The concept of tiny homes started as an artistic expression in the 1970s by artist Allen Wexler and expanded upon by Shelter publications creator Lloyd Kahn, but today, it might be the sustainable fix-all answer to tourism, the rising cost of living, and the housing crisis.
The Brisbane-based tiny home manufacturers Tiny Mobile and insulated panel suppliers Bondor Metecno have partnered to develop tiny homes with costs starting at $85,000 that can be built in 48 hours and delivered in a week.
The providers claim that the homes have insulated panels that comply with Australian fire-safety construction requirements and energy-efficient designs that allow for year-round thermal insulation and cheap electricity bills.
Research shows that the popularity and boom of tiny homes dates back to 2013, appealing primarily to older women over 50. However, very few of the tiny houses built were intended to be permanent.
In an interview with The Fifth Estate, Tiny Mobile’s chief executive, Eddie Davies, has a different approach to the product – saying that his tiny homes tackled the housing crisis through the temporary housing market.
“We’ve been manufacturing tiny homes for four years, and what we specialise in is tiny homes on wheels – so they are a movable dwelling and act as a registered caravan,” said Davies.
“You can have these tiny homes in your backyard because they are movable dwellings regulated under caravan rules and regulations. If you are on 44 acres or more in NSW, you can have six tiny homes on your property without council approval.
“What that means is [that we are in the] short-term stay market, Airbnb, farm stays, workers accommodation – what we do is a real niche, and in the past six months, we’ve seen a huge influx of domestic inquiries.”
Passive income for first home buyers
According to Davies, having a tiny home might become a launchpad for young homebuyers looking to enter the housing market. The company supports this by offering a platform to manage its tiny house as an Airbnb once they enter the property market.
“We say to young people – buy one of these tiny homes, put them on the back of your parents’ yards and use it as a stepping stone to get into the property market – it has all the luxuries and everything you need for a house but in a compact space.
“Once you are on the property market – we can then use that tiny house as an Airbnb asset that’s making you money – this option retrains how young people think about their financial situation.”
He said some of the developers in his network are negotiating further solutions for first-home buyers, such as land and house packages.
Taking on the rural housing and tourism market
Davies said the biggest problem in rural spaces is that new rural accommodation properties often “get snapped up by investors”.
“They don’t need to have an expensive house for their accommodation, but they buy a $600,000 house, and it basically reduces stock for locals – so, if we can have these portable houses that they can hook up on the back of a trailer, then they are not competing, and it would free up stock for the locals and allow people to step into the market.”
The accessibility of these buildings was another way of reducing pressure on the rural housing market.
“I had a guy with a cattle farm come up and say, ‘my staff are seasonal, can we look at houses’ – so by renting them during fruit picking season – we can reduce the accommodation and pressures on rural places,” Davies said.
“Even in the Gold Coast, we had an influx of overseas students, which is fantastic for the economy, but how are we going to house them when there’s around 99.8 per cent occupancy rate in the central properties? That’s what we are trying to solve.”
Local suppliers are the key to sustainability
Davies says that the company’s partnership with Bondor – which supplied locally built insulated panels that incorporate internal and external walls, is the key to reducing the cost of materials and labour.
“These houses are designed to be the immediate solution to the housing crisis, and partnering with Bondor has been crucial for our development,” he says.
“Through COVID, we noticed that our lead times were exponential, and it wasn’t sustainable – so Bondor allowed us to have panels with an IP available for us to develop into a product over two and a half years.
“With the Bondor panel that we use, our offcuts get stripped back, and we also recycle the metal – it’s all about zero waste and environmentally friendly construction,” he said.
Another component in the tiny homes is reconstituted timber supplied by Newcastle-based WeatherTex and it’s sustainable, he says.
“All the hardwood, tree stumps and everything gets put into a wood moulder, pressed in a steam press for 24 hours, and it retains the wood fibres– so there’s no formaldehyde, there’s no glues or anything inside the product – we can cut it without a mask.”
The material consists of 97 cent hardwood and 3 per cent paraffin wax and is offered with a 10-year warranty.
Other sustainable designs include:
- thermal insulation for cool rooms
- energy efficient split system air conditioner
- uses Bluescope steel – which is mould-proof, rot-proof, and termite-proof
- solar panels on top of the house
- possible to be retrofitted to be completely off-grid with solar batteries, a backup generator and a composting toilet and water tank
- easy to clean non-porous surfaces
Davies shares that the off-grid tiny homes also use technology from Watergen – an Israeli-based patented technology that can produce drinking water from humidity in the air. However, he recommends using a water tank for domestic applications due to the technology’s cost.
How viable is a tiny house compared to an Airbnb?
Determined not to book accommodation, the Sydney-based Davies took the challenge by travelling to his latest exhibition at the Royal Adelaide Show with nothing but his tiny home and Landcruiser.
When not on the show road, the tiny home sits in his backyard serving as an Airbnb – which, according to Davies, has a 70 per cent occupancy rate, charging tourists $200 a night, making between $50,000 to $85,000 a year – profits “comparable to a regular Airbnb”.
Addressing skill shortages and promoting local jobs
As Tiny Mobile attempts to expand into the Queensland market, ESuarve, a not-for-profit alternative education organisation, has joined the partnership, helping disengaged youth gain construction apprenticeships through tiny home workshops.
“We offer a 12-week program for kids that’s straight out of juvenile detention or at-risk, disengaged youths where we focus on mental health for two weeks and then provide work experiences for these students in building these homes so they can develop the confidence to sit in front of employers and say ‘I have more experience than just robbing bottle-os’.
“So far, 142 kids have gone through the program, and we have a 92 per cent success rate into full-time employment. This trains up a small, dedicated bunch of people who can make the most change in an environment where we need to be creative, innovative and think outside the box.”
Davies said a mission statement is the most important thing to an upcoming business.
“When you are in a space of innovation, things come up, and things come across the table all the time, and at that time, I always ask – what’s my mission statement? What’s the reason I started the business, and if it does align, then it’s something I’ll explore. If not, I won’t give it the time of day.”