Tiny Home

A Digression ...

My Normanhurst block—it’s big. Bigger than the archetypal ‘quarter acre block’. It’s 1350 square metres (which is more like a third of an acre). From the beginning, people have suggested it might be big enough to build TWO homes – a duplex, perhaps. In fact, Hornsby Council is currently awaiting gazettal of new regulations permitting “dual occupancy” in the shire. On the face of it, this suggestion seems like an ethical choice, given the need for housing in Sydney.

But there’s a problem …

There is, however, one big stumbling block: the dreaded FZ BAL (‘flame zone’ bush fire attack level). As regular readers will know, this has been a Thing for my block since the beginning. We have managed to inch the planned house out of the FZ, but there’s no way council would ever approve a habitable building down the back of the block, where the bush fire threat is considered high.

Council approved the Writing Shed – since it has no plumbing or other amenities which would make it occupiable. No-one seems to care if the writing shed burns down.

A tiny home from Hausline, located near Port Macquarie. Price starts at $148,000

But there’s a solution …

Well, more of a work-around. I recently took a short detour from the building of the house to investigate Tiny Homes. ‘Tiny Home’ is a euphemism for a fancy caravan—a transportable home. I had the bright idea that I might park one of these on the back of my block, move in, and save on the rent I’m currently paying. Then afterwards it could be guest accommodation, or a fancy backyard studio. Perhaps the basis of a Family Compound in the future.

‘You won’t be able to do it,’ I was told. ‘Because of the bushfire rating.’

I looked up the regs. Tiny Homes are not covered by building regulations, but by something called the NSW Local Government (Manufactured Home Estates, Caravan Parks, Camping Grounds and Moveable Dwellings) Regulation 2021.

Guess what? The BAL is not an issue if the home is transportable. Tiny Homes, so popular these days, are in fact literally transportable—they sit on a massive trailer, registered for road travel, which can be towed by a truck. Council would never approved a traditional granny flat in my fire-prone back yard, but they will let me put in a transportable tiny home.

You can book a weekend getaway in a tiny home, to try it out. [Source]

I talk to the Duty Planner

If you have a question for Hornsby Council about things like this, you can schedule a ten minute phone call with the Duty Planner. I did this. I knew that in NSW you can’t ‘permanently’ park a tiny home on unoccupied land. I was hoping that having approval for building would be enough. The relevant regulation is a trifle ambiguous:

(1) The approval of the council is not required for the installation of the following—

… (b) 1 caravan on land occupied by the owner of the caravan in connection with the owner’s dwelling house if the caravan is used for habitation only by the owner or members of the owner’s household.

Now, I’m the ‘owner’ in this case, but there isn’t yet an actual ‘household’ on the block. You can see the grey area. So Council has had to interpret this.

‘The answer to your question,’ said the Duty Planner, ‘is no.’

Council has come down on the side of waiting until there’s actually a house on the block. The Duty Planner told me they’d gone this way because of people getting a DA, parking their vans on the block, and then—no house.

But later?

Once the house is built, I could have a tiny home in the backyard. I could even possibly transport it past the house on the northern boundary—there’ll be plenty of space. (These tiny homes are sometimes craned in to less accessible sites—rather obviating the ‘transportability’ of them.)

I don’t know if I want to do this yet. Would it be instead of the writing shed, or as well as? Would it be guest accommodation, or rent out-able? Tiny homes cost between about $85,000 - $165,000. Unless you want one that’s off-grid, with a composting toilet and its own solar array, they have to be connected to electricity, storm water, and even sewerage (with a connection that can be capped off, to prove the transportability of the whole thing.)

Still, it’s an intriguing idea.

Check out some ideas from this Mullumbimby company, Econic Design

Tiny Homes are CUTE

I discovered a company which builds tiny homes not far from me: Tiny Home Solutions. Their factory is in Mt Kuring-gai, and they have a showroom at Waitara. I spent a happy hour discovering the ins and outs of tiny homes, and inspecting several they have on site. They are custom builders, so your tiny home can be fitted out to your choice of specifications, including (fire resistant) external and internal materials.

The widest are 3 metres; many are 2.5 metres. Obviously the tiny homes have to be able to be transported down the highway, so they’re never wider. The really big ones are up to 9 metres long, with interior designs which are fantastic examples of minimalism. Check out the many options on this page.

What do you think of this one? Could you live in it?