The Cost of Frugality
November 30, 2008 · Print This Article
Square footage is really the cheapest thing you can add onto a house. At the core of most any dwelling you will generally find that the electrical system, plumbing, heating, appliances and structural components are similar in at least one key way. They are all expensive. This costly core is housed in the relatively cheap volume that surrounds it. Because the price of extending core components outward to accommodate any amount of additional space really isn’t all that high, and open space itself is priced at next to nothing, square footage is really the cheapest thing you can add onto a house.
Combine this with the fact that small house design and construction is almost always much more difficult than that of a large house and you can start to see why small houses are a bit of a hard sell in a culture where the first rule of economics has already been all but forgotten – bigger is not necessarily better.
In light of all this, it might seem that you really can’t afford to buy anything less than the most house you can get your hands on. It would certainly seem that the more you buy the more you save, and who doesn’t like a bargain these days? It’s the hidden costs that get people into trouble. After all, more house than you need comes with more debt in total, more utility bill, more maintenance than you need and more foreclosures and more bailouts than any of us needs ever again.
Consider the quality of any designed space over quantity. A well-designed little cottage will feel less crowded and provide more utility than a poorly designed mansion. Live well. Build small. Buy smart.
Also read: Why do Tumbleweeds cost so much?
SO glad you started posting more info for owner-builders! Wanted to know if the cost break down included a toilet? Those are spendy – what kind do you suggest (for tiny homes on trailers, that may or may not have hook ups). Also what about tanks – grey water, fresh water, etc.
Thanks!
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Jay Shafer reply on December 6th, 2008 5:30 pm:
An RV or standard toilet is included in the cost of the tiny mobile ones. I recommend a sawdust composting toilet though. I also recommend a grey water system or a portable detachable RV tank so you don’t have to pull your house to the dumping station all the time.
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I have an empty nest and enjoy being alone. The idea of a quality home that is efficient appeals to me very much. One that is mobile seems even better.
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Lesa A Kosteck reply on December 11th, 2008 3:29 pm:
I’m not at the empty nest stage yet (married mother of three boys.. ages 19, 18, & 16.. two still in H.S.), but do tend to lean more t’ward the introvert side o’ the spectrum, as does Mine Love. I dream of shucking our big house for two tiny houses. It’d give the boys their own space w/ ours serving as the main gathering/ family center. I love the idea of eventually not only helping our boys to each buy their own vehicle, but also sending them out in the world armed with their very own mortgage-free, portable home. I think these could make a very nice starter home for a married couple as well. I could see how the Lusby could easily have the down stairs bed area converted to a nursery and the storage loft into a twin or full size sleeping loft for children old enough to sleep in bunk beds.
Me
Anyway.. I’m rambling.. lol..
Best to you and yours…
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Friar Greg reply on June 23rd, 2009 3:49 am:
I am neither an empty nester nor are my 3 children old enough to put in a separate house (6, 4 & 2) The Loring looks closer to something I’d like to move my family into, though my wife just signed a lease on a giant old Victorian. She’s been there less than a week and already complaining of the the distances she has to walk to get to any part of the house. Some recognize the problems, but don’t like the solutions.
Perhaps a closer family could handle the smaller house, something I’m looking forward to, but the rat racers (i’m kinda partially categorized) have far too many belongings to pull off a down-size like this.
I guess what I’m getting at is that I would be willing to make sacrifices to live in a nice little home like the Loring, but not many would, and they wouldn’t even realize why.
When are you coming to Canada? I’d love to see you at the Toronto Home Show, you could park your house right in the auditorium! I’ve already blogged about you to get the word out.
–
Friar Greg
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Jay Shafer reply on June 23rd, 2009 1:18 pm:
Oh, Canada! I’d love to, someday. Now you’ve planted the seed.
I’m interested in offering space for an Indianapolis workshop. How much space do you need? We have a huge lot next to our home (yes, 5 bedroom home) We are interested, believe it or not, in one of your tiny homes and I’d like to know more. Thanks!
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Jay Shafer reply on January 1st, 2009 2:13 am:
If you have the space, I’d love to use it for the workshop. You and yours will, of course, be welcome to attend the workshop for free, and we’ll slip you a tidy sum as compensation.
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jcrn reply on January 1st, 2009 4:26 pm:
Please call me when you get a chance. I responded to your mail and included a phone number
I’ve written about many alternative home solutions and am absolutely fascinated with this concept, especially since my father was a builder and we are very much into homes that don’t take up a huge footprint on the earth.
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How about pressing the new administration to abolish the minimum size standards in municipal codes? I just wrote about this and a few other policy ideas in my blog: http://thistinyhouse.com
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Jay Shafer reply on December 31st, 2008 4:33 pm:
Right on, Hillary. This may be a good time for that.
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Jeff Lund reply on January 8th, 2009 3:58 am:
Yes! Abolish the minimum size standards in municipal codes! I have five acres in Oregon and I WILL put my tiny house there and make a big stink when they tell me I can not.
I sure am wrestling with the cost of the plans. Would you settle for a Toyota 4runner sport package with tow package 6 cylinder for a cross country trip? I’ll even drive it at no additional cost. Let me know.
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Donna F. reply on January 8th, 2009 4:39 am:
I’m with you, Jeff…Jay, we Alabama folk are POOR…at least I am. Even when I was working, the plans of the Lusby at $995 would be two whole weeks of GROSS salary! And that is making more than MOST over here.
I do understand that demand makes the cost go up, so these must be your very most popular plans…of COURSE they are if I like them!
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Andrew J reply on January 8th, 2009 4:56 pm:
Roughly where are you located, Donna? I’m in the Huntsville/Madison area.
Donna F. reply on January 9th, 2009 2:45 am:
etowah county
Jay Shafer reply on January 10th, 2009 9:10 pm:
Now that is tempting. I’ll let you know if it will work before my trip in May. Thanks for the offer, Jeff.
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Wow. I was tipped about these houses by a co-worker and was intrigued. Too bad I’m nearly broke, I’m looking for a small place, and in my not so humble opinion, owning is so much better than renting. Also, since I’m single now, I really don’t need much space (plus, the prospect of owning something large with tons of space to take care of scares me
) I think this is going to be something I look forward to in the future. Thanks for this cool business! 
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Den reply on April 6th, 2009 12:17 am:
Bonnie,
Actually, right now is a great time to be renting, vice stuck w/ a big mortgage on a depreciating asset. Consider renting a small place, now, and saving for, then building your tiny, “motgage-free” escape vehicle. Owning is only better if you really “own” it, right?
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I love this..don’t think my family would.. I feel I don’t need all that i have..but is this hard to get approval in some states? I live in Stratford CT and feel it would be hard up here to do something like this, maybe when i retire.. And how do you travel with these houses where do you stay?. Is like having a trailer..? thanks for your time..and why couldn’t i have thought of this..continue success…
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Jay Shafer reply on January 10th, 2009 9:14 pm:
Thanks, Dee. It is just pretty much like a trailer as far as parking goes.
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m reply on August 12th, 2009 5:55 am:
To that person in Stratford, CT – if you find any way to do this in New England, please let me know. CT (and MA) will probably be the hardest states to do anything like this – but where there’s a will, there’s a way. I’m in NH, living off the grid, in the boonies… It seems that the only way to have one of these homes is to find a land owner with a big piece of land, willing to let you park there. I use 1 40-watt solar panel, car battery and inverter for lights – outhouse for ‘facilities’. Oh how I wish I could afford my own land…. thanks. M
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Kim reply on September 25th, 2009 8:19 am:
Hi, I am interested in your off grid formula: 1 40-watt solar panel, car battery and inverter for lights. How big is your house and how do you heat it?
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Right on, Jay! Dont let your posessions own you! More common that not in today’s society.
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Would you happen to know of places, outside of a camping park, where one might actually set this up as a HOME, legally? Most places I have ever heard of would never let a person LIVE in a place with such low square footage.
I dont want/need much space and would LOVE to have a home like this. But, I dont know where I could ever put it legally. I dont want to LIVE in an RV park.
Though, it also raises the question of, “Tiny home Parks”. Wonder if that is something that could be legally done. And if it is something that would take off. Cause, affordable housing is getting really scarce. Most people I know cant actually support themselves anymore and have to have room mates, or a working spouse.
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Jeff MacManus reply on April 29th, 2009 8:46 am:
That’s the dilema here in Massachusetts as well…where can you legally live in a tiny home? A developer here in MA tried to establish a small neighborhood of quality cottages…750 – 1200 sq. ft. each….and has met with nothing but opposition. From the minucipality to the nearby homeowners…he said they all treated him like a criminal…accusing him of starting a “shanty town” and devaluing their McMansions with their 2 acre lawns (thanks to lots of chemicals). While the idea of a tiny home is appealing, who want’s to live in an RV park…parked next to a behomouth Winnebago land yacht..currently the only place around here where you can place a tiny home.
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Jay Shafer reply on April 29th, 2009 10:15 am:
It is sad that there are so many Americans out there who are still so uninformed. See Ross Chapin’s inspiring communities and guidelines for creating them for a grain of hope (http://www.rosschapin.com/).
I see tiny house “rv parks” in our countries’ future.
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Jay Shafer reply on April 29th, 2009 10:08 am:
See my “Viva La Tiny Revolution” article for more about the absurdities of such regulation, Tabitha.
My plan is to build a tiny house community(s). I’d love to see anyone else do it too.
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Did your plan prices just jump from $695 to $995 for the Fencel? I looked on line a month or so ago and recall that they were $695. What justifies that increase? That’s too much money for these plans. I’m disappointed that he would charge so much. It’s kind of counter to the whole concept of living simpler. Hell, I built a full size house, costing $175,000 in materials and only paid $1785 for those plans.
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Jay Shafer reply on April 29th, 2009 10:24 am:
Unless they were on sale, they have always been this much. It is a fair price for quality designs that take hundreds of hours to develop. Just because a house is smaller doesn’t mean that it was easier to design or that the plans should necessarily be cheap. See Sarah Suzanka’s “Not So Big” designs for $6500.
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I often wonder about how expensive the Tumbleweed things are and whether or not the prices is wholly necessary. I argue with my boyfriend over the cost of the upcoming workshops.
Jay allows you to attend the workshop and put the cost of the tickets towards plans and possibly other purchases from Tumbleweed. I think that’s totally fair.
Besdies, this is not a charity.
Jay had a great idea and he’s trying to make a living. I’d be more suspicious if he only sold the plans and didn’t build and sell homes as well.
The fact that you’ve drawn up plans for larger homes in fewer hours is hardly comparable to the time it takes Jay to draw up his plans.
The smaller space itself is a unique challenge, making it livable and appealing while still providing kitchen, bath and storage space. Larger homes need not be so precise, so careful.
Perhaps you’re particularly gifted in architecture and perhaps Jay is a savaant…
How can you decide what Jay’s profit should be? This is his business and how much he sells his plans for is between him and his customers. The fact that he is on these forums daily, answering our questions, answering emails, implies to me that he is a hard-working, ethical person that values his customer base.
Why should he NOT profit from his business?
As for Jay’s yearly tour being a contradiction to green values… the people interested in Tiny Houses *need* to see one.
I NEED to see one before I can invest my time and money into building or purchasing one. I must get a chance to step inside and look around.
This tour is necessary to his business. It is not “counter”.
IF your comments got censored then I dare say you deserved it. This is HIS business and HIS forum and you’ve given yourself an awful lot of priviledge in thinking that you have a right to come here trolling and talking sh*t.
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Jay Shafer reply on April 30th, 2009 8:42 am:
I’ve become a lot more liberal about deleting people’s negative comments. I just don’t have the time to offer the same explanations repeatedly. If I’d looked ahead and seen that you had articulated things so nicely, I would have left PM’s comment up. You’re right, MK. Far fewer fossil fuels get burned when I take a house to others, and, regardless of how long it takes PM to design a much larger house, it still takes me a long time to design a small one.
Sorry for the banishment, PM. I just don’t have the time.
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I think some people think they’re paying for a piece of paper, rather than for the TIME and creativity put on that paper. Geesh.
The idea of these little homes are marvelous. I was thinking that I get too many visitors for me to live in a home this small, and then I happened to think… I could get one of these for a guest house. That way my family doesn’t have to give up their own beds for overnighters, and the guests can have privacy. What guest wouldn’t like that? We could nestle it back in the trees near the pond… with an underground storm cellar nearby (we live in tornado alley). Hmmm…
Of course we could always just buy an RV. But there is just something un-homey about those (and I think the insurance is a bazillion times higher). Maybe in some towns you could pass one of these smaller homes off as a “playhouse” if you leave it on wheels. (??) My own kids’ playhouse is about the size of the small homes on this site, minus the loft. It has electricity and an a/c window unit, but no running water. Guess it all depends on where you live.
Anyway, I am intrigued. What you’d save on utilities alone makes it affordable. And they’re just plain cozy!
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Jay Shafer reply on June 24th, 2009 11:38 am:
Thanks, Vikki. It’s true.
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Hi Jay,
I’ve been dreaming of tiny houses and building one of my own for over 10 years; been following your work for the last couple of years. Soon I’ll be ready to buy a set of your plans. For now i’m posting the Fencl brochure on my bulletin board in front of my desk.
Great to see that you wrote a book to give us all additional insight to the process. I’ll get it and read it over thoroughly.
From one entreprenuer and writer to another… ROCK ON!
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Jay Shafer reply on June 25th, 2009 3:04 pm:
Thanks, Laurel. I will continue rocking on.
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