green building
Tiny House Guy: Crazy or Genius?
July 18, 2010 by Cindy Langston · 2 Comments
Have you seen this tiny house guy, Jay Shafer? More
importantly have you seen his tiny house?! He lives, and according to him THRIVES, in a 96 square foot house that he built for himself. WHAT?!
You read me right – NINETY SIX square feet. As he says the plumbing is rough, the bathroom is challenging, and it’s tough to make the bed, but otherwise, the significant downsizing is well worth it. How significant is the downsizing? Tiny House Man Shafer grew up in 4000 square feet. He knows what he’s missing, and he says he misses nothing.
My immediate reaction was LUNATIC! Where do you….? How do you….? Why would you…..?
Then I heard a friend’s (annoying) voice tell me I am projecting my perspective onto Shafer. I opened my mind and listened to what the Tiny House Man had to say.
The average home emits 18 tons of greenhouse gases – A tiny house is significantly more green.
Houses have been growing in size for the last 50 years, creating waste and stress – Bigger mortgages and less free time to care for and enjoy our sprawling pads. Insert any economy and real estate concerns here.
Quality over Quantity – Shafer says he couldn’t afford to put the quality materials and features in a house of more conventional size, so he decided to instead sacrifice the space.
Value – A tiny house costs more per square foot to build than a conventional home, but ends up less at the end, of course. And according to Shafer’s statistics, a 1200 SF house appreciates at a higher rate than one over 2000 SF. This is pretty consistent with what we see in traditional house pricing.
And this is what he said that REALLY got me. (The words are right, but I might not have the “quote” exactly right.) …
Excess is burden not luxury.
Now that Shafer’s married he has built a larger tiny house for his family. He believes that everyone needs their own private space and although his own needs are bare minimum, hence the rough plumbing, he designs tiny houses based on individual needs. Do you think you could live tiny?
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