Find The Right Tiny House Size
Because one size does not fit all!
Because one size does not fit all!
Learn all about roofing shapes, materials, and construction methods
Photos: Ram Trucks https://www.ramtrucks.com/ram-life/outdoors/tinyhouse.html
Ram Trucks has just released a commercial featuring how easily their trucks can hitch and tow tiny houses. In the commercial, a woman and her husband visit the B&B Micro Manufacturing factory where our craftspeople build a tiny house on wheels for them. Later, they pick up their tiny house with their Ram truck and tow it to a campground where they relax under the stars.
Filming the commercial on-location at our tiny house factory in Adams, Massachusetts took two days (plus more time filming in the other locations) with a crew of about 30 people. We are thrilled to have our factory, builders, and houses showcased by Ram.
To see more content from Ram Trucks on this commercial, visit https://www.ramtrucks.com/ram-life/outdoors/tinyhouse.html.
Watch the video here:
Have questions about pricing? Here is everything you need to know
Zoning codes for many municipalities can be found on your town’s website or on ecode360.com.
Here are some helpful search terms:
If you’re hoping to put a tiny house ON WHEELS either on its own property or on a property with other buildings:
If you’re hoping to build a backyard cottage ON A FOUNDATION:
If you’re hoping to build a small house ON A FOUNDATION on its own piece of land:
Appendix Q for tiny houses on foundations:
If you’re hoping for a tiny or small house ON A FOUNDATION, look into whether your state has adopted Appendix Q for tiny houses into its building code. Appendix Q is a set of safety standards for houses on foundations that are 400 sq. ft. and under, basically providing standards for how lofts and ladders are built. More info on Appendix Q for Tiny Houses here. If your state hasn’t adopted Appendix Q, that doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t build small: it just means you’ll have to follow your state’s existing building code for lofts and ladders, and the other details in the Tiny House Appendix.
On January 1, 2020, Massachusetts and California simultaneously will join Maine, Idaho, Oregon and Georgia as the first six states to adopt the Tiny House Appendix into their building code. Many other states are in the process of adopting the Tiny House Appendix. The Tiny Home Industry Association has updates on Appendix Q across the United States.
Please note: there may be more lenient rules depending on whether your tiny house will be used seasonally, as a “guest house”, “camper”, or “cabin” rather than as a full-time, permanent residence. If you’ll only be using your tiny house sometimes, residential zoning laws and building codes may not apply. Check in with your municipality if this is the case.
Photo: Arcadia Tiny House on Wheels. This tiny house can travel, and it’s certified as an RV. It’s currently being used as a guest house at Woodlife Ranch; it isn’t someone’s permanent home.
If you can’t find any info on tiny houses in the town’s zoning but would like to know whether a tiny house on wheels or on a foundation would be legal to live in full-time, send a quick email to your town’s building inspector or zoning board (you can find their contact info on your town’s website).
Be sure to include the following information:
They’ll be able to tell you whether tiny houses are legal.
Photo: Green River Small House. This house was built on-site, piece by piece, and it is compliant with local zoning bylaws and state building code. It’s being used as a permanent, year-round home.
If tiny houses are not currently included in the zoning bylaws, your zoning board will be able to advise you whether it’s worth pursuing a change to the zoning bylaws. Generally this process takes a while, and the zoning board will guide you through it. You don’t have to be an expert to request a zoning change, just an interested citizen! Be prepared with knowledge of how having tiny houses would help your town or city. Here are some examples, which you can tailor to the specific needs of your municipality:
It’s best to do this before you have your tiny house built. This way, you can be flexible in your design, making sure it conforms with the standards the town creates.
Last year, Monsa Publications out of Barcelona asked us if they could feature our Silver Lake Tiny House in their new book: Tiny Mobile Homes: Small Space – Big Freedom. Of course, we said yes!
Today we received the book, and it’s beautiful. Thank you, Monsa!
An 8 1/2 foot width is standard in tiny houses because that’s the maximum width that can safely travel down roads without an oversize permit. We also build some tiny houses on wheels 10+ feet wide as Park Model RVs and procure oversize permits in every state they’ll travel through to get to their destination. 10+ foot wide houses, of course, aren’t recommended as houses that will travel more than once.
While the length of tiny houses is variable (we’ve built everything from 16 feet to 32 feet) the height is also restricted by the road. 13 1/2 feet tall is the maximum, which means the ceiling can be just over 10 feet from the floor inside the tiny house. That’s why we can’t build a sleeping loft you can stand up in– unless you’re only two feet tall.
You should have a vehicle with a towing capacity that exceeds the weight of your tiny house. This article will help you determine what towing capacity you’ll need based on the estimated weight of your tiny house.
If you don’t have experience towing, see if there are classes offered in your area before you set out on the road with your tiny house in tow. If you don’t want to take an entire course, have someone you know who’s experienced in towing give you a few pointers. Having someone watch what you’re doing in-person is more helpful than YouTube videos, because they can tell you what you’re doing wrong and right.
We recommend a house up to 24 feet long for towing. Anything larger (or heavier) gets unwieldy for travel. (We can still build a bigger house if you’re not planning on traveling with it!)
There are companies that do this all day, every day so you don’t have to. If you’re only moving your house once, it may be best to leave the towing to the pros. If you’re on the east coast, email us at info@bbtinyhouses.com for a towing company recommendation.
Left: A Tiny House on Wheels- the wheels are obscured by shrubbery. Right: A Modular Home: no wheels, slab foundation (coming soon!)
Tiny houses on wheels are permanently on the chassis. The tires can be removed but the house will always be on the trailer. If you want a tiny house on wheels but don’t plan to travel with it, we can also permanently anchor a tiny house on wheels to the ground, remove its tires, and skirt it. Road-legal limits of 8 1/2′ wide and 13 1/2′ high constrain the size of tiny houses on wheels. We are certified to build tiny houses on wheels by the RVIA, so our tiny houses on wheels are legally considered RVs. Tiny houses on wheels don’t require a building permit, but you’ll need to make sure RVs are allowed in your zone of your town.
Modular homes are constructed in pieces in a factory and then transported to the home site to be assembled and attached to the foundation. They look just like traditional houses– you can’t tell the difference between a modular home from a traditional home just by looking at it– and can be any shape and size as long as each module is small enough to travel from the factory to the build site. After a modular home is built and inspected inside the factory, it is transported to the site and then permanently attached to a foundation (basement, slab, or pin foundation) where it is inspected again. B&B Micro Manufacturing is certified to build Industrialized/Modular Homes by the State of Massachusetts. Modular homes are financed using traditional home financing and there’s no difference in zoning for a modular home versus a traditional site-built home. B&B Modular designs will be released soon.
Both types of homes are built inside our factory in Massachusetts. The advantages of factory-building include a quicker build time (we don’t have to stop working in extreme weather) and a less expensive build, especially when the home is built alongside other homes of the same design.
We’ve built a Tiny Smart Home using tech from Resideo, Honeywell‘s new spinoff which goes public today.
The Tiny Smart Home is right outside the New York Stock Exchange where Resideo rang the bell this morning, showing off Resideo’s smart home technology.
“As Resideo rings in a new era as an independent company and begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange, the company is hosting a pop-up experience outside the iconic Financial District landmark to display its top-notch, easy-to-use solutions. The mobile technology showcase is the brain child of Resideo and news-outlet Cheddar, who are joining forces to highlight the intersection between smart home technology and simple living. The Resideo Tiny Home, built by B + B Tiny Houses, serves as the backdrop of a new Cheddar show, which will launch later in 2018 and highlight Honeywell Home’s end-to-end, integrated home solutions on the exterior, on the wall, in the wall and in the cloud.
The 125 square-foot home features Honeywell Home’s professionally installed options, which were slightly modified for the small space, and are available through professional HVAC contractors and home automation and security dealers (through Resideo’s ADI Global Distribution business). The home also includes DIY solutions found at major retailers and www.Honeywellhome.com. The solutions are controlled via simple voice commands or Honeywell Home apps, make the home smarter, cozier, safer, and more efficient.” –resideo.com
If you’re near Wall Street check out our Tiny Smart Home with Resideo technology! If you’re not near Wall Street, this tiny house will soon be traveling the nation– keep up to date on its whereabouts on Residso’s Twitter or Facebook!
Click the images to enlarge:
Learn More about “The Tiny Home On Wall Street” in this article by Resideo.
Watch the video of B&B co-founder Jason’s interview about Building The Smart Tiny Home on Cheddar TV.
Learn more about our process or fill out the form below and one of our tiny house experts will reach out to you.