Why Do Tiny Houses Cost More Per Square Foot?

Tiny Houses Are Smaller, But Cost More Per Square Foot.  Why?

Glad you asked! In larger houses, the lower cost per square foot is because large homes have a lot of empty space, which brings the average cost per square foot down.  The most expensive areas of a home are the bathroom and kitchen: the rooms with appliances and special fixtures.  Just like big houses, tiny houses still have at least one toilet, one shower or tub, one fridge, one stove or cooktop, and one kitchen sink, so you still have to pay for those appliances.   (If your tiny house is 1/3 the size of a big house, the cost may not be 1/3 because you’re not paying for 1/3 of a toilet– you still need a whole toilet!)  In tiny houses, everything is efficiently packed into a smaller footprint, eliminating the empty floor space– the cheapest part of a big house.

In addition, tiny house designers and builders have very special skills, and there is much less room for error in constructing a tiny house than in constructing a big house.  Because there is less tolerance for error in tiny houses, due to their small size as well as strict  building standards ensuring they are safe to travel on the road, more care has to be put into their design and construction.

B&B Micro Manufacturing’s move-in ready tiny houses on wheels are built to the high standards of Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA), who inspect every step of our build process in surprise visits.  Each turnkey tiny house we build is RVIA-certified.  (Tiny house shells cannot be RVIA certified because DIY builders aren’t inspected by the RVIA).

What do tiny houses have that larger houses don’t have?

Many tiny houses have built-in furniture which is not included in the cost of an empty larger house.  Additionally, some tiny houses use specialty appliances that were designed for boats or RVs, like small stoves, which, although they are smaller cost more than regular-size appliances because they are not sold in the mass quantities regular-size ones are.  

What’s the cost of having a custom designed tiny house built versus a pre-designed tiny house?

Due to economies of scale, any tiny house that is custom-designed will, of course, cost more than a tiny house that is made in a production line with the same model of other tiny houses.  B&B has quite a few floor plans to choose from for every lifestyle, and each floor plan is customizable for the individual’s needs.

Does it cost more or less overall to build a tiny house versus a big house?

Still, the total cost of building a new-construction tiny houses is, of course, much lower than the cost of having a new big house built.

Likewise, it costs much less over time to pay bills for a tiny house.  Heating and cooling a tiny house is more energy-efficient by nature of the space being small.  In addition, B&B manufactures all their houses to be extremely energy efficient, whether on- or off-grid, reducing the overall cost of bills over time.

Still have questions about our tiny houses?  We’d love to help!  Contact us at [email protected].