What’s it like to go from tiny life in a converted truck to living in a strawbale house?
Adam Hickman is a carpenter and natural building practitioner originally from the UK and now based in Victoria, who lived in a converted tiny house truck with his family several years ago. These days Adam and his family live in a strawbale house he constructed himself. Adam also runs a tiny building company called Evergreen Homes.
In this conversation we talk about:
- What it’s like to live in a converted tiny house truck and how it was constructed with about 85% recycled materials
- Adam’s experiences of living in a like-minded tiny house community
- What a strawbale house is and the features included in his current family home
- Adam’s biggest life lessons
- All about Adam’s Tiny House building company, Evergreen Homes… and more!
About Adam Hickman
“My name is Adam Hickman. I started my career in construction 17 years ago as a young man of 18 in the UK. I started out as a traditional roofer specialising in slate, clay tile, shingle and hand-beaten lead work. I then went on to join a small, family-run building company focused on heritage restoration and construction in the West Midlands. This work broadened my skill set in construction, gaining experience in bricklaying, stonework and carpentry.
I was fortunate to work on beautiful Tudor and Georgian homes with strict criteria around building practices used, maintaining tradition and aesthetics whilst implementing modern techniques to improve thermal performance, including passive solar design features.
When moving to Australia in 2011, I discovered permaculture and organic farming whilst volunteering and travelling through WA (Western Australia). This encouraged me to look closely at my lifestyle, consumption and also the way our environment is treated on a global scale.
I was inspired to deepen my learning in natural building, solar passive design and therefore ways I could combine my prior knowledge and experience to contribute in my own way to a more sustainable future.
Over the last 10 years, I have dedicated myself to learning and gaining experience in a magnitude of sustainable building practices. I’ve specialised in Traditional Timber Framing, Strawbale Homes and Tiny House design / building.
I have been self-employed for 10 years as a carpenter and natural building practitioner, running a variety of my own jobs, facilitating workshops and working under many inspiring builders to further my experience and understanding of good design, materials usage and techniques.
The journey is ongoing and a continual commitment to providing a service that helps clients pursue their dreams whilst obtaining their vision efficiently, within their budget.
We lived in our tiny truck house full time for 4 years while I built a Strawbale home for our family in Deans Marsh, Victoria over the last 3 years. We moved in 3 weeks before having a baby boy at the start of 2021.
I’m currently leaning my business towards tiny homes specifically to cater for the ever-growing issue with land/ housing costs.”
You can follow Adam’s tiny adventures here:
W: https://www.evergreenhomesaustralia.com.au/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/evergreenhomesau/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/evergreenhomesau
Resources mentioned in this conversation:
