The famous 519 East 11th Street, N.Y., is looking pretty excellent these days. In 1973 the building was abandoned, after being gutted by fires lit by its slum-landlord. In 1974 its 18 units were sold to a group of tenants who convinced the city they could renovate it themselves!

The group took out a loan of $220,000 from the City and paid themselves $3 and hour for a 32 work week to completely rebuild the interiors. All overtime became "sweat equity" (there was lots of it...). It took them 18 months but they did everything even plumbing and electrics.

Although they bought the shell of the building for $1800, they sold each unit for $500 and started moving in 1975/76. This being the oil shock years, they even experimented with solar heating to cut utility costs (which ultimately only ended up working a few years but still).

The solar heating was powered by a wind generator, which came in handy during the big July 13-14th blackout when this building was the only one with power in the neighborhood. Wind generators are tricky to maintain though and it has since been dismantled.

And here's the point: if a bunch of complete amateurs can teach themselves to rebuild an entire apartment building in 1974, imagine how much easier it would be today with proper manuals and Youtube tutorials. They could even learn how to build the shell itself, with guidance.