Frequently Asked Questions FAQ’s

A. Before I can answer that - see if you have the answers to the following vital questions -

• Which type of Tiny House do you want? -

1. a NestPod™ - Road legal towable 2.55m wide. Weighing maximum 3500kg.
2. a NestHouse - Static 3.4m wide moveable on site but not road towable.  Weighing 5000-10,000kg.

• Where will you put it? - do you own land or are you buying a site? NB. for a NestHouse the site will have to be suitable for delivery access for a 20 meter Low Loader and crane.

• What will you use it for and will that use require Planning Permission? - NB. if it is to be your permanent residence you will need Planning Permission.

• Services? For permanent living, where will your water, electricity, gas etc. come from and where will your waste water and sewage go? (eg. do you really want to poo in a bucket!!).

• What is your budget? It's not just the cost of the house but land, services, planning, delivery etc.

These are complicated and fundamental factors to consider before even thinking about design, floor plans, colour, size etc.

PLEASE do your research FIRST!

A. Check out what Wiki says here.

Sorry - I do not do assisted builds - if you want to self-build your tiny or small house then there is plenty of help material on the internet to get you through. However I can offer consultations if you visit.

Partial build is slightly different!  I will build to shell finish - that's a complete fully built house inside and out supplied at a point where furniture or energy systems of your choice can then be added under your own steam or as time or funds allow.  So I can provide anything from shell scheme to totally fitted out with custom made furniture from end to end...the choice is yours.

The NestHouse weighs between 6 and 10 tons depending on size and is VERY solidly built and stable; it will not blow away like a caravan etc.  If the site does have an extreme exposure rating and this issue arose via Planning or Building Control then ground screw anchors could easily be used or the feet could be bolted to a slab as belt and braces protection etc. but this would all depend on local site ground conditions.

A. Yes I do have a range of road towable trailers for UK self builders wanting to construct tiny houses on wheels - see the product page.

A: Sorry No. I only build my own design but of course I will work to achieve the interior layout you require. If you want to self build, I do offer tiny house trailers.

A. The two out of three rule - a note about Building Costs

You may hear people saying that it's possible to build a TIny House for under eg. £5000 and whilst I am sure you could build something for that amount, it will not be a NestHouse or NestPod™!  Whilst everyone wants affordable buildings there are three basic factors involved and it’s a great truism that you can only have two of the three factors - quick, cheap and good in one build: The two out of Three Rule! - QUICK?  CHEAP?  GOOD?

* you can spend a lot of money on labour and materials and quickly end up with a really good building - but it's not cheap.

*or you can spend a long time sourcing reclaimed materials and self building and you may end up with a good building if you have the skills, but it won’t be quick.

*or you can build quickly and cheaply, but not end up with the best quality - !

A cheap building is possible, but it will cost you time - this is the 'sweat equity' of self build. The caveat being that you must acquire sufficient skills to provide a functioning, long term, sustainable solution.

Most people, quite understandably, have no idea of the proper cost of building materials - one of my favourite illustrations is to point out that the NestHouse has over £2000 of insulation alone (at trade cost)!  As a general rule materials are often around 50% of the budget with the balance covering the time input. So you can save money with sweat equity by self building, but do you have the hundreds of hours necessary to accomplish a craftsman-like result?

A. Yes if you engage me to build for you; but ultimately you will need to be responsible for complying with your local planning regulations.

A. The NestHouse is delivered by our specialist hauliers as a finished house using a low-loader and lifted into place by crane.  We do not build from components on-site, so you must have an accessible site!

A. …as you say finding a site is the biggest hurdle!  I can only suggest the usual advice of estate agents, land listings etc first with more proactive methods like approaching local landowners, estates, farms etc secondly.  I have another client who is doing the latter and may well succeed.  Additionally there is scope for more communal activity for a sustainable eco-village…again this is something which may find traction amongst the Scottish Hutting debate.  Of course there are other possible under the radar ways like buying a woodland and sneaking one in but unfortunately the planning system is ramped against this…or maybe friends who own land???.

A.  Thanks for your enquiry. A NestHouse will be in the £20k – £50k (sizes Small to Large) region depending on size, facilities, specification etc and take between 4 and 6 months to complete. Looking at floor plans is low on the priority list in my humble opinion!  It is much more important to work out where you can put the house and what format you require as well as the all important issues of land permissions and planning.

I personally find tiny houses on road going (max 2.55m width) trailers too narrow especially for family life, which is why we produce the 3.4m wide NestHouse moveable small house system.

That said, we can build in the narrower format on a road towable trailer – if that is what you require – but don’t forget if you go down that route you must have access to a large 4×4 for towing as well as being up to the task of towing a 4m tall building around UK roads, (this is not USA remember!!!!  So there are a great many thoughts and decisions you must make before pursuing this lifestyle.  Finally, don’t be hoodwinked by people offering to build one for £10k – you will get a garden shed on wheels – a good quality road going trailer alone is £3500-£4000; of course that’s fine if you want a shed on wheels but it may have limited use!

Again imho you must view this as seriously as a real house purchase and protect your investment with craftsman-quality that will last and give you the ability to recoup value if you find down the road that your lifestyle needs to change again.

A. - There is no magic solution here - building a house is hard whether its normal or tiny and for the same reason - finding and affording a plot.  I can only advise lateral thinking by talking to farmers or estates to find a possible situation.  There is the start of a groundswell which may result in communal opportunities but it is early days.  The Scottish Hutting movement is also gaining some traction.  It’s a hot topic though - sustainability - what we or the planet can afford and what best serves people’s needs.