This is what a $25K Tiny House looks like
When the tiny house movement was new, $25K tiny homes were common. In fact owner-builders often reported spending $15K to $25K to build their homes themselves.
These days, with all the tiny house hype on television and luxury tiny homes popping-up, it seems like there are more and more $75K tiny houses – which makes little sense to me.
Call me old-fashion. I thought the tiny house movement was about saving money, living simply, and lowering one’s environmental impact. Well… the builder of the tiny house pictured here seems to understand this frugal side of the tiny house movement too. YEAH!
This is a 144 square foot tiny house built by a RVIA certified builder – and they are asking the fair price of $25,500 (see the original post here).
It features closed-cell spray foam insulation, a metal roof, lots of pine and cedar, a full bathroom, kitchen, granite counters, and a loft. The house is located in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Now this may not be the style of house everyone will like, or have all the features, but it’s an excellent example of how a tiny house can be professionally built on a reasonable budget.
Is there a place for $50k, $75K, and $100K tiny homes? Sure… but expensive tiny homes aren’t the norm – no matter what you see on TV. Luxury tiny homes look amazing with all their stainless steel, granite, marble, and fine woodworking; and I’m sure there will be a market for homes like that. They are just not the attainable homes the tiny house movement grew so popular around.
I’m also sure there are some folks that will say they can do more for less. By all means make it so – I bet you can. Truth be told, with lots of frugal choices and scouring craigslist for leftover building materials a lot can be accomplished for less. But I’ll argue that the house you build yourself from reclaimed and recycled materials will still cost you something like $25K if you count your time.
So at the very least, houses like this Cedar Tiny House can be used as a baseline as you imagine your dream tiny home. It also serves as a good reminder that tiny houses don’t need to cost nearly $100K or be decked out with all the bells and whistles to provide the owner with a great place to live.
To see if this house is still for sale, visit Tiny House Listings.
I’m not big on knotty pine (cedar here), but I think it’s time to refocus on what can be had for the least expense.
Early tiny homes were almost all owner built with materials purchased or found, often used…However, the most expensive rooms in homes are KITCHENS and BATHS…and since tiny home fixtures tend to be more expensive because they are nonstandard sizes, you don’t benefit much for the small amount of flooring or siding or wall covering,and fewer (but more expensive) windows, compared to the high cost of solar panels, heaters, AC units, stoves and propane fridges, and composting toilets are not cheap.
That being accounted for, it is still possible to do an affordable, HABITABLE SHELL, with most of the amenities and add the upgrades as time and money permit.
I agree with prices being really ridiculous. But PLEASE be sure when you are addressing this issue and showing a $25,000 tiny house that you are also showing the square footage. some people are building 190sq ft for $100,000 and Yes thats ridiculous, but others are building 396 sq ft plus two lofts not included in the sq ft for $75,000 and thats a great price including all appliances, Im just saying be specific so you are not knocking all of us builders. Flooring, jetted tubs and other amenities do raise the price. pintsizedhome.com
I’m not knocking all builders. I’m pointing out that tiny houses don’t need to be so expensive if frugal choices are made.
I think the higher tiny house prices are due in part size, part finishes, part market price/buyer expectation. What I’m hoping to help turn around is the buyer expectation part.
I’ve been hearing from more and more people that are dismayed at the high prices of tiny homes. People are increasingly becoming discouraged by the direction the tiny house movement is going as the market is flooded with high priced tiny homes.
I want to point out that tiny homes don’t need to be so expensive if the owner-builder/buyer makes some frugal choices – and that there are builders out there happy to build them frugal homes – if that’s what they want.
I’m sure there will be a market for expensive, fully decked-out tiny houses with all the bells and whistles – but I doubt that will ever be the norm simply due to economics.
I’ll check out your houses, I can’t say I’ve come across Pint Sized Homes yet.
I plan to use salvaged material as much as possible, to build a beautiful home at a very reasonable cost. I’m not a minimalist for nothin’! My idea of a fun day is going to a Habitat Restore to see what incredible bargains there are!!! Already know of a barn that might be ready to come down. Woo Hoo!!!
I think creativity can go a long way when being more frugal. Although, it doesn’t really matter how much it costs if you can’t find anyplace to put it…
This is my favorite and I so want to purchase it and put it on land in the western NC mountains. I just love it!
By all means, get back to the more frugal ideas! You don’t need to feature an entire house if someone has a nifty multifunctional piece of furniture, found a clever use for an odd throwaway or salvaged item, or maybe even had a potter friend make them a “custom” vessel sink! (Which could lead to a little side business, perhaps?). You could include building instructions (Ana White has several and DIY pallet-furniture sites have others). Such tidbits could round out your posts if you should run thin on brand new tiny houses to show off.