So far, he has built 14 homes on lots either purchased or received as a donation. A self-taught carpenter, electrician and plumber, Mr. Phillips said 80 percent of the materials are salvaged from other construction projects, hauled out of trash heaps or just picked up from the side of the road.

Salvaged wine corks, which are easy to come by, provide an inexpensive form of cork flooring. “We have some heavy drinkers in town,” Mr. Phillips said.

The bases of wine bottles function like stained glass on the top of a Dutch door.

Mr. Phillips created a counter out of slices of osage orange wood, a ubiquitous material in East Texas that many builders find difficult to use.

At left, the osage orange wood is used as railing.

Mr. Phillips’s houses use scrap wood for siding. City officials worked closely with him to set up a recycled building materials warehouse where builders, demolition crews and building product manufacturers can drop off items rather than throwing them in a landfill.

Thousands of picture frame corners were used to create the ceiling at left. Mr. Phillips said, “A frame shop was getting rid of old samples and I was there waiting.”

A wood-burning stove from an old ship found a new home in Mr. Phillips’s “tree house.”

Kristie Stevens rents one of Mr. Phillips’s houses. She is working with him on building a house of her own nearby, since Mr. Phillips requires the eventual owner of a house to help with its construction.

“If the walls are wonky, it will be my fault but also my pride,” she said.

Mr. Phillips used old shingles, arranged by color, to build the roof of what he calls “the storybook house.”

“You can’t defy the laws of physics or building codes,” Mr. Phillips said, “but beyond that, the possibilities are endless.”