Building your own home taps into the once widely attainable 20th-century ideal of the Australian Dream, transforming it into a deeply empowering and personal journey. Just as this dream symbolises autonomy and a piece of one’s own world, constructing your own tiny home embodies a similar spirit of independence and self-expression. However, it is important not to underestimate the size of the task ahead: building your own tiny home represents a very steep learning curve; at worst, it can swiftly evolve into a significant misadventure. This is largely due to the intricate challenge of condensing all the elements that constitute a home into a compact space on a trailer, designed to navigate at highway speeds. This endeavour not only tests one’s resolve but also one’s ability to creatively solve problems within the confines of a small, mobile living space.
We wrote this guide to help you size up the challenge of DIY-ing your tiny home, to help you make the best decision possible!
Cost Savings
- Building a tiny home yourself can significantly reduce labour costs, making it more affordable. Labour costs are certainly a big proportion of the costs associated with building a tiny home, but your ability to undercut this cost depends on you. This saving is only possible so long as you are similarly skilled and efficient as the professionals. It’s absolutely possible to spend 2, 3 or 4 times as long as a pro on the job – and still not get the same result.
- Most tiny homes’ cost (when built efficiently) is associated with the materials. Tiny home builders have spent a long time building robust relationships with suppliers of all kinds – windows, trailers, internal and external materials, fixtures, etc and know through experience where to get the best product, at the right time, for the right price. Without this insider knowledge, it’s easy to end up paying significantly more for your materials, which may be of inferior quality.
Customisation
- DIY allows you to tailor every aspect of your home to your personal needs, preferences, and style. This is absolutely true and is a big reason why some people choose to DIY. Be careful here – there are many ideas that seem good on paper, but don’t work so well (or are outright unsafe) in practice. Also, beware of decision fatigue; if you’re not familiar with the process of design, you are likely to spend an incredible amount of time in analysis paralysis: not moving forward, losing confidence, burning out. The steep journey up the learning curve is not a straight line. Of course, some people love this sort of challenge! I would also caution – tiny homes are not easy to design. If you have not at least designed furniture, or other small/medium sized objects, think twice before you jump in. Your skills as a designer will make or break your on site work. You’re asking yourself to design the architecture, structure, joinery & furniture, waterproofing, and finishes all at once!
- You have the freedom to choose eco-friendly or specific materials that might not be offered by builders. This is a really great reason to DIY – perhaps you have some particular material or item that is very important to you that you want to include – a driftwood balustrade, or siding from a grandparents’ house. Making use of recycled materials is easier for a DIY-er than a builder, because builders need to have dependable plans of construction that can’t be guaranteed by some recycled products. Sometimes, it’s a better decision to DIY a part of a tiny home – that piece of siding, or the balustrade, by itself.
- As your needs change, you can easily modify or expand your home based on the skills you’ve acquired. This is true, but it can easily turn into the dreaded ‘List’ of items that never quite gets finished. Tiny homes are for living, not for fretting over endless details.
Time Commitment
- If you’re considering building a modest tiny home for the first time, would you be surprised if I said you should budget at least 850 man hours for the project? That’s for reasonably effective on-the-tools construction time, too, not including any of the time that you’ll spend in design and managing your project. Be sure to carefully consider the value of your time and the value you will get out of the endeavour. It bears repeating: These tiny homes are not tiny projects.
- The process can be stressful, especially for those without experience, leading to potential burnout and dissatisfaction.
Economic Independence
- Building your own tiny home can be a step towards financial independence, reducing living costs and dependence on traditional housing. Tiny homes are all about this, and we wish every tiny-home-dweller-to-be achieves this dream. If you are skilled on the tools and can get materials at a good rate, the economic utility of your tiny home also depends on how long it can remain functional; are you sure you can build a tiny home to weather the warranty periods offered by tiny home builders, durable for decades to come?
Quality Assurance
- Doing anything for the first time, you will make mistakes. Will they be small, caught right away, and fixable? Or will they be large, hard to manage, and potentially ruin the project?
- Without the lessons and skills brought to the table within all great tiny home construction teams, mistakes with plumbing, electrical, or structural decisions can lead to costly re-work, or ruin the project altogether. Make no mistake – it’s absolutely possible to take the time to assemble materials into a product that is worth less than the sum of its parts – just browse facebook marketplace to get a feel for what I mean. Be careful that your investment in your tiny home is preserved, and you get the enduring value that comes with a great product from a reputable builder.
Conclusion
- DIY-ing your tiny home is like building a house and a caravan at the same time. It’s not for the faint of heart, and it’s a challenge that absolutely should not be underestimated.
- If you have the time, gumption, and energy to put into a tiny home that’s perfectly suited to your needs, we wish you the very best of luck. If you’d like some help, we can help you design and build your perfect custom tiny home, or make any modifications to previous design’s that we’ve built.
- Just reach out to our friendly team!