Over the past several months as I’ve told people that I’m building a tiny house, I’ve been surprised by how many people are familiar with the concept, mainly though TV shows. “That’s awesome” they’ll say, but our project utterly lacks the excitement, pace and glamor of professional builders working alongside a TV crew. Most of the rest of the people I talk to are at least a little skeptical of the idea (Hi Dad!), especially the cost and size of the DIY project. Unfortunately, I’ve found it difficult to articulate why we’re building a tiny house. Lacking a clear and concise answer, I’ll instead try and lay out in more detail some of the factors in our decision to take on this project.

Help: Though this isn’t necessarily a reason for building a tiny house, the project would have been impossible without the help we’ve received. I’m not a builder and probably won’t ever consider myself to be one. Thankfully, we’ve been assisted greatly by my dad in building and by Steve, who’s let us use his worksite and tools. I’ll need to write more about the incredible help we’re receiving in a later post.

Timing: We’ve been in a time of great transition since May, when I finished graduate school, our first child was born, and we decided to move from the US back to South Africa. My wife has had steady work throughout this time, leaving me to look for more flexible work while looking after our son. Building a tiny house has meant that I don’t have a boss and don’t have to stick to a tight work schedule as long as I’m making some progress on the house.

Money/Lifestyle: This is an especially tricky issue with tiny houses. Even if we manage to stay within our budget of R200 000, our tiny house will be considerably more expensive (and certainly tinier!) than the average South African home. Expenses are worse still if you consider the cost per square meter, the unusual construction techniques we’re using, or the uncertain resale value.

On the other hand, houses in this prosperous area where we want to live start at roughly 8 times our budget. We could borrow money and buy property, but then we’d need to work more and would spend less time with our son. We could live farther away, but then we’d lose convenience and need need a second car. We could continue to rent, but then we’d be losing that money and wouldn’t have a place that’s our own. Moreover, many properties in the area are large enough to fit a tiny house, and most already have a secondary living area that landowners use for family or extra income. And while the resale value of our tiny house will likely be lower than if we built traditionally, it shouldn’t be too difficult finding someone to buy our house since it’ll be moveable, so we’ll never be stuck in our house.

Simplicity/Flexibility: Though we’re not militant minimalists, my wife and I have moved across the Atlantic ocean with nearly all of our belongings 3 times in our 5 years of marriage. While we’re now looking to settle down in one place, we don’t want to accumulate junk in case we move again in the next 5-10 years. Whether we move within South Africa with our tiny house, or back to the US and have to sell tiny house, having less stuff around gives us greater flexibility.

Community: As long as we live in a tiny house, we won’t need to own land. Instead, we plan on relying on people to share their land with us. We hope that this will create community.

Pride: Though I’m not a builder by trade, I take pride in fully owning, seeing, understanding and building (almost) every part of our home. I’m not an anthropologist either, but I think it’s probably true that only recently in human history have people lived in houses they haven’t built themselves. And for the most part, homes aren’t complicated. It just takes some effort to overcome inertia and take dominion.