Live Large in a Tiny House: The Housing Trend Arrives

"The Industrial" tiny home model on Route 8.

Tiny houses. You’ve seen them on TV and in magazines. Now you can see one and even stay in one right here in the neighborhood. Wheel Life Tiny Homes has a model stationed at the Riverside Marina along Route 8 and it is a beautifully comfortable statement in simplicity.  You can even book it for a stay on Airbnb.

Wheel Life Tiny Homes the first company in the tristate area to custom build a tiny home on wheels. The company is three partners, each oversees different parts of the business: Charlie Pond, (civil engineer/contractor), Natalie Gregory(marketing/realtor), and Hap Pendleton (architect).

Their first model, the Industrial, is 28’ long and 8.5’ feet wide with a 14’ high peak. Natalie Gregory says that it is The longest that it could be that you can haul down the road without a permit. It weighs about 15 tons….We build these to residential codes [even though] it is technically considered an RV. 

This is an advertisement. 

Their website says that The front of the cabin is almost entirely glass. A large sliding glass door opens to a private deck. It has one bedroom and a loft. That’s just over 300 square feet plus wheels.  But it feels like a hip city apartment.  And there are nice amenities - full size sink, fridge, stove, HVAC, comfortable beds, wood floors, a tiled bathroom, and even a hookup for a washer/dryer, and lots of windows.  The cost is about $69,000 for a top of the line home but they will custom build.

The interior seen from the loft.

For people with river camps, farms, or rural getaways, a tiny home would be a great addition either as the primary abode or for guest housing. Gregory says that they are looking for the appropriate place to start a tiny home development.

So who buys a tiny house? Gregory says that  I thought that we would lots of millennials interested but that’s not the case. About 90 percent of people ready to build are people over 55.  Some are buying them to travel, or to downsize, guest homes, second homes. It gives them flexibility, she says.  Gregory claims that people interested in tiny homes generally want to Live more with less. And that is an appealing idea.

A king sized bed in the loft.

The typical American home is 2,600 square feet while tiny homes are anywhere from 100 to 400 square feet. That’s a significant difference but there could be significant financial return as well with low operating costs, savings, and flexibility in mobility.

Wheel Life Tiny Homes will be part of Homearama next year.

I have to admit that these are pretty cool structures.