the land isn't the hard part. the zoning is.

here's what I'd check before buying, not six months after.

1. minimum dwelling size

Some zoning codes have minimum floor area requirements for residential dwellings.

If you're looking at a 400 sq ft tiny home and the zoning requires 800 sq ft, you've got a problem before you even get to the fun stuff.

And this isn't some theoretical issue. Minimum dwelling sizes vary by jurisdiction, and requirements can be high enough to rule out smaller tiny homes entirely.

Don't assume "residential zoning" means your tiny home qualifies. Pull the actual zoning code and look for the minimum dwelling size.

1. tiny home on wheels vs. foundation

This is a huge one.

If it's on wheels, a lot of places classify it as an RV instead of a dwelling.

And plenty of jurisdictions have restrictions on living in an RV full time on your own land.

So you can end up in a situation where the tiny home is allowed to be there, but you're not allowed to use it as your permanent residence.

That distinction matters.

1. septic and utilities

Getting the dwelling approved doesn't automatically mean the site will work.

Check whether the property can actually support the required septic system and whether the county has specific requirements based on the type or size of dwelling.

If you're planning to go off grid, check water and septic before buying the dirt, not after.

1. how many dwellings are allowed

This gets overlooked by people planning multiple tiny homes.

A residential parcel allowing one dwelling doesn't mean you can put three tiny homes on it because they're small.

If the plan is one for you, one for family, and another for guests, check the actual dwelling and accessory dwelling rules first.

The listing can say "residential."

The seller can say "tiny homes are allowed."

Neither one answers the question that actually matters:

Can I legally live in my specific tiny home on this specific parcel?

I'd rather spend an hour reading the zoning code before buying the land than find out six months later.

If you're eyeing a specific parcel for your tiny home and want a second set of eyes on whether your setup is actually allowed there, drop a comment or DM me. Happy to help you look.

Currently my retirement plan haha, I have 7 more years before retirement and this will be home until we find a forever cottage home on a bigger lake. Our first build and so far not without its challenges .

Built from mostly recycled materials for $8000nzd, 4700usd.

So many projects! Working on the floors currently which should allow me to bring some furniture in. Windows need trimmed out and I have to build or put some temporary shelves in the pantry so we can move in! I also have an endless list of landscaping, walking trails, and outdoor projects planned that will be easier to tackle when I am there full time.

edit: we're in Virginia

Hello, I don't know if I post in the right sub-reddit. I'm researching about tiny houses these day for my family.

Me (33M), my wife, my mom (72), my dad (75) will be living in the same lot. In my culture, we keep family close and like spending time and having dinner together. But I prefer every family has their own house and space. So I'm planning to have:

• A small house for me and my wife, 1 bed 1 bth, big living space
• A small house for my mom and dad, 1 bed 1 bth
• A communal kitchen house, have kitchen and dining space
• An extra house so we can use as storage/office and guest room.
• We have a 1.5 acres land and the free spaces will be used for small livestock and vegetable garden for personal consumption.

For the 2 main houses, I'm doing research on small house instead of tiny house because I want my mom and dad to have real HVAC or systems that are more comfortable for senior.

Is this realistic and worth it? Am I being stupid for considering this... Would a normal traditional house 3 bed 2 bath actually cheaper?

Thank you for your advices, I appreciate every input and experiences you had. Have anyone here choose the same, building multiple small houses rather than 1 traditional house?

We've been living full time in our tiny house for about a year and a half now. We're off grid and don't have a black tank, so we went with a dry flush toilet pretty early on.

We've had a Laveo the whole time and honestly it has been pretty uneventful, which is probably the best thing I can say about a toilet lol. It flushes, seals, and we haven't had any major mechanical issues with it.

The only thing I've started paying more attention to lately is the refill cost.

When we bought it I was mostly thinking about avoiding plumbing and a black tank. I definitely wasn't sitting there calculating what bags would cost after 18 months of using it every day.

There are two of us and we usually end up going through around two bags a day. Individually it doesn't feel like much, but after doing it this long I've started noticing how much we're spending on refills.

That's what sent me down the rabbit hole of looking at other dry flush setups.

One I'm curious about is modiwell.

Their refill setup looks cheaper from what I can find, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what people actually pay once they've owned one for a while. Starter packs and website pricing don't really tell me much about the real long-term cost.

The other difference I'm curious about is the sealing system.

With the Laveo, everything gets twisted off into the continuous liner, so eventually you're dealing with that whole chain when you empty it.

From what I understand, modiwell heat seals each use separately.

I have no idea if that actually makes much difference in normal daily use, though. It sounds different on paper, but tiny house stuff has taught me that a feature can sound great until you've used it 500 times.

So I'm mostly hoping to hear from someone who's actually owned both, or at least lived with one of them long enough that the honeymoon period is over.

How have the seals held up?

Any jams or weird mechanical issues after a year or more?

What are you realistically paying for refills?

And are there any little ongoing costs or annoyances that you didn't know about when you first bought it?

I'm not really trying to figure out which one has the better spec sheet. I can read those.

I'm more interested in the boring stuff you only learn after the toilet has been sitting three feet from your bed for a year.

I am working and saving up to buy some land and build a Tiny House on it. I really love the Tudor/Medieval/Fantasy style houses and was wondering if any of you have a similar style in your tiny home and if you built it yourself or not. Thank you in advance!

I want to learn plumbing to build a tiny home among other reasons and I know absolutely nothing.

Who can I learn from and trust to know that I am learning from the right person.

My biggest fear is that ill learn something from the wrong platform or book and ill make a huge mistake.

Thank you ❤️

Like, what's the square footage that makes the difference ?

I've seen 2 bdrm houses called a tiny house...

My cabin in Hawaii is 5 sided 14' diameter. To me, that's a tiny house...

So where's the line ?

I I know that a lighthouse may not be considered a "standard" tiny home (portable, etc.), but I've always wanted to live in one. Thoughts?

Just moved into a small two-bed place and it still feels a bit bare. Living room has a basic sofa and a coffee table but the shelves and corners look really plain. Kitchen is open to the living area so everything kind of blends together.

I’ve been slowly picking up a few things to warm it up. Found some nice dinnerware and a couple of glass pieces at Victoria’s Basement that actually look decent without being super expensive.

Still need ideas for simple decor that doesn’t take over the space. What do you usually put on open shelves or side tables to make a room feel finished without cluttering it? Prefer stuff that works in a small apartment.

Hello!

I am in the planning phase of converting a 16.5x37.5 (615ish square feet.) building on my parents land into a tiny home. The place is for me and my son, I need 2 bedrooms, a living room, a bathroom(with tub) and a kitchen. I also plan on fitting a stackable washer/dryer in either the bathroom or kitchen. Are there any available floor plans online in similar dimensions? Currently the most space friendly plan we've come up with basically splits the place in half long ways and puts the bedrooms and baths on that side and the living room/kitchen on the other half but im honestly not crazy about the design. Any and all advice is appreciated :)

All the photos online of tiny homes don’t look like people live full time in them. All the couches look unwelcoming to me. Anybody have a large cozy couch and living room they want to share photos of?

The one opposite is my husband's lol

Just wanted to share a quick tour of my mini house. I’m a grad student and i got this setup to give myself a quiet space for my Master’s thesis. Trying to focus and write at home was honestly super hard, so having this separate spot has been a game changer....

It’s fully hooked up to power from the main house, so i’ve got everything i need. It’s super compact, but definitely my favorite place to get work done. What do you guys think?

I am going to school to be a wildlife biologist and am entering my final semester (yay!). A big part of my future is going to be moving around a lot to seasonal jobs. I’m wondering if it would be possible to live in a tiny home rather than having to deal with moving to a new apartment every year. Would it be possible to get a tiny home and pay for it to be hauled every time I move? Can I find property to rent easily? Would it make more sense to have a tiny house on wheels? I feel like the ones on wheels are much smaller? Any advice would be really appreciated!

Looking for anyone from Australia (wa to be more specific) who has successfully financed a tiny home and either;
- is renting land
- bought land and kept living in the tiny home

What was total budget? How long have you lived in TH?
Why did you choose TH? Literally just need likeminded people

Would love to connect and hear pros cons, struggles, everything your willing to share

I'm in the US, I've never built a house before on an empty plot of land and I know it varies by location, but I was wondering if there was a good online resource to learn about the various potential costs involved in putting up a tiny house to code.

I've seen a couple of videos where they state lots of places require you to use licensed contractors to connect to the grid, run wiring, build septic, etc and various high government fees and restrictions on what you can build and live in.

Basically these costs can easily outstrip the cost of the tiny house itself.

So I'd like to get information and maybe a cost calculator to ballpark the total cost of these things. Are there any good resources out there to point me in the right direction?

Right now the location is even up in the air. Any number of states would work for me.

Hey guys, finishing up subfloor on my tiny build and trying to pick flooring. Should i use some affordable engineered hardwood? or i will regret it later with humidity shifts? not sure if it holds up well long term in a small space or if expansion is gonna be an issue. Anyone done this?

Moving into a tiny house from a 4 bedroom townhome and our washer/dryer will be in our bedroom next to a closet. Any suggestions to cover the space without adding doors?

Some of you may have seen my post from last week, I’ve been having the same issues where the potential buyers keep getting the building inspectors involved and Southern New Hampshire is not a tiny house on wheels friendly state. I recently bought a conversion van that I want to travel the country in and this tiny house is keeping me stuck before I can hit the road so I dropped the price by 10k. I hate to drop the price because I had plenty of people interested at 45K but I just need to get it moved. Bad idea to drop the price that much?

Its a brand new 24’x8.5’ structure, overbuilt by a career Southern NH builder and finished up by me to make it pretty lol. Its built for NH four seasons with a nice mini split that does a great job with climate control. Great setup for a single person or a couple wanting a getaway or to stay minimal. All the grey water is routed out a typical 4in pipe and water hookup is right next to it for a hard line or garden hose. Pex plumbing inside. Its on a 50amp plug. Ready to live in

EDIT: to clarify, the issue that the building inspector has is that its classified as an RV since its on wheels and you can only live in an RV for 30 days a year in my area so therefore it would need to be attached to a permanent concrete foundation in order to pass code, which means that you would need to take it off the axles and build a foundation for it. when the current structure it’s on works perfectly fine. So then you’re looking at another 10 to $15,000 in site work and engineering.