When I tell people that I bought a school bus to convert into a tiny home, one of the most common questions I get asked is: “How much does a school bus conversion cost?” If you were to look at the comment section in my TikTok you would see this questions a lot! In reality this question is much more complicated than it seems. Since each persons wants and needs are different their cost and budget will be different on their build. We are going to take a look into my budget that I put together based on my wants and needs. And as always feel free to drop a comment below if you have questions or want any clarification.
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How much does a school bus cost?
The first stage of any skoolie build is to determine how much will your bus cost. In my past two posts I talked about how I bought a bus as well as where to buy a bus. So if you are considering buying a bus start with those two posts to get some background on where to actually find buses to purchase. Now back to the question at hand, how much does a bus cost? Well in my experience researching buses and determining what I want, I would say the average range is from $2,000 all the way up to $10,000 or above. Short buses tend to be more costly than large buses to buy in the beginning. I was able to get my bus for about $3400 at a Florida auction. You can learn more about my bus in the previous posts.
How much do material cost?
Once you have your blank canvas, it is time to get to work on the conversion. Building materials will be one of the largest portions of your budget. During the time of this post building materials are extremely expensive. Some items, like romex wiring, have even gotten twice as expensive over the past 4 months. Lumber is also very expensive right now driving up the costs of school bus conversions. I would suggest most people budget $3,000-$7,000 at minimum on building supplies like lumber, insulation, plumbing, etc. And with any build, always over estimate with your budget for surprise expenses along the way.
How much does an off-grid school bus conversion cost?
Another major factor in determining how much a school bus conversion costs is deciding if you want to be off-grid capable. What does off-grid capable mean? Well for me that means having ample water storage as well as solar power generation. Most buses I see that are off-grid capable include at least 100 gallon tanks for fresh water. In addition to enough water, the other component is power. I have 1400 watts of commercial solar panels on my bus. I got a good deal on my panels locally, but most skoolies I’ve seen use Renogy Panels. Once you add in things like charge controller, batteries, inverter, etc. the price of a solar system can easily exceed $5,000. So budget accordingly. If you don’t want to deal with solar another option would be to purchase a generator to charge your batteries when being off-grid.
How much do luxury amenities cost?
Now don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of people who have build their school bus conversions for under $10,000. But for a lot of people they want those extra amenities to make it feel even more like home. Things like air conditioning can easily add an extra $1,000 to your build costs. Love wood burning stoves? Another $1,000 added. One of the most commonly used composting toilets on the market is the Natures Head, and you guessed it, add another $1,000. As you can see the price can go up extremely fast once you start adding some luxury amenities.
How much does a school bus conversion cost?
As you can see there are a lot of factors that go into building your own school bus conversion. For me personally I am trying to keep the budget around $20,000-$25,000. Now with building materials being more expensive that is making it harder. So like I mentioned in the luxury amenities section, I will be postponing some of my amenities to a later date and focus on the necessities to start and then add the luxury at a later date. But if you work hard and are resourceful you can build a skoolie for almost any budget. I hope you found this post helpful when looking into the cost of a skoolie. If you have questions please leave a comment before. Be sure to check back regularly for new updates and more content. Please consider following us on social media for the most up to date content and as always keep Seeking Discovery and continue to Explore Every Day!
