Our $1,200 Budget Van Build

It can be intimidating to think about building out a camper van. When researching, you’ll see many beautiful rigs with custom woodworking and top-of-the line appliances. People often spend months or even years building out their home on wheels. What if you want to hit the road soon? And what if you don’t have tens of thousands of dollars to spend on an elaborate build? That’s okay! We did a budget van build and found that you don’t have to spend a ton of money and invest a lot of time to build a van that is comfortable and livable.

We did a budget van build (or “mini build”) on weekends and evenings before we started our adventure almost two years ago. Our initial van conversion was around $1,000. We’ve made some upgrades since then, but our total cost is still on the cheap side. We’ve tallied and totaled everything we used to build a our DIY camper van and are sharing all our money saving tips and recommendations in this post.

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Budget Van Build Tips and Tour

We did a tour of Stan the Tan Van last year, but we never covered what it cost to build our DIY camper van. In this video we break down the van conversion cost of each area of our home on wheels and provide budget van build tips.

Our Van Build Costs

We kept track of our original build and additional upgrades since then and have tallied and totaled everything.

Budget Van Build Products & Tips

Here are the products that we used in our camper van conversion and tips for how to save money on each area of your budget van build. We’ve included links to the actual products that we use wherever possible.

Choosing a van

Budget van build tip: Look for a van with features that you can use:

• Often conversion or passenger vehicles will already have insulated walls/ceiling/floors.
• Do the seats fold down into a bed?
• Is there any existing exterior storage? Does it come with a storage box on top, or at least racks to make installing easier?
• More and more people are converting vans into camper style homes, so you might also opt for something that’s partially or even fully converted already.

Cooking and food storage

• Coleman stove – This camp stove is one of our most valued possessions. It’s essential outdoor and van life gear. Ours is still going strong after 20 years of use.
  Budget van build tip: Cook outside. If cooking indoors you’ll need a venting fan and a carbon monoxide detector. Since we don’t cook in our van (with the exception of the occasional water boil when it’s too windy outside), we survived without a fan for many months on the road.

• 10 lb Propane tank & Adapter hose 
  Budget van build tip: Invest in a 10 lb propane tank instead of the disposable canisters that cost $3-4 each. After filling this tank twice, it paid for itself!

• Dometic refrigerator – We love our refrigerator. This was our biggest splurge item in our build, but for us it’s worth the cost. We were able to find this model refurbished and got it for half price.
  Budget van build tip: Look for refurbished 12 volt refrigerators on Amazon. Another cheap option is to use a cooler. A lot of people swear by a block of dry ice, covered with regular ice. Especially if you’re outfitting a van for shorter term, the investment in a fridge might not be worth it.

• Cabinet – We used a cabinet that we already owned. We put some fresh paint on it and used scrap wood pieces to secure it to the wall. It was originally purchased second-hand for $20.
  Budget van build tip: Look at what you already have or at resale shops, Craigslist, Offerup, and Facebook marketplace. These are all good places to find cheap used furniture.

Electrical system

• 2 Deep cycle batteries
  Budget van build tip: Look for used batteries. We got both of ours for $70 which is less than half the price of new ones. Just be sure to test them to make sure they fully charge and stay that way.

• Inverter – We don’t have any appliances and do our cooking on a propane stove, so we can get away with just a 400W inverter. If you have a hotplate or other appliances you may need a larger one.

• Isolator switch – This is an important piece for setting up your battery box. This allows your secondary batteries to charge while you’re driving. When the vehicle is turned off it isolates your battery box, so it doesn’t drain the primary battery.

• Solar panel & Controller – Again, just have an idea about how much electricity you are planning to use. Consider all your electronics, appliances, heater, etc. This will determine how many panels you should get.
  Budget van build tip: If you move around a lot, you may not need multiple panels because you are charging while driving. If you are planning on staying put for weeks at a time you may want multiple panels to ensure you fully charge your batteries daily.

See our full post about How to Build a DIY Camper Van Electrical System for even more money saving tips. We show you exactly how our van battery system works and how we were able to build it for less than $300.

Bed

• 2” Memory foam topper
  Budget van build tip: Choose a van with seats that fold down into a bed. Instead of the foam topper, you can use a thick sleeping bag or blanket—we did all last year

Storage

• Hanging wardrobe storage shelves – Two of our wardrobe storage shelves were long and Liana cut them to size and used the bottom square as another storage container in the van.

• Drawers for hanging wardrobe storage shelves

• Plastic bins – Many of our storage containers were things we already owned.
  Budget van build tip: Repurpose or modify things you already own. 

• Roof storage container – I looked for a roof storage container for months before we purchased our van. I didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars, so I kept my eyes open for a used one. Finally, I found the perfect storage container from a second-hand store.
  Budget van build tip: Look for a second-hand roof storage container. We bought ours at a resale shop for $90.

Lighting

• LED string lights – These are the budget tip—you don’t need fancy lighting. These are cheap and give off the perfect amount of light.

• USB 4-way adapter

Other Misc.

• Curtains – Liana’s mom sewed our curtains (thanks Linda!) so our only expense was the fabric. 
  Budget tip: Instead of curtains, get reflective material and black board for the back.

• Flooring – We had to put something over the van carpet because there are seat brackets in the floor we can’t remove without tearing out the carpet. We used a rug that we already had to avoid flooring costs.
  Budget van build tip: If you don’t have pesky brackets, like us, go with the flooring that’s in your van, just give it a good clean first. Alternately you can use a rug or mat that you own or look for something cheap second-hand.

• Fan vent – This fan was a “nice to have” addition we installed at a recent van build party.
  Budget van build tip: As long as you’re not cooking in your van, you can forego this. Instead pick up a couple of these inexpensive USB fans to keep air moving when it’s hot outside.

• Final budget van build tip: Add van build items to your wish list. We keep track of ours using Amazon wish lists. With the holidays around the corner, ask for items that you can use to build out your van. We’ve done this the last few years and it’s allowed us to slowly upgrade some of our pieces without a big overhaul all at once.

We hope our budget van build has given you some ideas for saving money on your own DIY camper conversion. We’ll be sharing more van life tips and resources in the near future. If you aren’t already subscribed to our blog, make sure to sign-up in the box on the right so you don’t miss any posts.

Related Posts:

• Top Van Life Gear Guide
• How to Build a Camper Van Electrical System (our budget camper van battery set-up)
• 5 Things to Consider if you Want to be a Digital Nomad

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