"Hey, I could probably do it for no money at all," said Julian Morgans of building a house. Photo: Pat Scala It’s the great Australian dream to own your own home.
But the reality is that it’s a dream increasingly far beyond the reach of many people.
Julian Morgans is one of those. So, taking matters into his own hands, the online editor for Vice magazine built his own house on Melbourne’s fringe — and the results are, well, a little surprising.
For just $13 a night, you too could stay in the house made of rubbish. Photo: Pat Scala
“The idea was to see if I could do it for free,” he said. “Like everyone’s got this idea that houses cost a million dollars.
“I just want to completely throw that idea away and say ‘Hey, I could probably just do it for no money at all’.”
Coming across a rubbish pile in Melbourne’s outer north, Mr Morgans decided to build his house out of what was in the pile. No power, no running water, no creature comforts, but there is art on the wall.
It’s a better experience than a backpackers’, according to a couple of Morgans’ guests. Photo: Pat Scala
“Inevitably, if you are trying to do something for free, you’ve got to use rubbish, I guess.”
Once complete, the next step as an enterprising and emerging property innovator was to list it on Airbnb — for the princely sum of $13 a night.
The “micro-lux rejuvenation hut”, described as a “rustic, eco-friendly wonderland”, has already played host to international guests.
“I’ve actually had a couple of German backpackers stay there,” Mr Morgans said. “They really liked it actually. They checked-in to some hostel in St Kilda the next day, and they told me that it wasn’t as nice as my place.
“I was pretty happy with that.”
The aim of the experiment was to draw attention to the situation facing many young Melburnians.
“For young people, there are not many options out there,” Mr Morgans said.
“Housing in Melbourne is pretty inaccessible. It’s either you get yourself heavily in debt or you rent forever.
“So there’s two options there, and neither of them are very attractive.
“The whole thing was a kind of a reaction to just get away from the framework. I tried to do it and ignore the rules. None of it is by the rules.”
What about a licence?
“Well, I’m sure I technically did need a licence,” he said. “But if I had applied for a licence, again, it would have costed money.
“I just really want people to go, ‘Yeah, I can relate to that. I’ve been annoyed, too because there’s no other options’.”
And what better way to garner more attention than to get a celebrity to endorse your product? Enter Vanilla Ice.
“I was trying to find the weirdest, creepiest home renovation expert I could get,” Mr Morgans said.
“I was sort of thinking, I’ll get a guy from The Block, but then a friend at work said, ‘No, let’s get Vanilla Ice so that’s how that happened.'”
Vanilla Ice is the host of a home renovation show called The Vanilla Ice Project, which airs in the US on the DIY Network.
The ’90s rapper called Mr Morgans’ project a “ball of fun”.
“It was surprisingly easy to get in touch with him,” he said of the Ice, Ice Baby singer. “We tweeted at him, and he just tweeted back. He is honestly the nicest guy.”
Mr Morgans has had to pull his Airbnb listing from the website because of an overwhelming amount of interest, but those keen to experience the rough and ready surrounds of the industrial estate, stay tuned: he’s likely to return it to the market later.