challenge

Tiny House Challenge – Domain Studio

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Guest Post by Frank Dobrucki

My Tiny House Dilemma/Challenge. Years ago, as I was watching the Las Vegas housing market crumble, the local TV News was reporting that Las Vegas did not have to worry about the national trend in housing, because Las Vegas was going vertical! Yes, we had well over 100 huge high-rise projects on the horizon! I thought that the newscasters were out of their mind. There is no way that you can insulate one type of housing project, specially when it is an outrageously overpriced concept and believe that this will save us from economic catastrophe. Fast-forward, Las Vegas is truly ground zero when it comes to the national housing market disaster. All of the high-rise projects included, even though most were never built!

Photo Credits: Frank Dobrucki

When I looked at the floor plans of many of the projects, several entry-level models were less than 800 square feet and had starting prices of $600,000 and monthly homeowner fees of approximately $800 to $1,000. I knew that I could do a better job of coming up with the kind of housing that people really need and something that people could afford.

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2012 Design Challenge

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Jeff H. sent me this email about a challenge for the designers and builders in the tiny house world to consider. Here is what Jeff had to say: I have a favor/challenge/request for this year for you and the builders of these tiny houses. I have my own ideas that … Read more

Tiny Guesthouse Challenge

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Another of my jobs (besides writing for the Tiny House Blog) is taking care of my elderly mother’s five acres, located in the high mountain desert of Nevada. The property consists of a 2,000 square foot house, a large yard with hundreds of trees, a barn and a tiny house located at the back of the property.

The house was built in the 1980s as a guesthouse and has been used for numerous guests and visiting family members. It is 12 feet by 8 feet, single story, on a cement slab foundation, insulated, and has electricity and a wall mounted heating unit. The interior is a single room with a tile floor, three windows that look out on the nearby Tahoe Range and the garden and skylights that face south. The ceiling has charming rafters and is decorated with items from my mother’s native Denmark and Sweden.

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