American do-it-yourself guru, Ana White, has released free plans online for a tiny house that could cost under $20,000 to build yourself.
White released her house plans with the hope of inspiring copycat homes across the world.
The mother of two’s small house sits amid a forest in Alaska, sleeps six adults and is built on a movable trailer.
It is a clever abode that has a reading nook with a view, storage under the bed and a fold-out dining table.
According to Sydney based construction and refurbishment company, Buildability, the building cost could fluctuate depending on materials but their rough estimate was between $42,800- $52,800 with a professional build.
The cost is substantially lower to build it yourself, however Buildability Director Darren Ward says the value of your own time and “any potential loss of income that you might have made elsewhere during that time” would need to be considered.
“It feels big inside.”
During her video tour, White says the house feels spacious inside despite being the size of a large trailer – 24 feet long and eight feet, six inches wide.
The tiny house movement started as an emergency housing solution in the US following Hurricane Katrina and is growing as a real housing choice.
hereHow much does it cost?
Many have accomplished their tiny house dreams under $100,000 and with some Sydney car spaces for sale for up to four times as much it seems like a bargain.
Ward says it is "an interesting concept" but other questions around local government regulations which would need to be addressed such as compliance and where you can keep a mobile home.
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS
- Trailer – Say $5,000
- Framing materials $2,000
- Internal Linings & Flooring - $2,000
- External Cladding / Insulation - $1,500
- Materials for Joinery / Cabinetry - $1000
- Windows / Doors $1,500
- Roofing - $1,200
- Sundries, fixings, glue nails etc - $500
- Paint - $200
- Soft Furnishing - $1000
- SUB TOTAL MATERIALS – say $16,000
FIT-OUT
- Appliances, sink - $1,500
- Light Fittings $300
- Electrician cost for hooking up for power - $1,000
- Plumbing? (where does kitchen drain to?)
Source: Buildability
"If you were looking to get a professional team or builder in to build, I would anticipate that labour (in Sydney at the moment) to be anywhere around the $25- $35k mark," says Ward.
"I certainly think there is a market for this type of solution into the future. I envisage greater interest in pre-fab homes and/or kit homes also for reasons around speed and economy - which often go hand in hand."
In an era where young Australians are seeking counselling over the prospect of never being able to afford a home, access to free affordable housing plans can only be a good thing.
Listen: How to find you home style?
Top Comments
Hi, I would like to say something critical of this movement. *Ahem* The Australian market of tiny house builders is overindulged, overpriced and overinflated. Watching YouTube on tiny house on wheels in other countries is like a dream with all the low budget, high quality builds they have. But here? Forget it! A lot of tradies and builders have pounced on this idea and found a jackpot! For a simple six metres of finished housing costs around $50k – $68k. That’s insane! Don’t even get me started on the cost of a trailer here. They’re around $10k! I mean the whole point of living in a tiny house on wheels is to save money. Especially for low income earners. After receiving multiple quotes, I would like to outline that for an average Australian (rural or city based), they could be classified as a low-income earner. Low income can be regarded as around 40k –
50k with the cost of rent, car registration, electricity, water and internet taking HUGE chunks of someone’s pay cheque every 1 – 2 weeks. Breaking it down at the high end of $50k, a person’s means pay would equate to around $900.00+/- a week (IF they work a good 38 hours). Now, before even thinking about saving, you have to think about the cost of rent to able to live. So that would be around a means of $300.00+/- to your landlord. Already, most people have lost a quarter of their pay. So, we’re left with $600.00 obviously. After putting money aside for your electricity, food and internet (which is costly, too), let’s just say we are left with $300.00ish per week.
Here’s the hard, realistic crunch: at $300ish worth of savings (if you’re lucky) it would take you around three years of saving and budgeting (basically hell) to even begin putting that money down to start
your tinny house on wheels dream in Australia. The kicker? Most of these builders don’t include solar installation. Solar power is the very definition of living off grid and saving money. To not include this in building packages is to turn away customers. They also don’t include kitchen installations or appliances. And a lot of them seem to have a gripe about delivery. A quote I received from a company had this to say:
“Based on the 7.2m length model, we can build you a shell for
AU$48,500 and you are looking at around AU$75k for a fully finished tiny house. This is just a rough quote as prices could vary up or down based on some finishes or upgrades you may choose. Prices do not include kitchen appliances, solar system and delivery.”
The quote went on to say:
“We also have a 4.8m and a 6m model. See prices idea below
4.8m shell - AU$39,500 / 4.8m fully finished - AU$53,500
6m shell - AU$43,000 / 6m fully finished - AU$68,000”
Even if U.S. prices were exchanged on a lot of these YouTube
dream builds, a high-end U.S. 20k build would roughly be around $25k AUD. So, what I’m starting to see is an Australian tiny house bubble emerging to gauge the pockets of unaware buyers. Even for the shells, it is overly costly. Sure, I guess you can pay for the convenience of the shell, but don’t forget that solar power is not a part of that shell!
The bubble will burst, and the laws will be written to either defend people wanting to live in tiny houses or go against us (parking limits, vicinity zones etc etc). If anything, the government should boost tiny house buyers, by allowing a grant. The first home buyers grant should extend to tiny houses. Either way time is running out. I only hope that prices deflate, and the law is in favour of the tiny houses on wheels movement.
Good luck, and may you all find a great deal.
Cheers.
Looks great although I have to agree about the lack of bathroom facilities? The estimated costs seemed reasonable to me and not that different from what Sherry noted, (it was called an estimate after all and would fluctuate depending on level of finish). The $20k estimate was just basic materialsand then all labour was on top of that so the end figures were similar in my opinion at $52k compared to $52-$57k.