You might be hearing a lot about how the American housing market has finally bounced back, with new home builders finally able to head back to work and provide quality housing to any American looking to live that dream of a house, a white picket fence, and a couple kids. What you might not know is that this jump-start to the economy comes with marked changes over the way homes were built in the past. More specifically, green home construction is more than ever seen as the way to build homes, instead of an alternative that only a certain type of person would consider.
In particular, reports the BBC, Americans are more interested in custom home design for so-called tiny homes. To be considered a tiny home, a structure can be no larger than 500 square feet. To give you a better idea, that’s about the size of a large hotel room. If you find yourself wondering why anyone would ever design and build homes that are more like sheds than houses, it’s all about saving the environment and cutting costs.
Tiny Homes Seen as a Way of Fighting Catastrophic Ecological Impact
On the one hand, new home builders are increasingly hired to build tiny homes because they are so much better for the environment. As The Daily Mail details in a recent article, because of their size, tiny homes can be built using less energy and fewer materials. The materials that are typically used are designed to have as little impact on the environment as possible.
Following the completion of the home by specialist design and build companies, tiny homes also use less water, electricity, and other resources. In short, tiny homes are small ways to take a big stand against man-made climate change.
Also a Matter of Avoiding the American Debt Trap
That’s not to say the tiny home movement is one born of pure altruism and concern for the world. The idea of debt has been normalized in the U.S., so much so that Debt.org estimates consumer debt at an astounding $11.4 trillion. Tiny homes represent a practical way to avoid the classic debt trap that so many of us fall into.
In a recent human interest piece, Idaho Statesman profiled Macy Miller, a tiny home owner who lives with her Great Dane and 4-month-old daughter in a 196 square foot home. Miller noted that one of the biggest draws of her tiny home was the price. “My mortgage payment before was $2,200 a month,” she told the paper.
Now, after hiring new home builders to build her tiny paradise for less than $12,000, she only has to worry about paying a $200 lot rental fee each month. In a country that spends $134 billion per quarter improving homes that typically have two bathrooms and three bedrooms, Miller believes her shift to a minimalist lifestyle has both saved her from crushing debt and given her extra time with her family, as she needn’t work so much to make ends meet.
What do you think of the trend towards tiny homes new home builders are seeing throughout the country? Let us know in the comments below.
