Affordability is top of mind for 18- to 34-year-olds, and tiny homes may offer a cheaper alternative.


Deb Delman and Kol Peterson aren’t millennials, but 20-somethings are paying the couple’s bills. A year ago, they opened Caravan, the country’s first tiny house hotel, generating interest from young adults near and far.
“I’d say half of our guests are from Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Vancouver; half are from the rest of the country; and 10-15 percent are international,” Peterson said. “We get older folks, but it’s mostly millennials who want to build their own tiny home.”
This younger generation sees the trend Jay Shafer and other tiny-home proponents started and want to join in.
“We are at a tip of a movement,” Delman said. “A high percentage [of our guests] come because they are curious to obsessed [with tiny homes].”
The tiny obsession
Saving money is top-of-mind for millennials — many of whom graduated from college in the wake of the Great Recession — but many are initially attracted to tiny homes due to their size.
“I own the 690-square-foot home next door,” Delman said. “It’s teeny but not tiny.”
A true tiny home, she says, is no more than 200 square feet and built on wheels. The size encourages, rather than limits, creativity. For example, the six tiny homes at Caravan in Portland, OR show off floor plans and features not typically found in traditional, single-family homes.

“There’s a ‘cupola’ loft bed in the Caboose,” Delman said. “Tables fold, benches have storage and ladders move. There’s even a green, triangular toilet in Skyline.”
As evidenced by their names, each of the homes has a unique story as well: The Caboose is painted red and looks like a railroad car; Skyline feels sky-high with twinkle lights and an upstairs hangout zone; and Kangablue has an Australian-born builder and is lined with unusual, blue pine wood.
“A typical reaction is ‘They’re so much bigger than the pictures,’” Delman said. “People say, ‘They’re so cute and fun.’”

Not-so-tiny considerations
While the tiny-house obsession seems contagious in artsy northeast Portland, taking action is another story.
“A lot of people fantasize about building a tiny house but don’t end up doing it,” Delman said. Part of the reason is financial, but there are also several practical concerns:
- Can you afford it? While many 20-somethings can’t afford to buy a $20,000 to $60,000 tiny home outright, many are drawn to the low building costs. Carrie Lipps, a millennial working at the tiny house hotel, loves the fact that tiny homes cost around $10,000 to $15,000 for materials if you go the DIY route. When compared to a single-family residence with a 30-year mortgage, this seems like an affordable upfront investment without a lingering monthly payment.
- Can you wait? As the saying goes, time is money. Peterson says tiny homes take longer to build than most people think. “You can expect three months if you have a professional builder, but realistically, tiny homes take more like a year to build,” he said. This depends on a number of factors including the builder’s skill level and the amount of detail in your design.
- Can you build it yourself? There is a lot to consider when building a tiny home, from the initial design to plumbing and electrical. Professional tiny house builder Derin Williams says younger buyers get excited, but “they’re artists not builders.” Over the past two years, he’s consulted on DIY tiny-home projects with leaking roofs, poorly designed plumbing and electrical issues. He worries that people will hurt themselves if they don’t know what they’re doing. Peterson agrees that the complexity of building a tiny home is often overlooked. While they’re smaller than a traditional single-family house, they present the same, if not more, design challenges. First, you have to think about how much weight you can have if you want your home on wheels to be portable. Then you have to think about maximizing space to allow for storage and multiple functions.

- Do you have a place to park it? If you manage to complete the building process, the next challenge is parking. Williams said he recently consulted on three tiny homes being built and not one of the owners knows where they are going put them. Tiny homes at Caravan are parked on a piece of land the owners purchased, but not everyone has an empty lot at their disposal. Because zoning for tiny homes is a gray area in many cities, the more common solutions are parking in a friend’s backyard or driveway, or staying in a RV park.
- Do you like communal living? In part because of the parking situation, many owners of tiny homes end up getting pretty close with their neighbors. For this reason, Delman says tiny homes can work for full-time living, but it has to be a situation where you can share resources. Specifically, someone looking to invest in a home on wheels has to get permission from the city to connect to the sewer line or use a neighbor’s facilities. And beyond plumbing, a lack of storage space and utilities leads many to depend on neighbors when cooking a big meal, entertaining, hosting guests or enjoying a bubble bath. These daily amenities become a luxury when you live in less space.
- Do you enjoy living with less? Even if you are friends with your neighbors, your personal living space will not only be small, but simple. The tiny homes at Caravan have showers and kitchenettes, but not all tiny homes have these features. Some don’t even have running water. It’s important to know what level of “rustic” you can honestly live with.
While tiny homes aren’t for everyone, Delman and Peterson say they’re happy promoting the industry through their hotel.
“The single most important thing people can do to reduce their environmental footprint is to live in a smaller space,” Peterson said.
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Not all tiny homes are portable.
That said, I agree that the concept is similar to trailer parks in the Caravan example.
You are retired ? That partly explains why you are completely clueless about market conditions that you are no longer a part of. My department had been trying for the past 6 months to get a systems engineer with a certain type of expertise and all the “americans” who applied to that position were incompetent to say the least. We were frustrated and had to hire a guy from hungary by paying his immigration costs (in addition to the $130k we pay him as salary). So Instead of acting like a m0r0n living in the 70s, you should open your… Read more »
I am retired so there’s that and just because you and yours have it, you want to keep the rest of Americans from getting any because then you would have to compete with people who have rights and can’t be treated like slave labor. You are a liar, the whole reason there is a visa system is to pay slave wages, there are millions of Americans with the skills and education but they are kept out of the market completely just so the rich can exploit third world workers. The main article in the NYT this morning was about the… Read more »
This is a figment of your imagination.. Yes there is abuse of H1b visa program but the solution is to fix it…and not abandon it altogether.. I know H1bs who get paid upwards of $150k+ a year for the amazing set of skills they bring to the market.. Its incredibly stupid to shunt them out just because few rotten apples are abusing it. lets develop skills among people and stop going on this self-defeating witch hunt. and you should stop worrying about my job & family.. we have enough resources to take care of ourselves and confident in our skills..… Read more »
Inflation and salaries have gone up quite a bit since 1960. Something that cost $50,000 in 1960 is worth $400,000 today without accounting for rarity (they’re not exactly making more land.) If that $859,000 home in 2007 is anything like mine, it’s probably worth half that today. Likewise salaries have gone up 800% since 1960. I do agree that outsourcing, visas and immigration both legal and otherwise have had an impact on our economy and job markets. 40% of the population doesn’t pay taxes. While the top 10% wage earners pay 70% of the total taxes collected. It’s hard to… Read more »
There is no extra cost, they take those costs out of the people’s paycheck and they pay them a lot less and with no benefits and they stack them up like cord wood in run down apartments. Don’t you read the papers? There are literally thousands of class action lawsuits going on over those visas. There are like 6 going on here with third world teachers at the so called charter schools in New Orleans. Make no mistake, this is slave labor and those for profit prisons…corporations rent those prisoners to do any thing from pluck chickens to sewing blue… Read more »
Amen
My wife and I have talked about building a tiny home, the issue for us though is she’s disabled, so we would have to make it all one level. Its something we really want to do, but so far haven’t found anyone to help us design our new home. Are other alternative is building a yurt, and that’s probably going to be the plan from here on out.
Tiny houses takes a certain type of person to live in..going from normal abode to a tiny house could easily ruin a good relationship w/a spouse,,children? forget! I’d loce to live on a houseboat..my wife on the other hand? not so much!..we live in a nice pretty modern not overly expensive to keep,no mortgage Mobile Home!!,,Two humans 3 cats! both Seniors..compare a SW MH of 14’x70′ to an RV of 8’x40′
Having more makes for better growing up! yes?
When you say trailer are you talking old style 12’x40 trailer park trailers opposed to the newer 14×70 more modern model SW,mobile home w/ all the amenities? or even bigger or the RV type trailer you pull w/ your car or truck?
Not that easy friend! ,they’re really rough to live in day by day unless you’ve had many years w/ your companion!!..sounds great but there are better choices in the less is better way of life!
If you look into it people as they age tend to downsize,,what does anyone need all the junk we’ve colletected, just collects dust!..We’re giving a mobile home a try..takes a bit getting used to..but it’s do-able..and I’ve noticed that the amount of MH communities have been increasing expodentially!!..Cost being one factor,,lots cheaper.get to know your neighbors faster ,,best bet if over 55 is an adult community..Unfortunately at the time we did move we didn’t know this,,but its ok..and todays communities aren’t yesterdays ‘trailer parks”,,they have rules,,built far better w/ codes for your safety,guidlines to live by that make perfect sense!!..been… Read more »
My husband and I got married earlier this year and decided we wanted to live simpler. We converted a space in our home into a little studio and now live there and rent out the rest of the house. This pays for our entire mortgage plus most of our utilities. It allows us to pay off our student loans A LOT faster and then really experience life by traveling and getting out there. It’s SO freeing to not have to worry about so much stuff, or always be cleaning and working on the house, etc. This type of lifestyle doesn’t… Read more »
You’re 29 years old; I’ve been studying this issue since you were in diapers. Come back when you know something about the subject.
There’s more to IT than programming jobs. A lot more. And you’re wrong on the wage – it is the reason H-1Bs are sought after. According to EPI numbers more than 80% of H-1Bs are paid less than a comparable American would make. Giving lie to your position,
Quote from MotherJones: “Yet if tech workers are in such short supply, why are so many of them unemployed or underpaid? According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), tech employment rates still haven’t rebounded to pre-recession levels. And from 2001 to 2011, the mean hourly wage for computer programmers didn’t even increase enough to beat inflation. The ease of hiring H-1B workers certainly hasn’t helped. More than 80 percent of H-1B visa holders are approved to be hired at wages below those paid to American-born workers for comparable positions, according to EPI. Experts who track labor conditions in the technology… Read more »
“What goes against common sense is you thinking these people are plugging a skills gap.” oh puhleez.. what goes against common sense is you parroting the same-old conservative points – that h1bs are brought in because they work for low wages. I work in technology. Most h1bs make similar wages as I do. On top of that companies have to sponsor immigration/lawyer costs etc for all the legal paperwork.. Companies aren’t stupid to bear extra costs for worthless talent. “as if anyone believes non-natives are better at US IT than US workers are” FYI, IT/Technology is a global industry. There… Read more »
It’s not a small percentage of the IT market, where almost all H-1Bs are. It’s also not due to skills shortage; it’s a way to bring low-wage indentured servants in, who are stuck with their sponsoring company for those six years. Their impact is felt far beyond the number of people directly displaced; they’re artificially glutting the labor market which drives down wages and their wages themselves being lower also drive down wages. Which is why IT, which has a lower unemployment rate (around 2-3%) than the rest of the job market (which SHOULD result in wages increasing) has had… Read more »
What you’re failing to realize is something has changed over the last 4 decades. And it isn’t just people deciding to live beyond their means more than in the past.
I had two very interesting turn of events yesterday. the economic development commissioner called to test the water about buying my property. I left the door open a crack but I didn’t jump up and down. Something is coming and my postage stamp property is in the way ??? $$$$$$$ Part 2… Indiana code 36-7-8-3 lovingly called the log cabin rule allows you as an individual to build a dwelling to the best of your ability on your own property without the need to comply with zoning and building codes. I set here at the computer in my dress clothes… Read more »
What goes against common sense is you thinking these people are plugging a skills gap. In fact there are 15,000,000 STEM degree graduates in the USA and only 5,000,000 STEM-related jobs so we have three times as many as we need. They aren’t brought in to fill skills gaps (as if anyone believes non-natives are better at US IT than US workers are – we invented the industry and have been doing it for 40 years); they’re brought in because they work cheap, are stuck with their sponsoring company for those six years, and can be worked long hours without… Read more »
Even if 50000-60000 per year compounded over 6 years is a small fraction of the US job market.
Again it’s not the availability of workers, it’s the quality of the workers. If companies found the skills and talent they want inside the country, they wouldn’t have to import labor with extra legal and immigration costs associated with the whole process. That goes against common sense
Ever wonder only why certain professions exhibit a talent shortage and many others don’t ?
Those are not just bumper stickers. That is sound advice which if people in this generation actually followed instead of thinking of them as “bumper stickers” then maybe we ll have less problems.
I’m getting REAL tired of ‘they’. They won’t let us do this, they won’t let us do that… Are they going to fine you? You don’t have any money…. so then what? Fine you some more? Arrest you? Put you in a cage of their own making (ironically less than the usually referenced ‘must be at least 750SF’) and costing the tax payers (that would be ‘them’ and ‘us’) about 50K a year to feed, clothe and house you… this is laughable. Really, what are they gonna do? And Bob Henry, I’ve seen your blog and googled your location. It’s… Read more »
Ingenious and artistic. It reminds me of a very close community (supposing everybody lives in a tiny house). But the only problem will be the space where one will park his/her house.
I have just under $2,000 invested in my 8 x 20 caboose tiny house.
???
I styled my build as a caboose. The cupalo is made to be 2″ wider and longer than a queen sized bed. A small boat winch raises and lowers the bed as needed. No wasted floor space.
I live in a small house. LOVE IT! Guess what… Mine is NOT on wheels. It is not an “Artsy Trailer”. Anyway, I live in an old renovated small house. Love the coziness and the cost efficiency. 500 sq ft, sounds big compared to some of the tiny houses out there, but it is perfect for me and my 2 kiddos still at home. The loft floor plans wouldn’t work for me, since my body doesn’t do climbing well now. We chose to make more practical choices and not get caught up in the material things. We have plenty. Some… Read more »
It’s easy to say “outsized spending” and “live within your means”. But those bumper stickers don’t explain why it’s happening more now than in the past. My facts about declining/stagnant wages does.
Now you are twisting the words. A wave in the ocean is water, not all water is waves. A square is a rectangle, not all rectangles are squares. A sword is a weapon, not all weapons are swords. I’m not sure why this is hard for you. If you try to reverse these, they don’t work: “A rectangle is a square” ~ um, no it’s not and if you try to correct yourself and call it a triangle instead; I’m going to hit you. (sic) How far do you require the analogy to be carried? You take a small living… Read more »
Yeah. And a souffle’s just an egg!
So is an omelet.
Semantics obviously has a purpose.
Kabir may say, ” let us not distinguish between water and a wave, fill a glass with water, set it in water, now you have water on the inside, and water on the outside”, so maybe you should carry your analogy to that extent.
I’m more talking about the travel trailers that are sometimes parked in trailer parks and used as homes as opposed to actual mobile homes (which are often designed to be set on a foundation ~ whether or not the owner ever bothers to) Mobile Homes(referring to Mobile Alabama where they were created) are a type of prefab home and while yes they are designed for transportation to a home site (instead of being built on site), they are generally considered a full size home. They are versatile enough that they can qualify to be placed in a trailer park, but… Read more »
And a “hotel of mini houses” is different from a trailer park in what
way? They would both fall under the same zoning regulations.
If you dress up a travel trailer to look artsy, it’s still a travel trailer…
Semantics…
As they say “ignorance is bliss” 🙂
So much to consider.
Where do you begin?
Wow.
So the land you bought doesn’t allow this?
Maybe it would permit a wooden yurt. ?
You might be able to sell your tiny house and build a yurt there. ?
Smiling yurts in WA state. Wooden yurt kits.
I guess Vin, I don’t even know what your point is. I thought it was, ” this is nothing but a trailer park”
Obviously it’s a hotel of mini houses.
So, much ado about nothing here.
I get your point, Vin, and agree. You were only stating an observation. There is one caveat I noticed however…these homes can be found in a trailer park but versatile enough to travel place to place like a mobile home. Trailer parks and a mobile home conjure up two different visions. I like to think of this as a mobile home where you can go place to place and live adventure. But I agree however you look at it…nothing new just packaged differently.
You are correcting me as if I said something wrong, when I didn’t. On top of that your entire complaint sounds like “you are wrong because what you said is correct”. What are you even arguing over if you are just going to tell me I’m right? Yes, tiny homes have been around forever and these are essentially travel trailers. Yet you keep insisting that I’m wrong while than going on to explain that I’m telling the truth. Stop contradicting yourself. The article was written as if tiny homes were a new thing. I simply commented that they aren’t and… Read more »
Maybe you can open one and call it artsy trailer park!
I really have no idea why it’s so important, this viewpoint. Sorry.
Oblivious?
Genghis Khan had a fleet of mobile yurts.
Tp’s and yurts go way back. But there’s always room for a new old pov.
Arts get lost.
Things get rearranged.
I don’t care what they call them.
It’s ok with me. I see no trickery here !
And we should all be oblivious to it?
Excuse me for noticing and than using the comments section to comment on it.
Some of us choose to not live with blinders on.
Which is not the point I was commenting on but thanks for missing it.
Yeah, kill off those baby boomers.They are to blame! Life would be so much better without them…Oh wait that’s me…never mind.
The difference is, they are not built to look like typical trailers.
Da man just loves to get his hands all over them things, doesn’t he?
Isn’t it a shame how governments can cause a soul such misery and even homelessness?
I see you speak as if it were in the past. If you were so happy, why would you leave it in the past?
When I read some of the responses here, well, it looks to me like many here are just plainly unaware and very comfortable in continued ignorance…
Thank you. For me it is perfection. Don’t feel deprived of any “comforts of home”. Appreciate your appreciation.