Should You Build or Buy a Tiny House

Full post at Tiny House Design

Pictured here is the 246 square foot Riverside by New Frontier Tiny Homes. It’s a 24-foot tiny house with batten board siding and plywood paneling that you can buy completely furnished right now for $79,000.

I know I just lost half my readers with that price tag – but hang in there with me for a second – this post is not just about the house pictured.

I don’t think anyone would knock the quality of the home. New Frontier Tiny Homes has 40 years of building experience and a team of knowledgeable builders and architects. But naturally, when you hire professionals the cost goes up.

But I think many people will find that they can build a house like this for less money – but it takes months of hard work and a certain skill set. There might also be some tiny house inflation happening right now since the main stream media is making so much noise about tiny houses.

For example, a few years ago, before the tiny house TV frenzy churned-up, a house like this would probably cost $40K-$50K and the do-it-yourselfer would have built it for $25K-$35K.

So what’s a tiny house buyer to do?

1. The first thing is to decide if you really want to build it yourself – like the Derek and Hannah at Life Inside a Box. Derek has been having a blast building his house in Tucson, AZ – and making quick work of it.
   1. If you answer buy it, then shop around for a builder near you. I suggest starting with the Tiny House Map and the Builders List at Tiny House Listings. Also ask folks for recommendations online, like on the Tiny House People community on Facebook. The tiny house community is relatively small and people are often happy to talk. Then, if you’ve got a design in mind, ask that builder for a bid.
   2. If you answer built it, then learn as much as you can and find a place nearby to work on it for free (or cheap). I can highly recommend Dan Louche’s Tiny House Construction Book for to start learning about the construction process.

Now you have your path – each path is very different and will have different obstacles.

If you chose to hire a builder:

• Research the builders background and ask to see the photos of the tiny homes they’ve built.
• Ask to talk to past customers.
• Ask them how many tiny houses they’ve built.
• Ask if they can advise on financing and insurance – even if you don’t need it. Experienced builders will have recommendations for both.

Doing your due diligence before hiring a professional is always best since bad deals can go south fast and in a bad way.

Another route for tiny house buyers is to look at used tiny houses. There are many listed at Tiny House Listings all the time – and who knows, you may find your dream home for cheap.

If you chose to build it yourself, be sure to:

• Find a place to built it that costs no money, or at least very little, since you don’t know how long it will take you to complete it. This place needs to be close to where you live too… trust me… or you may never finish.
• Build out a budget and timeline  – a project plan – so you have a good idea  of what you’re in for. You’ll get the best understanding of this process from attending workshops or Dan Louche’s book.
• Have a plan for where you’ll be living once the house is complete – and a downsizing plan for all your stuff. In many ways, this is as big of a project as building the house itself.

I hope this short article was useful. I don’t mean to rag on builders that ask big bucks for their tiny houses. I bet there are folks that think $70K is cheap for a house that’s ready to move into. I don’t.

In the beginning, folks turned to the tiny house movement for reasonable alternatives to debt-burdened lives. Again, not saying the house pictured here isn’t worth $70K – spec houses aren’t usually cheap – just saying I don’t think people should get discouraged when they see price tags like that.

To learn more about the Riverside visit the New Frontier Tiny Homes website.

 

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