Charles Connors calls himself a fair carpenter, but if you look at the work he's doing, you might say he's selling himself short.

"I'm building a house right from scratch. Basically all used material and pallets. The idea is to try to prove a point that you can build a large house with very little money up front," said Connors.

Connors says it will cost him less than $25,000 to build it.

"I decided that I'm not going to go to the bank and be in debt for 20 or 30 years for 100,000 dollars or whatever it may be. I'm gonna build it as I go. I'll be done from start to finish in about 5 years with no bank payments," said Connors

Most of what's going into the house is scrap, much of it from wood pallets that are used in shipping.

"Bangor and brewer and all these places where they get shipments in, it's just trash wood to them. Some of them will even pay you to haul em' off. Most people will just let you haul them off for nothing," said Connors.

Connors bought new windows, wiring and plumbing, but everything else is recycled, like the ceiling fans he bought at yard sales for five bucks.

Connors and his son Tony spend nights and weekends constructing the two-level home. They're three and a half years into what they expect to be a five-year project.

"You can build a real big house for very little money and a little Yankee ingenuity and wanting to work," said Connors.