HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST TINY HOME BUILDER
free advice on picking a good tiny home builder
So you’ve watched all the tiny home videos on YouTube, gone to a tiny home expo or seen an ad on social media. With 20 tabs open on your browser, you have loads of options but how do you pick the best tiny house builder to make the home of your dreams?
And having spoken with 10,000’s of people at various stages of their tiny house journey we know the important things you need to look for – regardless of who you choose to build your home.
Overall, it’s important to do your research and choose a builder that you feel comfortable working with and your confident that you’ll get a great product at the end of the process.
1. Reputation
Does your tiny home builder have a good reputation?
Research the builder’s reputation and look for reviews or testimonials from previous tiny home owners. Speak to people about the builder in question.
Viewing a tiny home at an expo is a great introduction but it can be very busy and rushed. Therefore, it can also be really helpful to visit a completed tiny home or speak with the builder’s previous clients to get a better sense of their work.
2. Compliance
Do their tiny homes comply with code?
Tiny homes need to comply with various regulations at national, state and local levels. Electrical work needs to be done by a qualified professional. Technically our tiny homes can be classified as caravans and are road legal for transportation. It is important that your tiny home is roadworthy and can be registered as a caravan. Make sure your tiny home complies with the constraints on height, width and weight.
3. Quality of work
What quality is the workmanship and the materials?
A tiny house is multiple times cheaper than a traditional house but it’s still a significant investment, so you want to make sure that it is built to last. Look for a tiny house builder who takes pride in their work, selects high quality materials to use, has thought through design implications of layouts and pays attention to detail to the final outcome.
4. Experience
How many tiny homes have they made?
Consider the builder’s level of experience and how long they have been building tiny houses. More experienced tiny home builders should have a better understanding of the unique challenges and requirements involved in building tiny homes.
It has been a real pleasure working with everyone at Aussie. My friends are all really impressed! The communication has been excellent, keeping me updated, the attention to detail and so on. What a great project it is, and so well managed.
— Ann from Sydney / Sojourner
5. Tiny Home Costs
Can you get what you want on your budget?
Consider the all of the costs and whether it fits within your budget. For instance, Aussie offer customers a range of models with inclusions, various layouts and then the option to add as many extras as you want to build a price to fit your budget. Aussie customers get a full cost breakdown in the quote and contract for transparency. We can also point you in the right direction to arrange finance for your tiny home build if requested.
6. Customisation
Can you achieve what you want?
If you have specific ideas or requirements for your tiny home, look for a builder who is willing and able to meet your needs. Our design approach is to start by designing models that meet the needs of most people in the market. After picking a model, customers can pick a layout and then add as many or as few optional extras as desired.
Need Help?
As part of our sales process we offer site inspections via video and assess the delivery route to make sure your tiny home location is viable before going ahead.
7. Communication
How easy will it be to go through the buying process?
Make sure you choose a tiny home builder who is easy to communicate with and willing to listen to your ideas and concerns. A good tiny home builder will be transparent and upfront about their processes, timeframes and pricing.
8. Timeline
Can they build and deliver when you need?
Make sure you discuss the timeline for building your tiny home and make sure that it fits with your schedule and expectations. From our experience, during busy times build queues get extended out.
However, this is always flagged and clearly communicated early in the consultation process.
9. Warranty
How much warranty is there? And what is under warranty?
Aussie offers a 1 year Craftsmanship Warranty against manufacturing defects on all structural aspects of our tiny houses. Of course, our tiny houses are built to last much longer than this, and we expect them to last well and age beautifully over time and to be worth refurbishing for generations to come. We also provide customers with the manufacturer warranties for appliances and items such as reverse cycle AC unit, gas hot water unit etc if these are part of your order.
Ready to build
Our expert team of tiny home builders are ready to build and delivery your tiny house.