While these small homes work for all types of lifestyles and families, a growing proportion of tiny house owners are retirees. It makes sense that they would want to downsize their homes and limit their monthly costs. As a result, some of these companies cater to retired individuals who want a more simple life. These homes are not all uniform, cookie-cutter structures either. Most of these companies offer customizations that would be available if you were building a regular-sized home. So when you want a tiny house, but aren't handy enough to do it yourself, you can turn to these companies to do the heavy lifting for you:
Zyl Vardos Inc – Washington State
The tiny house products offered vary in price from $45,000 to above $96,000. Currently their website showcases 10 of the tiny houses offered, but if you fancy having one designed to your own specification, that is also possible.
Custom options for a retiree such as wider doorways and a raised toilet can be included at an additional feel.
Tumbleweed Houses – Colorado State
A variety of options await you with the ability to design your perfect tiny house in less than 10 minutes! Base model prices begin at $62,950, with the Cypress and its recess porch being the most popular. Each model can either be 20ft or 26ft in length, offering 188 square feet and 269 square feet of space respectively.
Designing your own tiny house involves you choosing everything from roof colour and window style to interior walls and extra features. Off-grid options are also available.
Escape Home – Wisconsin
This company offers a variety of RV model and park model RVs, which come with basic and custom packages. One of the larger park model options, the Getaway has 400 square foot of space. Retailing at $88,700, this is a more expensive option, but offers a larger space with plenty of storage and all the comforts of home.
Off-grid options like solar panels and composting toilets can also be added into the designs offered.
Little House on the Trailer – California
Offering compact moveable, customisable housing and home care cottages from $49,500 what’s not to like? Although, technically Little House on the Trailer is not a tiny house company, the models they build are still on the small side at 400 square feet. The home care cottages are aimed at retirees, allowing parents to live in the backyards of their kids, whilst still having their independence and own space.
Home Care Suites – Florida
Like Little House on the Trailer, this company specialises in building small cottages in the backyards of existing residents. Therefore, they are built on permanent foundations and the utilities are tied to the main residence. Aimed mostly at retirees, these tiny houses are also marketed as potential home offices or man caves! Ranging in size from 256 square foot to 588 square foot, there can be ample room inside these tiny houses.
The minimum price for their smallest tiny house is $55,000. These tiny homes typically take between 5 – 6 months to build.
Minim Homes – Washington
Not as flexible as some of the other companies mentioned, the Minim House comes as a standard basic home unit. It does however have a few options for customisation. The 12 foot by 24 foot space has an aluminium clad door, six windows and a solid walnut floor.
Options to add on to the home include a trailer, extra windows and an off –grid package of solar system and refrigerator. The price for this mini home is $71,000 and can be delivered to you for an extra cost.
Shopdog – New Mexico
This company builds tiny houses to suit any design and need and are fully customisable. However, there is one condition – it has to be fully off-grid and self-sustaining. Plus, they aim to build the whole thing out of recycled materials. This is what they achieved with the “Steely Cottage”, a 200 square foot space built on a 24 foot by 8.5 foot trailer. The Steely Cottage costs $50,000 and can be shipped for a fee.
Nelson Tiny Houses – British Columbia, Canada
This company offers two main styles of tiny house, the V House and the Acorn. From these the company can build something customised entirely by you. A 120 square foot (8 foot by 15 foot) V House comes in at $35,000.
Built to your specific needs, your tiny house can be furnished with custom built furniture. Alternatively, you can adapt the original floor plan to add rooms or multiple lofts for more storage. Plus, the tiny house can be built to be fully off-grid. Currently, the company only delivers to certain states in the US – Washington, Idaho and Montana.
Tiny Home Builders – Florida
Another company with a variety of models, which can be delivered nationwide! One model is even named “Tiny Retirement”. Designed specifically for retirees it is based on a single level – no stairs in sight!
However, if you don’t want to buy a model with “retirement” in the title, the Tiny Studio model can be customised to your needs instead. Options such as slip resistant flooring and a ramp are available! This tiny house has 160 square foot of space with kitchen and dining space on a slightly raised level.
Creative Cottages – Maine
Last but by no means least is Creative Cottages, which create custom energy efficient homes using environmentally sensitive building practices. Their Oceanside Retreat is a beautifully crafted 422 square feet which is liveable all year round. Custom built on foundations, this is a more expensive option compared to the other choices outlined above, coming in at $238,000.
Creative Cottages also only services the Mid-coast Maine area. However, there is the option to hire a contractor to build your very own creative cottage elsewhere.
Are you thinking about living in a tiny house? Let us know what customizations you would make to your house in the comments below!
Article and Video Source: Off-Grid
