According to tinyhomebuilders.com, the tiny house movement is an architectural and social movement that advocates for living simply, in small homes.
How tiny is officially “tiny”? General consensus caps the size of tiny homes at 400 square feet. For comparison, the average (mean) square footage for new single-family homes in the U.S. sits at 2,661 square feet, according to fourth quarter 2016 data from the Census Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design and NAHB analysis. There’s also a distinction between small (400-1,000 square feet) and tiny (400 square feet or less) dwellings, according to Tinyhomebuilders.com, a tiny house advocate and producer.
Tiny house dwellers make the decision to live in a tiny house for many reasons, but Tinyhomebuilders.com notes that it’s usually one or more of the following: to save money, to simplify their life, and to help the environment and live sustainably.
The U.S. average annual expenditure on housing in 2016 was $18,886, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditures 2016 report. The report, noting that Americans spend the bulk of their money in three areas – housing, transportation and food – found a 2.6% increase in housing expenditures from 2015 to 2016.
Living in a tiny house is not simply about housing. It’s a true movement – a way of life with its own independent culture.
“A lot of this started out West, in places like Washington and Oregon, where people really embraced a simpler way of life. Texas was also a leader,” said Jim Greer, National Tiny Homes Brand Manager at Clayton Homes, the producer of a new Designer Series line of tiny houses. “But the spread has begun to pick up pace. The south, Georgia in particular, is becoming a leader in adopting new tiny house-friendly codes. Georgia was one of the first states to adopt the new codes, but we’re seeing a lot of states follow suit.”
Everything from the type of person who seeks out tiny house living to the aesthetics traditionally associated with tiny houses have until the last few years remained unchanged. Stereotypes have been mainly of the hippy-hipster life style, with interiors tending to the purely Scandinavian or more obscure and funky DIY circumstances.
But tiny dwellings are beginning to break out of this box and broaden their scope in demographics and aesthetics.
For the first time ever, the International Code Council’s new 2018 International Residential Code (IRC), for One- and Two-Family Dwellings, includes a brand new appendix addressing Tiny Houses – check out the full appendix here.
According to the IRC’s Appendix Q:
“Tiny Houses: Appendix Q relaxes various requirements in the body of the code as they reply to houses that are 400 square feet in area or less. Attention is specifically paid to features such as compact stairs, including stair handrails and headroom, ladders, reduced ceiling heights in lofts and guard and emergency escape and rescue opening requirements at lofts.”
It clarifies, “This appendix shall be applicable to tiny houses used as single dwelling units.”
A recent line of tiny home designs by Clayton Homes is positioning itself as a more grown-up alternative, for empty nester/retirement ages and Millennials alike.
The positives to tiny house living for both of these demographics are similar: independence through owning your own home, a lower financial commitment, and fewer home maintenance responsibilities. These needs are oddly similar to the priorities of companies investing in long-term coworking spaces.
Millennials are finally moving out of their parents’ homes; they want to become homeowners, but they also want to make smart financial decisions in light of the setbacks delivered by 2008’s Great Recession, namely student loans, delayed career advancements, and a tighter lending environment.
Empty nesters and retirees, for their part, are looking for smaller square footage, in advance of future physical health limitations they will face, in addition to fewer home maintenance responsibilities as they age.
Tinyhomebuilders.com points out the obvious financial advantages to going “tiny”:
“Less square footage means less consumption which means cheaper utilities. The cost of a tiny house is so much less than its big brother counterpart, a lot of people don’t even carry a loan…plus, if you don’t have room to store stuff, you tend to buy a lot less of it.
Aside from fewer expenses in building, taxes, utilities, maintenance and repair costs, conservation is a goal for many tiny house dwellers.
“Fairly obvious is the environmental impact living tiny will have,” Tinyhomebuilders.com maintains. “Less utilities means reduced carbon footprint…when you have less, you use less, even if it’s not your intention. Living tiny is simply better for the environment.”
Another peculiar benefit many tiny homeowners experience is gained time.
“People living in tiny houses say they just have more time to focus on the important things in their life,” notes Tinyhomebuilders.com. “The initial reaction to telling someone you are moving into a tiny house is “where are you going to put all your stuff?” But the fact is we don’t need all that stuff. And not only do we not need it, but it is suffocating us. Maintaining, cleaning, and thinking about all that stuff takes time. There is a lot of truth to the saying “the stuff we own ends up owning us.”
It should be noted that tiny homes also play a role in disaster relief and other temporary housing; architects who work in this space are pushing into new territory through innovative design concepts, often relying heavily on recycled and recyclable materials and production methods.
A few significant deterrents to tiny house living do exist.
Finding a legal place to put a tiny house has consistently been a major issue, and codes and laws vary from state to state and even county to county.
“Financing and insurance can be a challenge as well,” notes Tinyhomebuilders.com. “Financing and insurance companies rely on having accurate values for the items they finance and insure, and with tiny houses those values aren’t always reliable or clear. For instance, if an individual built their own house and did so incorrectly, their structure could potentially be worthless.”
Both tinyhomebuilders.com and Wikipedia correctly note safety concerns and difficulty in finding trustworthy builders.
“This increase in popularity of tiny houses, and particularly the rapid increase in the number of both amateur and professional builders, has led to concerns regarding safety among tiny house professionals,” notes Wikipedia. “In 2013, an alliance of tiny house builders was formed to promote ethical business practices and offer guidelines for construction of tiny houses on wheels. This effort was carried on in 2015 by the American Tiny House Association. In 2015, the nonprofit American Tiny House Association was formed to promote the tiny house as a viable, formally acceptable dwelling option and to work with local government agencies to discuss zoning and coding regulations that can reduce the obstacles to tiny living.”
The tiny house movement is also still figuring out how to shake off the stigma of owning a tiny home. While the new building codes have paved a path toward easier tiny house construction and ownership, neighbors are often concerned about a nearby tiny house’s negative impact on their property values. This issue won’t fade quickly.
Do-it-yourself is a huge part of the tiny house movement, both in culture and building logistics. The new tiny house designs by Clayton homes present a distinctly different tiny house concept.
Because of the new IRC code, Clayton Homes is able design its tiny homes on a permanent foundation, as opposed to being forced to build them on trailers with wheels (previously tiny houses were always classified as recreational vehicles (RVs)). This change alone shakes up the tiny house industry – offering consumers more stability and sophistication.
The two Clayton Homes tiny houses, called Low Country and Saltbox, are priced in the low $100,000 region. The designs, by architect Jeffrey Dungan, feature smart floor plans, efficient appliances and luxurious materials and finishes.
“These houses are very well-appointed,” said Mr. Greer. They’re higher end, but they still fit a broad range of people at their price-point. The retirement age is looking to downsize, Millennials often want to own without having to take on the burden of a larger home. And tiny houses also have a purpose as guest homes and vacation homes.
“The houses can be placed almost anywhere. They’re placed on a permanent foundation, so they’re considered a permanent residence, which is a big departure from many tiny house designs. A lot of media focus so far has been on tiny homes on wheels, and not on the permanent residence class.”
Clayton Homes is in the middle of trying to create new distribution channels, seeking building investors interested in placing their tiny homes.
“In talking with these parties, we see a wide range of possibilities,” said Mr. Greer. “People are interested in small and large developments, set within a community experience. We’re also talking to urban planners and their associated builders about urban in-fill solutions – making use of vacant lots in urban areas that are facing housing shortages and often have difficulty getting builders to take on projects. We’re even talking to college campuses.”
These urban solutions speak to the idea that living a simpler life is starting to stretch across a lot of demographics. The question of context is significant.
While personal space square footage in the workplace is continuing to decrease, primary dwelling square footage is also decreasing for many key groups of our population. And this refers only to square footage in the built environment; how do these changes affect access to outdoor, natural air space? What kind of larger context environments are these tiny dwellings being built into?
“We’re trying to innovate and to give people new ways of living.”
It’s a goal worth pursuing.
