When we built our tiny house, we were on a very tight budget and timeline, too. That's another way of saying that we were/are not wealthy 😄.
That said, if we were to build another tiny house (and we may), we would do a few things differently.
In the sections below, I'll break down what we would have done differently based on our actual budget at the time and the things we learned from various mistakes we made along the way. I will also include things we would have done differently if we'd had more room in our budget.
What To Know Before You Start Building
When you watch videos or read blogs about people building tiny houses, living remotely, etc., you often don't discover until later on that there are many things social media doesn't tell you about the tiny home lifestyle. The truth is, many of those people you see on YouTube building tiny houses sold a several hundred thousand dollar house that had 10's of thousands of dollars in equity or more, that allowed them to build something fantastic.
Other people who have built tiny homes are single and adventurous. They choose to live inside of their unfinished building while working on it, allocating more money to their tiny house project by not renting or paying a mortgage elsewhere.
Many others have 6-figure paying jobs, or they're skilled in one of the many construction fields. Many are electricians, carpenters, or plumbers. One thing we learned quickly when building our tiny house is that plumbing and electricity are, by far, the two most expensive aspects of building a tiny house if you have to pay someone else to do it for you.
So, if you are skilled in one of those areas, or you know someone who is that will be willing to help you - then you are lightyears ahead of the rest of us who do not, and your tiny house project will be substantially cheaper.
We did not have any of the above advantages playing in our favor. We were renters then, and began building our tiny house paycheck by paycheck. We also lived and worked 1.5 hours away from where our house was being built, which made it more challenging to manage the project as it progressed.
So, if we did it... chances are, you can too, no matter what circumstances you find yourself in.
Plan & Design:
Let me start by saying that neither my wife nor I are designers. And despite both of us having prolific artists in our family, neither of us was gifted with those talents, nor have we attempted to learn those skills. And we could not afford to have a formal design drawn up by an architect or designer.
So, we drew a very rudimentary design of our tiny house on graph paper. When we bought the "shell" (a pre-built garage with an unfinished interior), we used duct tape and permanent marker to transfer our paper drawing to a physical representation of our plan.
As a result, the finished product was close, but not exactly what we had in mind. If we were to do it over again, we would carefully plan for things like:
Enclosed space for the washer/dryer, rather than an open space.
More space between the toilet and the bathroom closet.
An actual enclosed kitchen pantry, not an open one.
More countertop space in the kitchen (even though we have more than the average tiny house already) to accommodate everyday kitchen appliances and "prep space".
Built-in shelving and closet space in the bedrooms rather than relying on furniture.
Built-in storage space for cleaning supplies and products like brooms, mops, etc.
If we build a tiny house in the future, we will take the time (and allocate finances) to have a legitimate design drawn up with actual specs, measurements, etc.
We would then hire a reliable contractor to build according to those specs. More on that in a minute.
Size & Space:
When you plan on moving into a tiny house, one of the primary things you must consider is downsizing and getting rid of a significant percentage of your belongings.
Which is great... Until you decide to start a business - or two.
Which is what happened to us.
We already lived a relatively minimalistic lifestyle, even with three kids, and everything was great in our tiny world.
But then, my wife decided to launch a candle business, and I decided to expand my skills in videography and photography. That means a lot of things needed to be brought into our tiny house (e.g., wax, wax melters, fragrance oils, scales, pouring equipment, vessels, wicks, cameras, computers, SD cards, printers, scanners, etc...).
We hadn't designed the tiny house space in a way that could accommodate either of those things, and all of those things take up significant space.
Which, in hindsight, we should have anticipated. Part of living tiny is the idea of independence, and one of the aspects of independence is building your own revenue streams. That usually involves creating a business of some kind.
So, one of the things we would do differently is to draw up designs that maximize storage space by incorporating clever storage solutions, closets, desks, a pantry, furniture, and the like. Multi-purpose designs and arrangements that make the most of limited space.
Energy Efficiency:
One of the things that you hear discussed about tiny living quite a bit is the "energy efficiency" and how much cheaper your utilities can be when living tiny.
However, that's only true if you make your tiny house energy-efficient.
One of the things that we did was we used a pretty high R-value for our insulation in the wall and ceiling, but we did not insulate underneath the flooring. Since our tiny house is not on an actual foundation (it currently sits on treated wood runners above ground), the air flows underneath the house.
And even though we live in a relatively mild climate in Central Texas, it still gets extremely hot in the Summer, and it is not uncommon for the temperature to drip below freezing a few times each Winter.
Our monthly utility bill is still cheaper than most traditionally built homes in our area, even though we use both heat and AC in the tiny house throughout the year. Still, it could be even cheaper had we insulated under our flooring and/or built the tiny house on an actual foundation.
Solar power is the other thing we would probably integrate into our design next time. If the solar power we generate exceeds our use in our area, we can "sell it back" to the power company.
Personalization & Comfort:
A few reasons you might build a tiny house are:
To not be "house poor".
To save money in general.
To be more eco-friendly and "green" in your lifestyle.
To live a simpler lifestyle.
And, of course, there are many other reasons. Our reasons were all of those and more. But one of the other reasons we chose to live tiny was to focus less on possessions and more on experiences and an active lifestyle.
What we did not consider was brutal summer weather like we have had for the past two years where it was 100+ degrees for the vast majority of the summer, with many days hitting 105 - 110.
For days like that, you need outdoor spaces designed to compensate for the unrelenting, surface-melting sun. And we did not incorporate any covered outdoor spaces into our design. Partly because we didn't have the money to do so, and partly because we didn't seriously entertain the idea of it... probably because we knew we didn't have the money to build it, even if we did entertain it.
When it's 100+ degrees outside and you live 25-30 minutes away from the nearest major city, you either decide to stay inside or drive to find things to do indoors. And, if you're trying to save money, well, you have to narrow it down to finding FREE things to do indoors, which is also easier said than done.
So, when building a tiny house, try incorporating covered outdoor spaces into your overall design. It can be a covered deck, a pergola, a "She/He-Shed", or any outdoor space that's at least somewhat protected from the elements so that you can enjoy your property regardless of the weather.
These outdoor spaces that are disconnected from the tiny house are also essential as places for "me time," because inevitably, you'll want the ability to have room for some personal space outside of the confines of the tiny house walls.
Understand Scope of Work & Materials Needed:
When building a tiny house, it's essential to understand the scope of the work, the timeline of when it will be done, and the materials needed along the way.
When we built our tiny house, we used independent contractors and managed the project as the "general contractor. "
The problem is that neither of us has a background in construction, so we were not that great at being the "general contractor".
For example, we were having issues with our plumber being on time with the phases of the work he had agreed to do. He ultimately disappeared from the radar entirely. It appeared that he shut down his plumbing business and moved on to something else mid-project. So we were left scrambling to find someone else to complete the work.
That also happened to be around when our main contractor started some of the finishing work inside the house. Without water, the end result was granite and tile work that did not have what you would call "flush" cuts that fit together perfectly.
About a year later, we had to replace the granite because of the improper cuts, and the tile in the bathroom will probably need to be redone in another year or two.
So, next time, we would ensure we understood the work scope and what needed to be done. Both when, and in what order. We would also have backups in mind should any of our contractors fail to follow through with their commitments to the project.
Vet Contractors More Thoroughly:
As noted in the previous paragraphs, our initial plumber was unreliable and ultimately disappeared off the radar. His plumbing company is no longer in business, and we were probably one of the last projects he signed on for.
But he wasn't the only one. Our initial carpenter was also unreliable and did some shoddy work that we might have been able to detect earlier had we vetted him a little better. Granted, that was a little more difficult since we lived 1.5 hours away from the job site and worked 2 hours away.
But nonetheless, for any future projects, we would undoubtedly vet our contractors much more thoroughly.
Thankfully, from those experiences, we connected with a much more reliable plumber local to our area. He has helped us with several plumbing projects since then, including adding an outdoor water connection for our hoses. We also connected with a great carpenter with affordable rates who has helped us with multiple projects over the past few years.
It has also forced me to get some basic woodworking equipment and do smaller projects myself. Finding reliable and reasonably priced contractors in our area is challenging, especially for smaller, one-off jobs.
Protect Better Against the Elements:
There are several methods you can use to build a tiny house:
Start with a "shell" such as a pre-built garage or shed building.
Building a traditional, stick-built tiny house on a foundation.
Start with a metal frame building on a foundation.
Start with an actual "house shell" where you finish out the interior.
There are a lot of other possibilities when considering building a tiny house, but we went with the first option. We purchased a 16x40 pre-built garage "shell" with the walls, roofing, siding, and house wrap, but the interior was a blank slate - the only thing on the inside was the exposed studs.
UPGRADE DOORS & WINDOWS
But one of the things you need to be aware of is that the "openings" to the house (doors and windows) are not typically house-grade materials, or designs.
This means you need to consider upgrading them, or not even having them included from the manufacturer at all. Just leave them as open spaces so that you install your own house-grade doors and windows instead.
This will save you a lot of headaches down the road. We replaced nearly all of our windows with house-grade windows. We only have one that's still a "garage" window, which will likely also need replacing.
DOOR CANOPIES FOR RAIN PROTECTION
The doors are still standard shed (or garage) doors, but we have done some modifications, including overhead covers (door canopies) to prevent rain from hitting the doors directly. That's because the thresholds aren't designed like houses, so it's much easier for rainwater to get in under the door and threshold.
TREE COVER
Lastly, our land sits on limestone, so the immediate area around our tiny house is solid rock. It's difficult to plant anything it. For a future tiny home site, we would like trees (even if they're small) to provide shade from the hot Texas sun. As it is, we have trees around the property, but none are close enough to provide the house any shade.
Plumbing & Electricity
Finally, when it comes to plumbing there are a few things we would do differently.
We would have a master bathroom in our bedroom. As it is, we have one restroom for the entire family.
We would have more outlets specifically in the kitchen area. Even in a tiny house, you need to use various appliances for baking and cooking.
We would install a standard electric panel. Our electrician recommended a small 100-amp panel because he didn't think a tiny house would need anything more significant. He was wrong. A tiny house should probably still have a standard panel of 200+ amps because even though it's small, we still have a regular fridge, stove, washer/dryer, instant electric water heater, etc.
We would have placed an outdoor water spout in a more strategic place to account for gardening, lawn watering, etc. Maybe even two water spouts rather than just one.
We have a post on our property with outdoor outlets, but we would install at least one, if not two, on the exterior wall of the actual house. The one we have now is about 50 feet from the house, which requires a substantial extension cord anytime we need to use electric tools outside that need to be plugged in.
THE END
Well? What are your thoughts? Are you considering building a tiny house, and if so, what are some things you've thought of including in your design plans? Has our experience helped you think about something you may have overlooked?
We'd love to chat about it, so leave your comments below. We'd love to learn more about your experiences and planning so that the next time we build a tiny house, we'll be even more prepared =)