Chuck is the hero we didn’t know we needed.

It can be difficult to make the decision to publicly criticize a fellow industry professional, but when gross negligence is throughout, as seen here, it becomes our duty as a moral and ethical person. Thank you for teaching the masses and holding entities who are self-ascribing as trustworthy, accountable!

I’m glad I found this video. Because I watched each of their videos and had made my decision to go with them with my conversion. Seeing this same Skoolie on their site and then seeing it in this video with all the issues, I’ve completely changed my mind!

Thank you for exposing them so that others don't use. Appreciate your feedback!

I met Stefanie at a meetup and I saw her bus then. It certainly looks pretty on the surface, but wow, all the safety issues and poor workmanship is awful! Stefanie is a smart and really nice person, and I'm sure she felt that she was hiring a reputable company to build her dream. My heart breaks for her because there is nothing worse then to find out that something that you designed, saved for and waited to have built has this many issues. How can anyone justify charging her $70K for this? Shame on Epic Skoolie!

The website is littered with EPIC typos/grammatical errors... Charlie is throwing the well-deserved FIRE

I saw this bus at Gutted, and another major flaw was the microwave. It's also an air fryer, and there was no ventilation in that cabinet, which makes it a fire hazard. Air fryers circulate a lot of hot air and they need to breathe to operate correctly and safely!

We’re DIYing our Skoolie and are no professionals in any way, but my dad has been in construction for over 45 years and has taught me enough that the mistakes these “professional builders” make, I would never do. We’re also smart enough that we’re paying a professional electrician and plumber to inspect our work just in case we overlook something. These videos are insane 😮‍💨 all that money, I feel so bad for her 😢

Wow... and people wonder why it can be difficult to get insurance for their conversions. When these "professionals" have so many fire / elelectical / explosion hazards it will only make it harder for the rest of us to insure our busses. Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge and expirence. Ted

The internet has spoken & we want as much of this content as you can provide!

I remember seeing the video of her build and how aesthetically pleasing it looked. However, aesthetics have to come way after the safety and quality of a build is inspected. You can make it look pretty later. I have a laundry list of questions I will use to vet my builder before choosing them thanks to your insight and expertise. Appreciate you!

Really glad you did this video - was seriously considering talking to the company who did it, based on proximity.

Wow, thank you for educating the public but also for your integrity. Seems like it’s getting harder to find these days. My heart goes out to the owner, this company should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. 👍🏻💯🥰

I love that you are doing these videos on the work of other builders. It's very informative for all of us. Thanks Chuck. I always enjoy your videos.

The best review backed by facts and skilled professional knowledge.

These videos are yet another learning experience for us all. Seeing these examples gives us an idea of the kind of things to look for and highlights the importance of learning more about anyone you might entrust with your hard earned money. We need more people like you and your crew, Charlie! Thanks for continuing to share your expertise and experience!

These are a great watch for "what NOT to do" in a conversion. Very educational.

It's sad this kind of thing happens. One can only hope that maybe future potential customers of theirs will see this video first.

Soo, I have worked in construction (not skoolies) for around 20 yrs, and I get equally irritated when people get ripped off like this. I couldn't help but post a link to this video when "epic skoolies" video of this same bus came up in youtube after watching this. I didn't say anything negative, just "if you've watched this and are considering epic, you need to watch -link- " It was deleted instantly. I mean instantly. As a matter of fact, you can't find any negative comments on their video. Only praise and people asking "how much?".... I think I'm gonna be sick. I'm glad there are people like you trying to do the right thing and being honest. Hopefully "epic" stops taking people's money without knowing what they're doing. I doubt it though

I think some sort of certification would help all of us get insured. You should run an “inspection” service of some sort to check for safety issues.

This is the second video that that i have seen that focuses on a horrible build by Epic Schoolies. Totally different channel. Same crappy work. Thanks for these. Salute

Good to see someone that addresses these issues. If your going to charge and call yourself professional you better be ready to face the music when your build is examined . 70k I would be sick!

OUT!? Standing!!! Like a farmer in his field. I have a ‘97 INT. DT466 4-speed/ 30’ -8 window, with 226543 mi. Got it ten years ago and retroed to fit my needs at the time in about 33 days. It’s been a work in progress, but I’m glad I haven’t finished her, cause I need to start over. Thank You for all your insight, knowledge and candor on how ‘To’ and most importantly how ‘Not-To!’ Build a Skoolie!

I totally agree with everything you say. I own Holiday RV Repair and half our work comes from crap done by another company. I am often asked if I think I can repair the other shop's screw up and I always reply ... "if we can't repair it, you will not be charged" ...

I saw an older woman with a simple conversion, no complicated wiring. Christmas lights for lighting. For the first time I got an appreciation that it doesn't have to be so complicated.

I’m a DIYer , you gave me many things to look for when I start my build

Geez! Endless outpoints, including safety hazards!!! It is amazing that they are still in business?? Thank you for sharing Chuck. :)

Hi Chuck, great video as always! I looked around and found the wall heater, it's a 1,000 watt "Heat Storm", $98.04 (USD) at Home Depot. The A/C is from Black and Decker, $378.62 at Home Depot. Not Bluetooth as claimed, but the heater is...

Right on, Chuck. Thanks for sharing your observations and cautions. Like you, I'm leaving the full-conversion game (as we focus on our other business) so I have no vested interest in slamming other builders to drum up business. With that in mind, you should watch the videos I did about bus conversion from Lone Star Skoolie in San Antonio, Texes. Absolutely horrendous work for tons of money...

What an amazing video!! How is it possible to almost screw up every system that you install on a bus conversion. I mean almost nothing is done right from what you showed us. Also strange that you can build electrical installations and no external inspections are needed to see if it is safe. It is good to expose these bad companies who take a lot of money but don’t deliver the value for that. Keep up the good work Chuck! 👌

I learn something new every one of these videos. This video's lesson: Chafe protection on lines, hoses and wires when passing through or near steel parts.

I'm so glad you did this video. I met Stef at Gutted and was so heartbroken for her when she showed me her bus. I instantly took to her and kept seeing her drive around, and was like, I gotta meet this person and see this rig! I hope this company gets their shit together to makes this right for her.

First off, I noticed that a lot of things in that build looked second hand, and I don't think that build is old enough for them to have weathered that much. Two, I don't blame the customer for the way this turned out. Maybe it's because I'm old, but if you hire someone to do the work, I think they should know what they're doing. Clearly there are people that do, and she paid enough to get that level of service. I think what is needed is a trade association to certify bus builders (or maybe more), there is code for wiring, maybe companies need to be certified for plumbing & electrical. Possibly we need architects experienced in designing RV (bus) interiors to be a starting point. Someone needs to codify standards for the finishing. Maybe the motorhome companies could help.

Nice work! Happy to see people who care pointing out the safety hazards that paying customers are paying for👌

Thank you so much for posting videos like this. I am learning sooo much.

Cool beans.... The solar panel kite, great work

I think all your videos are fantastic. Please keep making them

Thanks so much for posting these videos so we know what to look for!!!

Oh man, I felt a bit sick watching this, tbh. There are so many absolutely dangerous decisions(not mistakes) by this builder, and it's a fireball waiting, IMO. Poor Stef!

When a build is that bad, it seems to me that buying another rig and starting over is the only option. After watching your videos all day, my standards of a build have gone wayyy up.

I seriously didn't see any of this coming.....super chuck to the rescue, for real !!

I am very happy that I saw your video because I was thinking going to them to do my built

It could have been worse.. After watching this video I found a reddit post, a client paid $100k upfront to Epic Skoolies, a year later they had barely started and then claimed bankruptcy only 6 months ago. Now the client is looking into lawyers to at least get their bus back.

They said "We have morals... And standards" which is clearly true, I mean, they never clarified what those were lol You do a super good job of making sure not to fault the customer, they're responsible for their work, $70k is more than enough to buy a high end used semi-monocoque Monaco diesel pusher for some perspective. At a $70k price point I would expect some extreme perfection! They also said "high quality name brand products used in all of our builds" but they didn't clarify that statement with a percentage, one item would qualify. I used to own an ad agency, they're all marketing phrases like when you buy dog food that says "USDA TESTED" on the front but never say if they passed.

Great work Chuck!

You are a life saver

I am getting ready to start a bus build. your video are a build book for us newbees , Thank You for your insight, recomendations of products and practics!!!

I have no desire to reside in or convert a school bus; however,I love your videos. Thanks for sharing.

I'm a wee bit late to the "party", but I just had to pipe up. FIrst of all, I feel bad for Stephanie. And it's not like she should have "known better". Unless you have a heap of real world experience (and maybe have gotten hosed once or twice on maybe not so big a scale) the average newbie isn't going to know what to expect for their hard earned cash. Having once owned a Class A RV, I can attest to the crappy workmanship that is put out by companies that are actually "regulated" by all of the safety bureaucrats. Eventually I replaced all of the drawers with proper machine dovetail boxes on proper drawer slides. Never could figure out why the drawer in the dinette never worked properly. Turns out, the whole thing was installed out of square! I mean, c'mon!! Anyway, I digress. First of all, I don't "see" seventy thousand dollars. I'm pretty sure my high school shop class could have done a better job. AND I predict, this is what may some day happen. For many years now, bus and RV conversions (etc.) have been morphing along, with nary a sideways glance from the "safety bureaucrats". But, one of these days, someone will die, and then all hell will break lose. There will be permits. There will be inspections. It will be a shit show. I'm thinking back to the days of "Unsafe at any speed", and the type of safety "stuff" that came along in the car industry. And no, I don't have any problem with that. But for the conversion "movement" to become some sort of "industry", these slackers need to be put out of business. I'll now get down off my soap box. Thanks for letting me vent. Carry on!

Excellent inspection, and yes, we all do feel sorry for Stephanie who has been ripped off. She's buying and paying for something that she herself can't inspect, since she doesn't know what to look for. It's not uncommon; I don't know how to lay a roof or pour concrete (which is why I watch lot of 'educational' channels), so the buyer is 'trusting' someone not worth. trusting. Also, would the customer get photos or schematics of the build for repair troubleshooting in the future? As for the 'Wild West' of the business, I don't know if contracts and warranties are common, but those would be a good idea. I'm guessing there's few, if any, legal options. By the end of the video, the best evidence of quality was the website built for the sketchy company. Oh well, it is just more work for you and your inspection/consultancy business! That's worth another book in itself.

me planning to build a bus: It will be a mess.

They just showcased a new bus they built on their channel. I wonder what that would look internally.

We have the build that Ross just assisted with. We completely agree with all these statements. We we’re tricked as well. 😢

A gas leak is a killer. That's TERRIFYING.

Chuck thank you for sharing. I’m really excited to start bus build but I know there are things I would need help in (electrical for one lol) and I considered just going and having a “professional” do it but now I think I’ll just keep watching videos and learning as much as I can to do it myself. It’s really scary that so called professionals could do this kind of work for 70k! But thanks chuck always learning from you

You can take a tour from of the bus on their Facebook page, posted April 1st. Red lights in the front, don't drive into California. I would be pissed if it cost $7,000 for the work I see. It's a shame there is no requirement for licensing our qualifications before ripping someone off with these conversions. Should be required to meet the same building code as an RV or home.

Im still learning about electrical work but I need a beer or two after looking at that bus bar

chomping that market share

"Energy efficient appliances." If they don't work, they don't use energy; thus, they are "energy efficient."

Feel sorry for her situation.😢

I’m learning so much from your videos! Keep them coming!! Something I noticed, there are only a couple of windows that are operational from the inside but it still has all the windows on the outside. It’s terrible they didn’t do proper window deletes. If those windows ever have any issues she is going to have to tear through her interior walls to get to the windows. 😢

I thought about sending you my build when done. But I've been doing construction/maintenance, etc all my life. So was hoping for a better reaction. lol

WOW! Fire them all.

In my oppinion living in Europe and not familiar with how thing work in the US, I think the best way helping people who would want to hire someone would be cerating some sort of Yale type website for skoolie builders to advertise themselves, but also for customers to leave reviews and comments and ratings on it. That way potential customers would be able to search for a reputable builder with good reviews and go to them for a build.

Although I do not build Schoolies, I do custom builds of trucks and 4x4s. My biggest problem is conveying to the customer that a quality build takes time. You cannot have a build that is fast and cheap, which is what everybody wants and I turn down a lot of projects 'cuz when it comes to that, you find out the customer does not have any money. Everybody wants the toys but cannot afford it. Now-a-days my biggest issue is sourcing parts and getting them in a timely manner. My latest is a diesel engine conversion. It's been in my shop for 4 months now. Hope to wrap it up in the next couple of weeks. Customizing and fabrication takes a lot of time.

Very informative video, thank you. Sorry for Stefanie. However I can't agree on the topic of drawer boxes. There is nothing wrong with the single front boxes. I've done it many times in order to get some extra space inside. You could attach the front either with pocket screw or from the front if you don't mind the visible screw head. However it's definitely more work and it's harder or even impossible to get continuous grain look in some cases. I'm not advocating for those guys and I'm sure there is more than one way to screw up a drawer but if done properly single front even offers some advantages. Frankly I'm shocked about contrast between their site and their job. So sorry for Stef :(

Thanks for this, Chuck. I'm in Australia, so whilst this company is of no interest to me, your run down of everything was extremely valuable. It would be awesome if someone in Australia was doing what you are doing... but nonetheless, your information is extremely helpful. Thanks again. 🙏🙏🙏

Hey Chuck! Could you make a future video elaborating on the custom shower pan/ proper water proofing? 🚿💖

Thank you for this: both calling out incompetent "pros," and showing us examples of things done wrong. Would you consider doing some videos, inspired by these critiques, that show people the *right* way to do it? For example, show us the proper way to prevent cables and pipes from rubbing. Maybe an A/B sort of thing: these are examples of ways it should not have been done, and this is the way I would have done it. Or maybe a series of simple solutions to common build errors? Anyway, I only recently discovered your chanel, and I am finding it very enlightening. Thanks again!

Love the vid! I was wondering what splitloom you use under the bus? Specifically for the pex waterlines? It seems to me like splitloom would also rub through pretty quick when in contact with metal. But I could be wrong!

Skeptic Schoolie

This is why you should not leave.. 😊

I saw a build here yesterday. They put the on demand water heater outside the bus. Outside. And he mentioned that he has to take it off when travelling.

And on the plumbing - Pex degrades when exposed to UV so leaving it exposed almost guarantees a leak down the road.

Hi feel for Stef and it sucks that people would be like that.

Thanks!

I watched this last night, today I check out youtube and guess what's suggested for me up top?.. the walkthrough of this from back in April.

where they cut the bump rails for the water heat, it also looks like there’s rust forming inside the rails did they see that and leave it or did they not paint the bare steel from the cuts???

Amateur quality can be lethal… morals are completely absent here. I hope Stef can solve this through litigation. If anything, it’ll be a wake up call to Epic Skoolies and they’ll hire professionals to complete their builds to live up to the quality commitment they boast about. This is simply taking advantage of people who don’t know any better.

That bus is just waiting for a accident. 😢 That’s really ridiculous workmanship. 😢. Very sad….

How feel about having one water line coming up from the tank to under the kitchen sink and from there is the hot water tank with the shower right next to it

Chuck, are you going to do a video on proper wiring when it comes time for your skoolie? Been enjoying your videos, as they are highly informative.

Thanks Chuck, this was really great. I enjoy all of your content. I hear you say you’re getting out of the game, any chance you’ll be open to virtual/phone consulting in a few months? Maybe take a week long trip to Montana in 6 months to help with solar install? We just got our bus and are completing the build ourselves. Hoping to find trusted help along the way!

Hi. From brief pic I think I know this bus. Its Sarge. I saw this rig before and the security is a bit much. 😳. See you soon.😁

Ok I dont have a rig of any form nor have I ever built one. However I would think that you would prioritize safety So fire danger would be the number one concern so propane and electrical first. Then water for goodness sake, remember water carved the grand canyon, can destroy anything in a build. I hope they did install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. I am so sorry she was mislead by these people.

I went to a car show in Georgia and saw a man there that converted busses. He had 2 busses there for advertising. Lol 1 look from 20 yards away and I could tell he would never get near my bus. His busses looked like something a teenager with no money would put together.

And this is another reason why I asked you for a list of builders, especially in the pacific northwest, who you would feel comfortable recomending.

lol those are fence post brackets for running 2x4 rails mounting the solar panels.....

Sorry I missed the premiere Chuck.

it helps having friends or family who are in carpentry or retired from it. please have them stop by and check on it during the process.

so on the page where they talk about integrity, the paragraph that would usually describe why we should trust their integrity is just "we're ready to work". and on the systems page whew the typos I figure reflect the amount of care and attention they pay... "what products to use and what a products not to use. We help out clients SHIFT through the BS"... oh yep sounds like they're drag you through it

Can't use this in the winter lol

Hello all, we are doing a Skoolie, and I need information on doing the electrical on it. Solar panel, wiring, difference between ac and dc etc. Any suggestions to a book or videos I would greatly appreciate it.

Now that you guys are out of the game, do you have any builder recommendations? My plan so far is to find buses I like and then contact the owners if they used a builder, to get their thoughts and opinions on their build.

This looks like someone went to Menards and bought whatever was in the closest aisle to "make it work" instead of doing it right. Oof

My God! The lady who paid for this shoddy work must feel horrible. Poor kid

How do you fix this problem? How do you research a skoolie builder when they have websites like this? Is it better to just do the work yourself?

Chuck, you could make a mint delivering bus building seminars.

Chuck you mentioned premade solar panel racks. What is the name of the company? Thanks

What a joke! I’m no mechanic or any trained personnel, I do everything I do, if I love or have any interest in doing it so. Leaving the cables and hoses dangling around and that bathroom with painted wood and the floor… holes and more…get outta here! They must be hating their job or their life! All that has to be a JOKE. But is real as $70K 😭 🔫🔫🔫 My wife and I met Stefanie at Tiny Fest SD and loved her ever since! And she did not deserve this. It hurts but I know this will be a huge training/education for a lot of people out there. This video will go Viral and she will come back even stronger I believe it 💪🙏