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I'd never live in a tiny house because you can't do anything in them but sit. There's not enough room to cook a big meal and have people over, unless you do it all outside. You can't have any hobbies or do any sports that require supplies or equipment or room to spread out (sewing, quilting, working on any sort of collection you might have, canning, etc.). You could barely get 4 people around a table to play cards. Pets would make it feel very crowded. Before you know it you're paying for storage or junking up the outside, or building a shed to put your stuff in.
I guess if you're truly seeking a meditative life where you want to peacefully sit and contemplate things it would be okay. But whether you save money or not, it isn't a lifestyle I'm interested in.
In theory, the tiny house movement should have resulted in a low cost way to live.
It hasn't because most people looking at them actually could afford more but think the tiny house movement is "trendy"
Thus, since it now appears on TV shows etc, the people promoting saw the opportunity to gouge.
Materials are expensive.
If you can't build your own, labor is expensive too.
Since you are basically just building all the expensive parts of a house in a tiny home, they are easily twice as expensive on a per sqft basis then a regular house, but overall cost is of course much less.
I think a lot of people don't realize how expensive it is to build a house, even a small one.
If you can't build your own, labor is expensive too.
Things are expensive but I can hire someone to build a 16x16 tiny house for well under $20,000 and that includes a well and septic. It's still much cheaper than the fad they are trying to sell.
Then again a small cabin is really not that hard to build. Lumber, foundation, framing, roofing are not so bad. Hire someone for plumbing and electrical.
Things are expensive but I can hire someone to build a 16x16 tiny house for well under $20,000 and that includes a well and septic. It's still much cheaper than the fad they are trying to sell.
No way you are getting a new 16'x16' paid for, labor and materials, of conventional construction and same quality level as those tiny homes with a full kitchen, bathroom, and a well and septic put in for under 20g using professional contracted labor and new off the shelf materials.
If you want to talk price, you have to talk apples to apples. You can't take a professionally done tiny home that is put on the market for resale, look at the cost and then compare it to putting together something with used materials, non professional labor, less quality etc...
Apples to apples it all costs the same. Anything you can do to build a stand alone cheaper, you can do the same with a tiny house.
Last edited by High Altitude; 03-15-2017 at 04:03 PM..
No way you are getting a new 16'x16' paid for, labor and materials, of conventional construction and same quality level as those tiny homes with a full kitchen, bathroom, and a well and septic put in for under 20g using professional labor and new off the shelf materials.
Of course I can. Sorry but we will have to agree to disagree. If someone was really really interested I can price it out.
If you have to pay lot rental, what's the difference from a mobile home park?
I think the "tiny house" movement is much more about reducing one's focus on possessions than about reducing housing expenses. Most of the accounts I read also involve living in the back yard of a relative and using the relative's house for things like washing clothes, taking baths, etc.
Without doing the numbers I suspect the lowest housing cost is to buy an actual house, very small, in a low cost of living area, taking a small mortgage and paying it off ASAP. Even the smallest conventional house will have features that the "tiny house" doesn't, like normal sized kitchen appliances, a complete bathroom, and a washer/dryer.
I grew up in a 2 bedroom 1 bath house of 930 sq.ft., for example.
The other candidate for lowest housing costs, I expect, is the mobile home on a lot you own outright. But again I haven't done the numbers.
It's not all about the house. It's all the stuff you stuff into the thing. When we moved into our present home ten years ago, we had all the room in the world. But we've filled it up one Target bag at a time.
I saw the show Tiny house and saw on average people paid 30K for tiny house. You can find a real house in many cities in Midwest for that price with backyard & basement. No need for mobile house. I wish the focus is on moving to low cost area and maybe smaller house like they had 50 years ago. Show that people don't need 2000+ sqft home
I absolutely agree with this.
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