These Pranksters Built a Tiny House in a Home Depot Aisle—and the Staff’s Reaction Is Wild

Think you could build a tiny home inside a home improvement store—we're talking full construction site in an aisle, using the materials around you—before any employees tried to intervene? That's what friends Coy Wickey and Brian O'Donnell (the prank influencers known as Cheeky Boyos) did in a Home Depot recently after they were dared to try it. They recruited their handy friend Rob Rausch to help out, too.

“My friend Rob loves building things, and to be honest, he can build anything,” says Wickey. “So when we got this dare, we knew we could do it.” 

While we wouldn’t recommend repeating this prank for a variety of hilarious and practical reasons, here’s how they made it happen. 

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First, the guys gathered supplies to construct a small shack (more like a dog house with a door, if you ask us, though it was big enough to crawl inside). Of course, everything they needed was inside the store, but they only purchased plywood, screws, and hinges, opting to bring tools with them. 

“We had to bring our own tools that day to make it a lot easier/faster,” says Wickey. Setting up a new power tool means unboxing, charging batteries, and putting parts together. These guys didn't have time for that—they were looking to build the house as fast as humanly possible. 

Did Anyone Try to Stop the Build?

In the video of Wickey and Rausch building the house, you can see employees and customers seriously staring at them as they sawed wood planks in one of the aisles. 

“What's funny is, nobody actually said anything,” says Wickey. “No one paid us any mind—they just let us build it. Everyone is probably used to all that noise anyhow since it's a construction store.” 

Wickey and Rausch tried to walk the house out of store (picture a mini-house with legs), before finally getting stopped by an employee at the registers.

“She was very confused. She thought we had built it in the store without paying,” says Wickey. “What we did was pay for the material first and then build it. So all we had to do was show her the receipt and she couldn't do anything about it.” In the video, the employee questions how they got approval for the build (spoiler: they didn't), but ends the interaction with a smile.

So, What Happened to the House?

“We ended up leaving the house in a dumpster, but later that month we saw it was in someone's backyard,” says Wickey. “Someone must've picked it up for their children to play in.” So the house that was built inside The Home Depot found a home.

The Home Depot obviously encourages DIY endeavors and offers online tutorials and workshops where kids can build small projects. Plus, there’s usually a cut station in the lumber department where you can ask an employee to trim boards, blinds, pipe, rope, and more to fit inside your vehicle. (If you plan to make a lot of cuts, the store may charge you.) 

But full-on building a house inside the store? That's where they draw the line. The Cheeky Boyos, who've amassed nearly 12 million followers across Instagram and TikTok, may be the last to get away with it. “Home Depot later put up a 'no building' sign because of us,” says Wickey.

The sign states: "Due to safety concerns and to provide all customers with the best shopping experience, we kindly request that no personal projects or construction be initiated inside our stores. All materials should be purchased and assembled offsite." Alas, the construction-based challenges will have to continue elsewhere.