The tiny house movement is in full swing right now. People are beginning to wise up en masse and see through the so called American dream. 30 years of debt slavery hidden behind a white picket fence doesn’t look so good anymore. As it turns out, the road to happiness cannot be found by stuffing as many materials possessions as possible into the biggest house you can afford.
“But tiny homes built on trailers also have drawbacks”
I agree with the philosophy behind tiny houses and keeping only as much stuff as you actually use. But while I’m supportive of the tiny house movement in general (they look cool), I think that building a tiny home inside of a vehicle is a more flexible option. A tiny home built on a trailer cannot be parked on the curb in a residential neighborhood without drawing a lot of attention and potentially getting ticketed. Cars, trucks, and vans are things people see on residential streets and in parking lots everyday. Vans are so common that they just fade into the background. A tiny trailer house will likely require the owner to buy land or rent a place to park it. Again, one of the reasons for downsizing is trying to get away from the expense of renting anything and both buying or renting land to park a tiny trailer home would reduce mobility and add expense.
If you own land and only plan to move your tiny home a couple times a year, something on a trailer may still be appealing. There are many nice factory built camper trailers available on the used market that can be had a lot cheaper than a “tiny home”. Many pull behind campers in the $5-$10k range have slide outs and are really quite nice on the inside. They are also lighter than most custom built tiny homes of equivalent size and therefor easier on the tow vehicle. I guess one thing to consider however is that campers are not generally meant for cold weather. Campers have fairly thin walls to reduce weight so you best be towing that baby to Florida in the winter.
“Camper trailers are lighter than “Tumbleweed” type trailer homes”
Tiny trailer homes framed with 2x4s are heavier than campers of equal size, they usually require the towing capacity of a one ton pickup truck (350 or 3500) to be able to move them around. Notice the big blue truck towing the tiny home squatting under the tongue weight of the trailer. If you owned one would that require a one ton pickup truck to be your primary vehicle? Or would you own two vehicles, one to move your house and the other to commute to work? Owning two vehicles doesn’t seem like the simplified minimalistic approach. Would you instead have to call someone else who has a big truck every time you want to move your tiny house? Sounds like a hassle.
“A better option”
A van based tiny home rather than a trailer based one is much more mobile and easier to park. A comfortable size van can park virtually anywhere. You don’t need to rent or buy any kind of special parking space. It also allows you much more freedom of movement. If you want to pull up stakes and drive to a different state its no big deal. Whereas with a Tumbleweed type trailer home you need to be thinking a lot more about how you’re going to get it there and where you’re going to put it once you get there. My final thought on this is that if you build your tiny house inside of a van a lot of the work has already been done for you. The van already has weatherproofed walls and a roof. You just have to customize the interior, which is a much simpler undertaking.