How to Start a Business: Tiny Home Building

Emotions and anxiety aside - in order to start a business, you have to actually do the thing you say you want to do. And then do it whole-heartedly.

But can we do it? Can we really get off the ground? Can we work together? Will we make our money back? Will people actually buy these? The imposter syndrome is loud, the construction industry is dominated by Brothers and Sons, the housing industry is in crisis, and Haley and I are focused – on a mission to create, own, and operate a tiny home building company. 

Yet, tiny homes are a misnomer to towns, cities, and states across the country with laws varying widely on their acceptance. It’s a loosely described term identifying a small home – but towns are built on zoning rules and regulations, requiring typically that primary dwellings are of a certain size in order to meet building codes. And to no one’s surprise, building codes have not kept up pace with rapidly changing environments and alternative options to a single-family primary residence – such as downsizing. And because we live in a capitalistic society, everyone wants more money, bigger homes, larger developments – and tiny homes remain an underrated, die-hard option that’s often overlooked and left-behind. And now we want to have a say about it.

Tiny homes are not a new concept and yet the red tape and bureaucracy stem the flow of building, and instead we watch builders construct boxy squares of overpriced condos, still unreachable and unaffordable for many. Why is it so hard to image a tiny housing community, with well-defined walkways and oversized, shady trees lining the street, a manicured lawn of ornamentals and flowering perennials – a place where individuals, couples, and small families can thrive.

Haley and I have been on this for a few years now, researching and studying and talking endlessly about the tiny home trend. We’re slowly making public our attempt to create a self-funded business from scratch, based on quality construction, efficient design, and superior customer service.

Haley has a background in the trades as a licensed electrician, working most recently as a project estimator and manager. Haley started her early career in the union, became a mom to Apollo, and then took a leap of faith to help Travis and I finish and sell this first tiny house.

I have a diverse background that led from Peace Corps in West Africa to a masters in business, then to corporate risk management and business continuity, before successfully owning a residential remodeling company that opened in 2020.  

Travis and I had the random luck to be offered the 8x24’ trailer – it was never planned and mostly fell into our lap. In 2022 we lost a majority of our live savings to fraud, and in 2023, this trailer appeared as we were trying to piece our lives back together. I, like many people have been infatuated with tiny homes – for many years – and suddenly, my dreams of building and possibly owning one was in our backyard. Yet somehow days, and weeks, and months slipped by and we had only built the shell. It was coincidental that in April when Haley became available to work on the tiny house, I was able to space out and hold off on taking additional residential customers — and we haven’t looked back.

Travis has had a love hate relationship with it – it seems it’s possibly about to change the course of our lives. Haley and I have decided we enjoy building these homes, we have a combination of skill and expertise and believe this frontier market is a next best, and more practical, affordable option to owning housing – which is out of reach for so many. It’s easy to think about the grand plans, tiny home communities and shifting the balance of demand and supply – but we are still in the prologue, working silently in the background to create a structure and foundation for a future, a placeholder where we provide and supply opportunity, adaptation, and innovation to not only housing, but living. These early days mostly feel like drowning in expenses, doubt, and risk, but we believe with a bit of dedication and time we’ll be swimming before we know it, and then hopefully sailing — on a yacht, in our long-term dreams.