Michaela and her husband Carlan are in the process of turning a Ford transit Luton van into their home. A transit van they have wonderfully christened Harold the Housetruck. Here’s their story and how Cinch Leighton Buzzard has been an amazing help.

Michaela and Carlan began thinking about converting a van into a liveable space in 2018. Wanting to find a cheap way to spend some time in Carlan’s home country of New Zealand, converting a van seemed like a good way to do this.

Carlan had grown up watching and helping his father build many things including building a box on the back of his father’s work truck so the family could go on holiday. So, he had the skills and the knowledge to carry out a van conversion.

And in September 2018, along came Harold!

But the journey has not been plain-sailing with one of the biggest setbacks being having to move out of their rented house after their landlord decided to sell the property.

And so in June 2021, they bought a caravan to move into whilst they were still fixing up Harold. The move from a 2 bedroom house to a caravan meant a huge downsizing but there were many items they did not want to part with.

Whilst out for a walk, Michaela saw Cinch Storage Leighton Buzzard, met team member Jason and this is where Cinch Storage becomes a part of their story…

The ideal unit 

Not really knowing which size would be best, Michaela asked Jason to show her a few options, ranging from our 50 sq ft units to our 15 sq ft units. Throughout the entire process, Jason was patient and placed no pressure on Michaela, knowing that finding the right unit for her belongings was what was important. 

“Jason was lovely. I didn’t feel any pressure at all. He was just happy to have a chat with me and show me around. Jason even encouraged me to look at other storage options. I looked at everything and I couldn’t get a better deal than Cinch Storage.”

Seeing that Cinch Storage Leighton Buzzard was the best option, Michaela and Carlan chose to go with one of our 15 sq ft units knowing it was ideal to keep all their sentimental items without any excess space.

“Cinch Storage Leighton Buzzard has made our lives so much easier!” 

Michaela quickly found that the out of hours access which Cinch Storage Leighton Buzzard has via our pin-code access was a great help for them as they treat their unit more like an extension of their living space.

But Cinch Storage were also able to help with another issue which arose from caravan living. As they live in a caravan, Michaela and Carlan pay for a postal address but this was an hour away from the caravan. At Cinch Storage Leighton Buzzard you are able to get postal boxes and the team can take in parcels for you. This meant that their parcels could now be delivered to almost their doorstep.

“It’s been a god-send. Cinch Storage has made our lives so much easier. I’m not sure how we would have carried on with our project if we hadn’t had this available on our doorstep.”

And how is Harold doing? 

With the stock line that Harold will be “ready in 18 months”, Michaela and Carlan are taking this project one day at a time, wanting to get the van exactly how they want it with a big focus on using natural, non-toxic materials wherever possible.

Harold the Housetruck will be ”ready when it’s ready” and we look forward to following their journey to that point. And continuing to help in any way we can.

You can follow Michaela, Carlan’s and Harold’s journey via their Instagram – @haroldthehousetruck