From the Ground Up: a Tiny Home Building Company
So What’s Next?
We made it public - which was actually pretty terrifying. It’s one thing to talk about the business with Haley or family and friends, but it’s another to let the world know socially and decide to be open to more judgement, adding to the existing and easy self-deprecation. It means we just set the bar higher for ourselves while also knowing that the risk of failure is still ever present –
We are jumping on the bandwagon of tiny homes – as in tiny homes on wheels (THOWs) and as accessory dwelling units (ADUs). It sounds cool – and it is cool… everyone at one point or another has thought about if they could live in one and if they should have a community for their family. We’ve all seen tiny homes on HGTV and tiny influencer architecture spilled across social media. The one thing they don’t mention is the amount of nuance it takes to build, park, or place a tiny home on owned or rented land.
First we have to define what is a “tiny house” – according to the 2021 International Resident Code, Appendix AQ, it’s a dwelling of 400 square feet or less. It does not define if it’s on wheels or on a slab. It does not define the house as a primary or secondary dwelling. Tiny home can be many things – and how it’s defined and designed makes the difference in being able to park and place, and whether it’s built onsite or in a warehouse.
There is no national standard: there’s the International Residential Building code for single family homes that has a small appendix dedicated to tiny homes, an extremely vague and minimal offering and not applied by all states. At the state level is the same issue, no consistency and regulations vary widely (see chart generated). Some states are moving faster than others to update their residential zoning laws, and developing and piloting case studies to determine they’re …. viability? One can easily Google articles popping up all over the country of tiny home communities that are thriving. Even more of a micro level, in many states, each town or county has their own regulations as it relates to building and planning tiny homes –
Can you imagine trying to place a tiny house but have to go town by town to see if it can be parked and placed? – well that’s us, in the “Live Free or Die” state of New Hampshire.
And yet, everyday on the news and radio we hear about the housing crisis. How can towns across the country seriously address the issue if they are not open to all possible options? Is it because planning boards are filled with individuals who already own homes – they have no skin in the game and don’t know what it’s like to need a home when the median home price is over $565k in NH and median household income in NH is $95k. Make it make sense.
For Example: Currently there are only 6 states with clear, statewide legal pathways for tiny homes on wheels (THOWs) to be used as primary residences: Colorado, Oregon, California, Washington, Texas, Pennsylvania. Many states have no statewide clarification on whether THOWs can be primary residences and thus default to treating them as RVs. RVs are subject to temporary‑use limitations, often 90–180 days per location and local zoning, building codes, and minimum house size requirements routinely exclude wheeled homes from permanent classification.
Antiquated zoning and building laws are enabling the housing crisis. Tiny homes are not a magic bullet, but they are one more option for housing and there’s no good reason for the amount of bureaucracy and red tape when wanting to live in one, build one, or park one. And it’s truly a fiscal loss of additional tax revenue that towns could garnish if they updated their policies and encourage tiny home living. It’s not going to take away from homes selling for 600k, 800k and up – it’s just adding one more option for inclusivity and lowering the barriers to home ownership.
If it feels like we’re in over our heads – we definitely are. We’re new to the industry, we’re diving in headfirst and attempting to compete with the real cats – the builders and GCs of homes, residential developments, and extensively boring and overpriced luxury condos. We believe we have the ability to house affordably and sustainably: couples and individuals looking to downsize, empty nesters who want to travel and live in multiple locations, adult children who want to stay close to home but have their own space, young couples looking for a starter home on a piece of land, all the way to off-grid, short-term rentals, and luxury custom tiny homes.
So what’s next is the grind. Our heads down to balance and wear all hats at the moment – we need to finish the first build and then focus heavily on the sales side. We need to build up the backend: client contracts, design process, customer journey… some might say all those should already be built, but building a business doesn’t happen overnight. Each step takes time. We have a name, a logo, we are registered with the state, we have a domain and website, the website is populated with content and photos, we had a photoshoot, we printed business cards, we created social media accounts, we signed up for Google Workspace so we can have an associated email to the domain, we maintain the business plan, we maintain a digital file system, we are BUILDING the first house, we are designing the next house, we are learning Sketchup, we are getting involved in state and town legislature, the list just goes on for miles.
Do we need to hire and delegate. Sure. But are we terrified of spending more money to make money especially since at the moment we haven’t been paid? Yes. But I think this a common place for start-ups early-on. We would prefer NOT to take on debt if we don’t have to. We did discuss hiring – but to get quality not only do we have to pay competitively, but we are now entrusting someone else to represent us and the brand (which barely even exists), and with it being so new, Haley and I want to touch, understand, and control everything initially and set up the proper systems and workflows before we start to train and delegate our work and business to someone else.
“Business” is such a wholistic word – it encompasses so much, but sounds like a small, simple term that’s easily and often thrown around. As we build this business from the ground up – do we have the best strategy? Are we as prepared as we could be? It’s easy to be hard on ourselves and critical at every stop. With having a bachelors and master’s in business and coming off a successful 5 years of owning HIRS, I feel like I should be able to snap my fingers and ‘voila!’, but I know it doesn’t work that way – especially to be independent and not backed by investors. I think what we have is conviction, dedication, and the gumption to put ourselves out there and advocate for something we’re passionate.
Small steps every day in the direction we want to go and overtime creating a voice, a brand, and a reputation for quality, affordable tiny housing and tiny housing development options. That’s the plan.
