Book Review: Your Message Here by Andrew Odom

One of the big draws of tiny living is the monetary savings. You can own your own home without selling your soul, utilities won't rob you blind as you attempt to prevent becoming a human puddle or popsicle (depending on the season). The cost of constructing a tiny home can be relatively inexpensive. Relatively.

An average home in Western Pennsylvania can run between $125,000 and $212,400. Most budgets for tiny homes (without crazy bells and whistles) are around $20,000. While I really don't have $125,000, I also don't have $20,000 either. Given my current employment, saving that money anytime soon is not a plausible option.

This conundrum lead me to purchase Your Message Here by Andrew Odom, a book to help tiny house builders with the financial side of building. Reviews I read raved about the ebook, one even claimed she hardly paid a thing herself during the build. I quickly learned after purchasing the book, this would not be the case for me.

Your Message Here is written by Andrew Odom who runs Tiny r(E)volution, a company that runs a site about tiny houses offering many free resources as well as buyable ebooks. (many of the blog posts are great and I do highly recommend using their site during your research) This is where the big issue forms for me: Andrew is writing this book for tiny builders looking to make a business out of their tiny house. He advises creating accounts for your build on facebook, twitter, blogging sites, even getting business cards made. Create an internet presence to present to potential sponsors to see you have something to offer them by investing you your tiny home.

Now this in and of itself is not bad advice and Andrew gives good instructions and resources to do this, but this is not a plausible route for every tiny home builder. I have a full time job that takes up usually over 40hrs a week and other annoying but required responsibilities on top of just trying to learn from scratch how to frame a house on a trailer. I do not have time (or the passion really) to create a whole business around my tiny home.

Second issue: Your Message Here  recommends using the novelty of your project to intrigue possible sponsors. Tiny homes, while still a rarity for the everyday person, are permeating the culture. FYI has the show Tiny House Nation, HGTV has three separate shows about tiny homes. A tiny home project many not seem so unique when there are collectively over 100+ episodes following individuals going small. And I know that I am far from the first person to be blogging about their build (and I'm sure many of them are more poetic in their posts).

This interest from the mainstream american could be two fold; those of us wanting to go tiny may be seen as following a fad. Regardless of the numerous people who did their homework before going small, there are sure to be some who have over romanticized the idea. Though with the attention from the television shows, and with 84 Lumber now offering tiny home packages, maybe this will open a door. Though the majority of people are unlikely to downsize so drastically, tiny homes could become an acceptable lifestyle. Zoning laws could be revised to be more accommodating, landowners may opt to invest by renting portions of their land to park a home, and a family may skip a mini mansion for a reasonable ranch home.

Conclusion: While a good book if you are looking to invest the time into creating a following for your tiny build, this book is not for everyone. If you don't want to spend time advertising yourself on social networks, skip this read. Instead, I highly recommend Andrew's free blog: Tiny r(E)volution.

Book Review: Tiny House Decisions by Ethan Waldman

There are many resources on the internet to help newbies on their tiny house journey, most free but there are a few builders that charge for their knowledge. Normally I get my books from the library, but many of these books are e-books not available in my local catalogue.

Recently I bought Tiny House Decisions by Ethan Waldman. At $29, it seemed a bit steep but the reviews were good and the author proclaimed to have done much of the tedious research that stressed me out. So I bought it (and proceeded to print it out because I hate reading on screens if I can help it). Tiny House Decisions is a very well organized and reader friendly book, but it lacked the in depth research I was expecting.

Waldman divided the book into three sections: Big Decisions, System Decisions and Construction Decisions. Each section has a similar layout; a subject is presented (appliances, building materials, going off grid, etc.) with lists of pros, cons, and the author's experience during his build. Anyone who is looking at tiny homes and willing to shell out $30 for a book about them has likely thought about the majority of the content in the "Big Decisions" section. The biggest take away I got from the book was Waldman's research in appliances. He gives a great break down on the basics of gas vs electric items and how looking for items with different keywords (ie: searching in marine or RV stores). Again, a lot of this information is available for free online on other tiny house builder's blogs. Waldman even has valuable information free on his own blog.

In contrast, Dee Williams Go House Go has specific construction information about trailer construction, ventilation control, electrical systems, etc. There are also books by Ryan Mitchell; Cracking the Code and Simply Shocking. Both books go into specifics of the subjects (zoning laws and electrics), not common information found as easily online. (Note: I have not read Mitchell's books yet, but they have good reviews and are promoted by many tiny builders including Waldman).

Conclusion: Tiny House Decisions is not a must have book for tiny builders, but it does have useful tips in a reader friendly layout. I don't think you can ever have too many resources, but if you are pinching pennies (like me!) I would skip this purchase.