How to Build a Haunted House on a Budget Part 1

A large cost a haunt entrepreneur has to take into consideration is buildup. Constructing the basic framework for a haunt is a business in itself. You have to have a layout then you have to calculate out the amount of materials you will need. From 2×4, 1×2, 1×4, 4×4, plywood of varying thicknesses to the hardware to put it together rather thats nails, screws or bolts. It all starts to add up as you go and if you do not consider this cost ahead of time and properly estimate it out then you could be doomed before you begin. Thats where this little series comes into play on construction savings.

Rushing out to your local hardware store or lumberyard may seem like the choice for gathering all these materials up but have you stopped to wonder where else you could get the materials or what could be substituted out with something similar or not so similar.  Your local hardware and lumberyards are not your only choices. There is an entire hidden market out there that is not readily advertised when it comes to construction materials and its called recycling. Most wood products are recycled and there are even places that take it tear it down and make new recycled materials out of it. Searching other locations beside your local hardware and lumberyards for your lumber and hardware needs should not be the first stop and we will fill you in on several of the different ways we have come across our materials for our annual home haunt that continues to grow and that we are working on moving into a warehouse space over the next 2 years.

In the coming parts we will go into several methods of obtaining construction materials on the cheap and even free. We go into more detail in the coming parts of this series but a quick list of sources we use are Craigslist, Refuse Disposal Sites, Recycling Centers, Yard Sales and Construction Sites. In the next part of How to Build a Haunted House on a Budget we will dive into how we obtained a large chunk of our materials from craigslist.