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Frequently Asked Questions
Looking into a tiny house is an exciting process. With so many options, regulations and aspects to consider so you might have some questions that we've hopefully answered below.
Q: Do you have a showhome?
A: Yes, we have a showhome of our signature twin mezzanine Oak home. Please get in touch if you would like to arrange a viewing appointment.
Q: What are the sizes of your homes?
A: The popular build size is between 7 and 10m long, but all builds are custom to each client. We build both single-level and mezzanine style homes. We always build our homes to 3.1m wide and under 4.3m high, meaning that they can legally travel on the road without needing a pilot vehicle. Using specialist lightweight materials, we endeavor to keep builds as light as possible to try and keep the house and trailer package under the 3500kg light simple trailer weight limit, but this is only realistic for smaller builds.
Q: How long does a build take?
A: Each build varies depending on the size and complexity of the build. Once you have a confirmed build slot, for most homes, the build takes around 3 months.
Q: What is the cost of a tiny house?
A: As every home is a bespoke build, we can’t provide accurate pricing without quoting. As a guideline our 7.2m, twin mezzanine signature oak home is $140,000 including GST. Single level builds present much less complexity and are more cost effective to build, an 8M single build can work out around $100,000 including GST.
Q: Are the trailers registered and warranted?
A: Yes, we use extremely strong, locally built DCF tiny house trailers which come with a 3 year warrant and 1 year of registration.
Q: Do you offer delivery?
A: Yes, we proudly use a local specialist tiny house moving company to safely deliver your home nationwide. Please contact us for a quote.
Q: How can I keep updated with my build? Can I visit the workshop?
A: We take pride in providing a great Live Tiny build experience. We love keeping clients up to date with the exciting developments of their build, with regular photo and video updates. Workshop visits by appointment are welcomed. Perhaps even a roof shout?
Q: How are your homes built?
A: We build tiny homes inside our workshop located in Opua, in the beautiful Bay of Islands. Please see “THE BUILD” page for more information on build materials and processes.
Q: Do you offer a warranty?
A: All our builds come with a 2-year warranty on the workmanship of the tiny home, along with the manufacturers warranties provided through the materials and appliances used in the home. This is detailed in our build contract.
Q: What certificates come with the tiny home?
A: We provide electrical and gas code of compliance certificates, along with any other material or appliance certificates to you in the handover pack.
Q: How does the tiny house connect to power? Is solar an option?
A: Our tiny homes connect to power via a 32amp caravan-style connection plug outside. This means that the solar ready homes can be easily connected to either mains or a solar power system. The homes use low wattage LED lighting and LPG gas for cooking and water heating, so power consumption is very low. We can provide the homes with solar packages through a solar installer, please contact us for more information.
Q: What happens with grey and wastewater?
A: The grey water from your tiny home comes to a common outlet point on the outside of your tiny home near your other services. The grey water can then be piped into an existing greywater processing system or a small system can be setup dedicated for your tiny home depending on your site.
If a flushing toilet is installed, a blackwater outlet outside will be ready for connection to a septic system onsite. For a simple but effective composting toilet, we recommend the Bambooloo but a huge range of systems are available.
Q: Do we need a council building or resource consent?
A: There is no currently clear legislation in place to cover tiny homes on wheels in New Zealand which does create some variances of approach between councils. We like to refer to a landmark legal case in the tiny house movement against MBIE https://www.building.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/resolving-problems/determinations/2019/appeal-judgment-civ-2019-085-000404.pdf
The case ruled that a tiny house on wheels would be considered a building, rather than a vehicle only “if it were both immovable and occupied permanently or on a long-term basis.” This means that your onsite configuration would need to allow the tiny home to be ‘relatively’ easily moveable but otherwise the tiny home should be considered as a vehicle. We strongly recommend that you do your own research and gather information from your local council.
Resource consent is dependent on your onsite configuration and your local council. Often the need for a resource consent is required if connecting to council or onsite services, but these rules vary largely between councils.
Q: Can I get finance for a tiny home?
A: Banks generally won’t lend for tiny homes as they are considered vehicles and are therefore unlikely to qualify for a home loan. However, some clients can add the cost of their tiny home onto an existing home loan or get a personal loan to fund their tiny home. Contact your bank to see what your options are.
Alternative financing options are often used in the tiny house community. Companies that publically advertise loans for tiny homes include Squirrel money and TMF Finance, but please do your own research on the best fit for your needs.