A couple who struggled to convert their camper van amid constant fighting and money issues said the DIY movement is harder than it looks

At the start of the pandemic, the couple moved into Joel's parents' house and immediately started looking for a camper van to purchase. After research and budgeting, they found a Mercedes Sprinter that fit their needs. It was for sale in a van life Facebook group in Sweden, and they said "it sounded perfect" and "like a dream."

"Buying a van is like gambling," Indie said. "You never know if you're going to get something that is good or not."

Joel had some carpentry training and Indie's parents also had experience in construction, but the couple said they both felt ill-prepared for the renovation process. They turned to the internet and YouTube videos to learn what they could, but even that only helped so much.

"[The internet is] a sea of information, and you have to take the time to find out what information is valuable and accurate and what is wrong," Joel said.

While converting the van at Joel's parents' house in Sweden, it would sometimes take them hours to do one seemingly simple task.

"It was extremely challenging for me to build a drawer — just one single drawer," Indie said. "I just could not get it right."

Other times, it would take them months to complete bigger tasks like insulation.

"Insulating the van was extremely challenging and took a month or two," Indie said. "It was a slow process. We had this dream of ourselves in a converted van, and we were standing there day after day and nothing was happening. It was so much."

Joel added: "We didn't realize how many hours we had to put into it before we could see any progress on it."

"There was so much to learn," Indie said. "We started with the electric wires and I remember sitting down with all the cords and appliances and went, 'How the f--- is all of this going to work out? How will it all tie together into giving us lights?'"

She said it took them 12 hours and then an additional 12 hours the following day to finally get the electricity to work.

"You have to focus on one thing at a time or you get overwhelmed, and we got overwhelmed a few times," Joel said.

Indie added: "It was a disaster."

Indie and Joel took out a $19,000 loan to cover the van and the conversion process.

"We thought that would be enough to keep us going for a while," Indie said. "But when we put in the floors, walls, and ceiling, our money was finished. We had an unfinished van, no home, and no money to finish."

Plus, the van broke down three times, costing them an additional $3,500 in repairs.

The couple waited to make more money at their jobs as caregivers. Every paycheck went right into converting the van. Eventually, they had to compromise on a lot of their design plans, like their countertops, so that they could save money.

In the end, they spent $14,000 in the renovation process.

"For us, that was extremely expensive," Indie said. "Money-wise, it has been a struggle trying to tie all of this together. Building a van is so expensive."

"We build very differently, and we do stuff very differently," Indie said. "We ended up fighting a lot about it. I'm the person that wants to just get it done. I want progress, while Joel wants it perfect."

Eventually, they learned they couldn't work together on the same project, or it would lead to fighting. Sometimes they worked on the van on separate days to keep their distance from each other.

"We learned that we shouldn't be in the van at the same time. It's just better for our relationship," Indie said, laughing.

The couple said they saw people in the van life community converting their camper vans easily and happily on Instagram with their partners. They were surprised their own experience wasn't so cheery.

"Everybody seems to do this as a couple and everything goes fine," Indie said. "But we have been fighting so much. We challenged our friends [in the van life community] and asked if they fought too, and they were like, 'Oh, yeah.'"

But Joel said he's happy they ran into relationship issues along the way because it prepared them for the future.

"We learned how to live in the van as we were building it," Joel said.

Despite the fact that it took them twice as long as they expected, they said there is still a lot of work to be done along the way.

"I don't think we'll ever be completely done," Joel said.

The kitchen has a stove and oven, a floor-to-ceiling pantry, and custom-made tiles for the backsplash. Indie and Joel especially struggled with installing the plumbing for the kitchen sink, which only runs cold water because they cannot afford a hot water heater.

The bedroom has a memory foam mattress and overhead storage for their belongings.

During the building process, Indie accidentally put a screw from the inside to the outside of the van — and it's still there. She also put a screw from the outside into the seatbelt, which cost them $500 to fix.

"There are many wonky bits of the van," Indie said. "Nothing is properly measured. This van is not perfect at all. There's so much stuff that is built completely wrong. We have like a thousand mistakes in this van."

"That's the charm," Joel added. "It's us."

Indie and Joel said they went into this process thinking it would be a quick and easy build. They realized that in reality converting a camper van isn't as simple as some make it seem on social media.

"We learned so much about ourselves and so much about how we communicate with each other during this build, so it's been a blessing and a curse at the same time," Indie said. "Now, it's definitely a blessing."

Although they haven't traveled in their van yet, they have been living in it full-time and are now loving all aspects of van life.

"The other morning, the sun came out, the snow was finally gone, and you could taste spring, so we opened the doors, I sat in the back, and the sun was burning my skin," Joel said. "It was amazing. That was a moment [I realized] all of it has been worth it. It was worth all the fights, all the money trouble, and all the drama."