Every time someone posts a finished bus build online, the comments are predictable. “How much did this cost?” “This is fantastic design but how in the world did you afford it?” And my personal favorite, just the blunt version: “what price you need to be prepared to build one?” People see beautiful conversions and assume … Read more
Heating a bus is one of those decisions that touches everything else in your build — your fuel system, your electrical setup, your insulation, your budget, all of it. And there are way more options than most people realize when they’re first getting into this. After spending a ridiculous amount of time digging into heating … Read more
If you’ve spent any amount of time inside a school bus on a summer afternoon, you already know the problem. These things are giant metal greenhouses, and they will cook you if you don’t have a plan. I spent a lot of time researching what actually works for keeping a bus livable in serious heat, … Read more
This question comes up constantly in every skoolie group I’ve ever spent time in. Someone posts a gorgeous build and within five comments somebody’s asking “What state is this registered in? What is it registered as?” I went deep on this one because where you register your bus affects what you pay every single year, … Read more
You’re shopping for a bus and you keep seeing the same engine names pop up in every listing. Cummins this, DT466 that, something about a Cat 3126. But which one do you actually want under that hood, and which ones should you walk away from? (See our guide on Should You Buy a Gas or … Read more
Flooring is one of those decisions that seems simple until you realize your house is going to be rolling down the highway at 60 mph. I spent way too long going back and forth on this one, and after digging through forum posts, talking to builders, and looking at what actually holds up after a … Read more
Choosing a battery for your skoolie is one of those decisions that’ll affect literally everything else in your electrical system. Get it wrong and you’re either broke from overspending, stranded with dead batteries in the desert, or dealing with fumes in a space you’re supposed to sleep in. I spent a ridiculous amount of time … Read more
Finding a bus to convert sounds like it should be the easy part. You’ve got the plans, the Pinterest board, the YouTube playlist. But then you sit down to actually buy one and realize there’s no “school bus” category on AutoTrader. So where does everyone actually find these things? (See our guide on Where Do … Read more
You’ve got a freshwater tank, a pump, PEX lines to your fixtures — the plumbing is sorted. But what about what’s actually IN the water? Depending on where you’re filling up, you could be running campground water with heavy chlorine taste, well water with sediment, or worse through your system. Filtration is one of those … Read more
If you’re working with a short bus or a mid-size and wondering how people actually fit a full life into something the size of a large closet, you’re not alone. This was the question that kept coming up when I was digging into small bus builds — how do you not feel so cramped in … Read more