

The House

Before it was a house, it was a U-Haul — a retired box truck that had spent its life hauling other people’s couches. Matt bought it, looked at the empty box on the back, and saw a floor plan.

Charlie in profile — the finished green-and-white house truck, lettered with THE U-HOME and ARCTIC CIRCLE
Charlie — the U-Home, built for about $2,000

The rules of the build

Constraint 01

Roughly $2,000, all in. Salvage, secondhand, and stubbornness had to cover whatever money couldn’t.

Constraint 02

It still has to drive. Everything built inside has to survive potholes, hills, and eventually a road trip to the Arctic Circle.

The blow-by-blow of the conversion — the wins, the do-overs, and the “why is there water there” moments — lives in the archive on Instagram. This page keeps the highlights; the chaos is all still watchable.

Watch the build archive →