Smells like BS? Mother and kids built their own house by watching YouTube

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An Arkansas mother who fled domestic violence with her four children has shared the incredible story of how she rebuilt her family, by building her own home by watching YouTube tutorials.

When Cara Brookins escaped her 'controlling and violent' husband in 2008, she was not only broke, she and her family felt broken.

'We had been beaten so far down, that taking some sort of leap of a cliff, there felt like there was a lot less risk of failure,' Brookins told DailyMail.com.

'Because we'd already failed so big. What had I got left to lose?'

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'We could afford all the supplies so we just put it together ourselves,' she said.

'I didn't know yet how to frame a window or a door, how to snake pipes and wires through a wall or how to draw up blueprints and obtain permits. But I knew my kids, and I knew we needed this,' she wrote in her book, Rise, How a House Built a Family.

With no building experience, Brookins, 45, and her kids sat and watched hours and hours of YouTube tutorials to teach them how to construct everything.

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Despite their lack of training or experience, the house still managed to pass every city building code inspection. Although she said the inspectors were surprised when they found out who was doing the building work. 'I think they thought I was crazy,' Brookin joked.

'There wasn't a single person that thought this was a good idea aside from my kids.

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Brookins is also a motivational speaker and has published fiction novels including young adult, middle grade, and adult. She is also the host of the weekly Raise My Roof podcast through Macmillan Audio.

But her new book, Rise: How a House Built a Family which is released on January 24. is her first memoir.

Brookin said that initially she hadn't told anyone about the project, and certainly never planned to write about it.

'It was very private because we were very ashamed that we had got to this place,' she said. 'I didn't even tell my coworkers.

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