
According to the 2018 International Residential Code, “A Tiny House is a dwelling with a maximum size of 400 Square Feet.”
In Texas, we like things bigger than most.
Personally, I feel tiny homes are more of an ideal than a rule. For many, the thought of living smaller means living a simpler less expensive life that is not tethered to a huge mortgage or even location.
When I was growing up, most believed getting an education or trade, marriage, buying a home, and starting a family was the goal in life. It is what our parents did and their parents and so on.
We now live in a rapidly changing world where past traditions are being reconsidered.
As a recent “empty nester” with three adult children, I can tell you from experience that my kids seriously question the idea of working full time to fund something they’ll spend relatively few waking hours utilizing.
The idea of 30 years of mortgage payments seems absurd to many of their peers. With the current cost of education along with a predatory student loan market many are buried in debt before being able to imagine owning their own homes.
My wife, Evonne, and I recently asked ourselves why we continue to live in, and pay taxes and a mortgage on, a large home we now occupy a small part of. Could our kids be on to something?
Smaller, less expensive, and less complicated means more opportunities to do things like travel, invest, and maybe get those things you previously could not afford when tied down to the cost of a larger home.
Freedom from debt can be freedom from stress and in this, the tiny house movement was born.
It began organically with small dwellings on top of trailers that folks might build in their yard or garage and then hit the road. The idea that you could take your home with you and live in the mountains or by the sea sounded like the ultimate lifestyle.
In the years since the tiny home movement took hold, the reality has become quite different. Today tiny homes can be created in a variety of ways with pros and cons to each. A tiny home on wheels, often referred to as THOW or park model home, is still what many picture when asked, “What is a tiny home?”
Five years ago, I would have considered this the fastest-growing segment of commercial portable home sales outside the mobile and manufactured home industry. Small homes built out of shipping containers have seen a surge in past years.
More recently there has been a popular trend in which portable buildings or sheds are used to create living spaces as well as retail spaces or work studios. Portable building manufacturers such as Derksen have seen a steady rise in sales of buildings used for these purposes and it hasn’t gone unnoticed.
The she shed rage has given birth to a reimagining of what is possible by utilizing a portable building.
In 2018, Tiny House Texas was born. I began as a portable building dealer when our family opened A PLACE FOR YOUR STUFF selling Derksen sheds back in 2005. Since then, we have sold millions of dollars in Derksen products and have seen the demand for and purpose of them change and grow over time.
What was once just a place to put your mower and tools evolved into porched cabins, workshops, she sheds, and commercial uses such as offices or retail shops and more. People recognizing sound construction standards could see the potential for more utility than just storage.
It became clearer as the demand grew, portables built like real houses could offer more than those built on trailers or shipping containers.
The Derksen building shells we offer at A PLACE FOR YOUR STUFF can be converted into homes meeting the state residential building codes. Built on their own foundation instead of an existing slab or pier and beam but otherwise mirror an on-site stick-built home board for board. Plus, they remain portable with the ability to be loaded or unloaded at any time.
Shed homes have distinct advantages over park model homes. THOWs remain on a trailer you may never need again and can represent a large part of its cost.
The THOW only meets recreational vehicle building construction standards (RVIA). They are not intended for residential use and must display a placard stating so here in Texas. THOWs normally don’t exceed 10 feet in width, most being 8 feet wide to avoid transportation permits.
When a home is affixed to a trailer, it must be registered with the state just as any RV must. That means registration renewals, inspections, sales taxes, compliance laws, etc.
The idea that wheels mean your tiny house is exempt from codes and zoning regulations is a big myth perpetrated by those who want to earn a quick buck off selling pre-made homes and plans to tiny house people.
Because your THOW is not compliant with full-time residential use, means it is also limited to where you can place it, outside of RV parks or campsites. If you are buying a home on a trailer for an Airbnb or seasonal rental, this may not be a worry.
For me, it’s hard to understand the attraction to shipping container homes. Don’t get me wrong, I have seen some incredible pictures of homes built with multiple containers connected and arranged in various ways.
The difference is you’re building with wood, nails, and a hammer vs. steel and a cutting torch. There are too many limitations and challenges to this style of construction all the way around.
I have left out a few other designs such as site-built homes which are fixed to a foundation. Yurts, kits, retail brands, and sustainable material such as cobb, adobe, and others, can all be considered as you dive deeper into your quest for the right option.
So much depends on what your customer sees their tiny home as—a full-time residence, an additional dwelling unit for a family member, an Airbnb for extra income, or an investment that adds value to your property?
My advice as a custom tiny home builder is to define these things prior to salespeople and customers meeting and to verify all information you receive, such as rules, regulations, taxes, and codes which can vary widely from town to town, state to state.