They’re popping up everywhere— quaint, space-efficient homes, built to look like moveable dream-houses in miniature. Called Tiny Houses, these small prefab houses are built with efficiency and low-impact living in mind, and they’re becoming more and more popular as home-buyers have begun to consider frugality over a bigger, more expensive house.
The Tiny House movement is said by many to have begun with architect Sarah Susanka’s 1998 book, The Not So Big House, and was popularized by manufacturers such as the Tumbleweed Tiny House company. Since then, several manufacturers have begun to produce their own models of Tiny Houses, growing the Tiny House phenomenon from a niche market to a movement with broader appeal. For some, a Tiny House is the perfect living situation: compact, low-impact, and often times mobile, they can fit many lifestyles and often times many diverse budgets.
But what is a Tiny House? Often, a Tiny House is a small modular house that comes in under 500 square feet, built with efficiency and simplicity of layout in mind. A Tiny House is designed to have all of a regular home’s basic necessities fit comfortably within arm’s reach, while simultaneously focusing on efficient energy and utility use. These small modular houses are often easy to install anywhere, including small lots or out-of-the-way properties. Likewise, they are potentially low-impact and budget-conscious, and can be a good alternative for the frugal and minimalist home-buyer.
There are, however, some drawbacks. According to tinyhouseblog.com, it is not uncommon for a Tiny House’s owner to encounter complications with local building codes and ordinances, regardless of whether the Tiny House is on wheels or a concrete foundation. Often, they count as a “temporary structure,” and as such are considered uninhabitable for long periods of time. Other complications can include connecting and properly registering utility use, and registering and moving the Tiny House if it happens to be mobile. Some Tiny House owners find that the charming minimalism can be restrictive, and find the limited flexibility of a Tiny House to be prohibitive—a small house is small, no matter how it’s arranged.
So, are Tiny Houses right for you? Here at Nashua Builders, buying a small prefab house is as easy as sending us an order. Of course, if you decide that the Tiny lifestyle isn’t for you, we’ve still got you covered! Whatever your prefab building needs, we can deliver. So don’t wait— give us a call today to discuss your housing desires.