A guy from Portland purchased a 70-year-old double-decker bus and converted it into a modest house that he rents out on Airbnb. Check out how he did it

A guy from Portland purchased a double-decker bus and spent 10 months converting it into a tiny house. Whit Scott, the owner, believes that the modification cost him around $25,000 dollars.  The bus is parked in Scott’s backyard and may be booked on Airbnb for short-term visits.

Whit Scott knew he had to have a worn-down double-decker bus the moment he laid eyes on it.

Scott was eager to do something with his hands after a decade of working long hours behind a computer in video production. Around that time, he moved into a new home in Oregon that required some work.

“I met a new guy called Cody who began assisting me with some of the improvements, and we got to discussing building an Airbnb,” Scott explained to Insider. Scott had an RV pad in his backyard, so the two decided to construct a tiny house on wheels.

That was the beginning of Scott’s career of building and remodeling houses with various friends and for various clients. He kept it running for more than five years until the pandemic struck, when he decided to attempt a new sort of renovation: a van.

The need was a driving force behind the pivot. Scott’s wife resides in Texas, and with most aircraft grounded due to the epidemic, he needed the means to go between the two states. That’s when he discovered the bus on Craigslist.

“After that, I planned to look for an old van to convert and sell, but when I came across the double-decker bus, I realized it would be my next project,” Scott explained.

The bus had been languishing in an outside parking lot for eight years, making it a difficult task. It was filthy and dirty, with shattered windows and panels missing.

Scott stated that the seats had “taken a battering.” A previous owner had done some restoration work, saving Scott from having to completely gut the house. “I did have to sand the entire outside of the bus and repaint it.”

There was also a lot of internal work to be done, but it could have been worse,” he explained. The bus was priced at $8,000, and Scott accepted it without haggling. The double-decker bus was a commuter vehicle in Manchester, UK, in the 1950s. Scott purchased it when it was nearly 70 years old.

“This gentleman, who was either a historian or a bus aficionado, hunted me down and asked me to dig up the bus’s serial number, and he emailed me some information about its history,” Scott explained.

After 20 years of commuting in Manchester, the vehicle made its way to San Francisco and then to Mount St. Helens in Washington, where it became a tour bus, according to Scott. Around that time, the engine caught fire, rendering the bus immobile.

“Someone in Washington then acquired it with the intention of rebuilding the engine and getting it running again, but from what I hear, he never got around to it. “He had kids, and their huge garden turned into a jungle gym”, Scott said.

The bus remained in a Washington yard for years until Matt Breslow, proprietor of the famed Portland food truck The Grilled Cheese Grill, purchased it and converted it into a dining room.

“When Matt acquired it, they did a lot of work on it, and it really helped assure its endurance,” Scott explained. “They didn’t cook in it, but they did utilize it as a place to eat.”

The Grilled Cheese Grill had three sites back then, and all of them featured a bus that served as an eating space, according to Scott. Breslow did not respond promptly to Insider’s request for comment.

The bus was subsequently sold to another Vancouver restaurant owner, but his intentions to convert it into a food truck were scrapped, according to Scott: “It ended up lying in his friend’s parking lot for eight years until he placed it on Craigslist.”

Breslow did not reply to calls for comment from Insider.

Scott began by removing the existing interiors and installing the framework for the cabinetry construction. He also applied a fresh protective layer to the roof to avoid leaks.

Scott applied insulation to the walls and fixed the shattered windows to keep the room warm.

Scott also removed a portion of the ceiling on both ends of the bus to increase headroom.

“I had to take you through the floor in the upper doorway so you could stand in the kitchen.” “I had to do the same thing in front of the bus so you could use the restroom,” Scott explained.

The bus is approximately 28 feet long and 18 feet wide. Because of the cut-outs, the second level is 19 feet long, according to Scott.

Scott devised a floor plan that included the living room, dining room, and bathroom on the first floor and the bedroom rooms upstairs.

Scott made paneled ceilings and walls out of leftover cedar wood from a friend’s home.

“My friend owns the Trout Creek Wilderness Lodge in Molalla, Oregon,” Scott explained. “He lives in the forest, and they have to take down trees that are falling down or that need to be cleared out.”

The walls on the top floor are leftovers of wood from a door manufacturing facility in Portland, and they are not the only salvaged materials used in the bus.

“They basically had leftovers and told us to take as much wood as we wanted,” Scott explained.

Whenever possible, friends and relatives pitched in. Scott’s father drove up from Los Angeles on a regular basis to assist with construction work.

“He’s a retired elementary school teacher, but he’s always built stuff, so he just enjoys coming up and working on projects with me,” Scott explained.

Scott began working on the bus in October 2021 and worked on it every other week. He completed it in early August.

Scott thinks that the whole cost of the endeavor was roughly $25,000, including the $8,000 spent on the bus.

Scott currently has the bus in his garden and has been renting it out on Airbnb for the past two months. Depending on the season, prices range from $75 to $145 per night.

One August visitor described the hotel as “an absolute paradise.”

“You can see a lot of thought went into making this bus a home.” “We were a short drive from downtown Portland or other locations we wanted to see,” commented another passenger who stayed on the bus in September.

Scott christened the bus “The Royal Scott,” a reference to both his full name, Whitney Royal Scott, and a historic British railway line.

“I have a friend who loves British railway memorabilia, and she told me about an ancient London, Midland, and Scottish railway called ‘The Royal Scot,’ but with a single ‘T,'” Scott explained.

When you enter the finished bus, a hallway opens out to reveal a kitchen on the left and a reading nook on the right.

“The nook is there because it’s one of the ways that I prefer to sit and hang out with someone,” Scott explained. “I wanted to make it big enough that two people could fit in it facing each other.”

The nook, in addition to being a relaxing location, also serves as a storage compartment, concealing the bus’s wheel well.

“There’s enough space in there that you can open the lids.” “That’s where the electrical panel is, and it’s also where I keep things like additional light bulbs,” Scott explained.

The hallway goes down to the living and dining rooms. The bathroom is accessible via the wooden door at the far end.

Scott mentioned that his father constructed the bathroom door.

The bathroom contains a composting toilet and a shower. The bus is connected to Scott’s residence for power and water.

Although the bus cannot be driven, the tires may still move if the steering wheel is twisted.

The proprietor of The Grilled Cheese Grill painted a painting on the bus’s interior, according to Scott.

Scott understood right away that the artwork was something he wanted to save, so he performed some touch-ups and sprayed it with a protective spray.

The bedroom section on the converted bus’s second story has a queen-sized bed.

During the summer, the air conditioner upstairs keeps the room cool. Scott is preparing to install heaters on the bus before winter arrives.

“I’m also trying to put in a little pull-down screen and projector so you can watch movies upstairs,” Scott said.

Scott stated that his favorite aspect of the bus conversion process is the opportunity to put himself to the test against fresh obstacles.

Scott described the endeavor as difficult not only because of the bus’s age but also because of its odd curves and corners.

“You kind of know you’re going to be able to figure it out,” he continued, “but the solution isn’t always evident right away.”

Scott claims that jumping from project to project over the past five years has kept him on his toes and that he is becoming more confident in his work.

“When you initially start developing, you’re really concerned about making mistakes.” However, once you get into it, you discover you can reverse them,” he adds. “It doesn’t have to be flawless the first time since it will improve as you continue.”