Macy Miller is someone at the forefront of the tiny house movement. Two years out she tells you what she’s learned about planning and building a tiny house. It’s not as simple as you thought but according to her, in the current podcast episode, a little determination will get you there.
Macy Miller started out with an idea to build a tiny house for more freedom and get away from having a mortgage. What she ended up with was being an early adopter in a fast growing movement where she now helps others through her blog MiniMotives and a podcast she hosts with Ryan Mitchell. To hear Macy tell it, she started out like most people who have an idea but really aren’t aware of what they were getting themselves into until they started, despite having an architecture background. But what she learned is that things never go as quickly as you planned. So, the first advice she offers is to take that into consideration. Thinking you can build your tiny house in six months with major financial considerations built around that time frame is a “no go” because something will always pop up to slow you down or simply extend the time.
Next comes the cost factor. A good number of people heard about how Macy built her house for $11,000 and assumed they could do the same. I quickly learned there are two roads you can follow down this path: You can buy a tiny house and allow someone else to build it for you, but have to consider that will add to the cost; or you can build a little sweat equity and do it yourself realizing there will be a learning curve. But as Macy put it, a good deal of the tiny house movement is all about “do it yourself” so the more you are willing to plan to do yourself the more you will be able to bring your costs down. Fair warning to the hammer and nail challenged.
But fear not tiny house dreamer, you will learn along the way maneuvers to cut costs or get materials on the cheap. It is almost like your eyes begin to see things in a different way and you learn to look for discards on work sites or sale items at stores like Lowes. Macy readily attributes this to how she was able to keep her costs down.
More than anything you have to keep in mind that tiny house living is not for everyone. If you want to have a lighter footprint with fewer things to carry through your day to day existence then a tiny house might be in your future. By all means listen to the episode to hear Macy walk you through the full adventure, and be sure to check out her website and podcast for tips galore. Happy planning…
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