Kanga chose the kangaroo to symbolize their company and product because of its strength, agility and the ability for a kangaroo mother’s pouch to be a natural portable home. Because of this, Kanga is also committed to using sustainable materials and energy efficient products whenever possible while still keeping their structures affordable.

Kanga currently offers several options: the Kanga Studio is available in the The Modern and The Country Cottage styles and the Kanga Cabin is a larger structure that can be constructed to accommodate a bathroom, kitchenette, a separate bedroom and a loft.

The Modern design offers clean lines, a progressive style and can be constructed to sizes large enough to accommodate a bathroom and a kitchenette. The Modern comes in eight sizes: the 8′x10′ for around $7,150, the 10′x12′ for around $7,900, the 12′x14′ for around $9,200, the 12′x16′ and the 14′x14′ for around $9,860, the 14′x16′ for around $10,670, the 14′x20′ for around $11,999 and the 14′x24′ for around $13,400.

The Country Cottage has an open, airy feel in a classic design. The base model includes a skid foundation, floor system, 8″ lap siding, one door and two 24×48 front windows. The base models start at $9,950 for the 10′x12′ and go to $15,550 for the 14′x24′ model.

All kits include the following:

• 4″x 6″ treated skids cut to length for foundation system
• 4′x 8′ wall panels sheathed with 7/16″ OSB w/ radiant barrier
• 2×6 floor system sheathed with plywood decking
• Roof system panels with R19 insulation and 8″ pine tongue & groove applied
• Roof decking with 7/16 OSB w/ radiant barrier
• EPDM roof membrane
• 6″ galvanized facia flashing
• 12″ Hardie fiber cement open joint siding with EPDM moisture barrier
• Cedar accent siding
• 36″ Metal door with full lite glass
• Door knob with lock and key set
• One 18″x36″ window (fixed glass with wood frame)
• Transom windows with structural steel window frame
• Laminated roof support beam cut to length

Upgrades and extras include updated doors and windows, pine beadboard paneling, pine, oak, bamboo or cork flooring, paint, upgraded lighting, a front or side deck, wiring packages, a metal roof, and installed bathrooms and kitchenettes on models 12′x14′ or larger.

The kits come delivered with instructions and can be assembled with basic tools such as a shovel, level, hammer, circular saw and power drill. A pneumatic finishing nailer and framing gun make for a quicker and easier install. Shipping costs will depend on the location of the building site.

Photos courtesy of Kanga Room Systems

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

The first product sold by the company is the Wallowa. This tiny house is 8 feet by 12 feet and includes 2×4 framing, a standard home size entry door, two windows, double wall construction, cedar lap siding with cedar trim, and metal roofing guaranteed for 35 years. The interior clear ceiling height is 6 feet 8 inches, and the interior loft height at the peak is slightly over 3 feet 8 inches. The overall height with the building on its mobile chassis is 13 feet 5 inches, just under the legal limitation. Level One ($429) includes a complete set of detailed building plans, actual photos of construction and an instructional video. Level Two ($9,850) and Level Three ($15,975) allow the owner to design and build their own interior including wall covering, floor covering, plumbing, electrical, appliances and cabinetry.

The Wallowa has several options including a gable overhang porch, additional side windows and a loft. These options can be added onto Levels 2 and 3 for an additional price.

The second tiny house is the Bitterroot. The exterior dimensions are 7 feet by 16 feet and the interior ceiling is 6 feet 8 inches and it is also 13 feet 5 inches on its mobile chassis. The Bitterroot, with its narrower footprint is better suited to extended towing and the loss of width is compensated by the additional length. The Bitterroot’s Level One, Two, and and Three package and options are the same as the Wallowa. The prices for the Bitterroot are: Level One ($429), Level Two ($12,650) and Level Three ($17,890).

Tiny House Builders’ parent company, Enviro-Mechanical Specialists, Inc. (EMS) is long known for their expertise in providing a broad range of services to the Green Building industry. The company’s philosophy is that “less is more” and that we should do everything possible to reduce our consumption of natural resources.

Photos courtesy of Tiny House Builders

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

I made tiny gingerbread houses that are meant to be perched on the edge of a mug of hot chocolate.

I made a few versions to figure out how to make one that wasn’t so top heavy that it would flip off the mug. I also was interested to see how small I could get away with and still fit on both large and small cups. I generally followed the size of my The Mini Gingerbread House Kit (though, those pieces don’t fit together as nicely as I’d have liked).

See the article and full instructions at notmartha.org.

The Mighty Cabana is pre-cut from solid wood and is connected by a patented building system for strength and ease of construction. They can be used as a small house, a small business, a vacation home, an artist studio, pool house or storage shed.

The Mighty Cabana comes in two configurations: the Cabana Series and the Gable Series. The Cabana series starts at $5,240 for a 10×12 foot structure and goes up to $7,520 for a 12×16 foot structure. The Mighty Cabana Gable Series starts at $4,790 for a 10×12 foot structure and goes up to $7,450 for a 12×16 foot structure.

Cabana Series Interior

Cabana Series Interior

Gables Series

Gable Series Interior

The price includes:

• Treated floor joists, plywood floor and skids
• Pre-cut 2×6 T&G SPF solid walls and timber with Glulam columns
• A 60” porch roof (Gable) or 36” roof overhang (Cabana)
• 2×6 T&G SPF roof decking on Glulam wood roof beam
• 30-year black composition roof shingles
• Vinyl sliding glass door system
• Vinyl windows
• Western Red Cedar exterior trim package, glue and fasteners
• Free customer support

Delivery of the Mighty Cabana is included up to 30 miles of Tacoma WA. There is a $2.00 per mile charge beyond 30 miles. Each Cabana can be connected to an on- or off-grid electrical system.

Photos courtesy of Pan Abode

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

Based on a house he built from conventional materials in 1979, the new “Octagonal Living Unit” is constructed from pre-cut, recyclable panels of steel and expanded polystyrene. It takes only a matter of days to assemble. With a price tag of less than $25,000 and a footprint under 400 square feet, it could easily function as an artist’s studio, a guest house, a living space for a small family, or (as the need arises) disaster housing. The material, extremely resistant to seismic activity and high winds, is strong and safe, yet the design aesthetic is sculptural and appealing.

Craig is currently collaborating with kickstarter.com to raise funds to construct a full-scale prototype for the Octagonal Living Unit project. If the $21,000 goal is met by June 30, funds will be awarded and the project may continue. With the success of his kickstarter campaign, Pleasants hopes to market these low-profile octagonal houses to a wider audience.

Cabana Village builds cabin kits and cottage bunkies to be used as weekenders, lakeside cottages, starter cabins or backyard retreats. They also build pool houses, sheds, garden studios and garage kits. The cabins, cottages and bunkies feature cedar doors, windows and trim and are available in cedar or maintenance-free Canexel siding. All their cabanas have 1/2″ plywood roof sheathing and 2×4 SPF framing. With their sturdy construction and use of quality materials, extensive pre-fabrication, ease of assembly, and attractive design, their possible uses are only limited by your imagination.

An 87″ wall height is standard on Cabana Village’s kit cabins and you have a choice of a 7 in 12 (30°) or an 10 in 12 (40°) roof pitch. These cabin kits are designed with a sleeping loft and come with either a ladder or 15° hardwood stairs (depending on the size of the unit). They carefully pre-fabricate and pre-assemble as much of each structure as possible without making it impossible to handle and overly expensive to ship. The exact amount of pre-fabrication possible will vary slightly with size and design.

They have various sizes for their smallest cabins: the 12 foot cabins (12×12, 12×14 and 12×14 with dormer window) cost between $11,000 and $14,000. The 14 foot cabins (14×14, 14×16 and 14×16 with dormer window) cost between $15,000 and $17,000. They also offer larger kits that run into the $20,000 range.

Included in the price is:

• everything you need including a wood floor, all hardware and fasteners, and assembly instructions
• pre-assembly of walls, doors, windows and cupolas
• freight to most destinations in the contiguous United States

Not included in the price is:

• shingles (due to the many color and style variations, and weight considerations)
• foundation
• installation

Right now Cabana Village has a few bargains on bunkies, cabins and pool houses if ordered by March 31, 2010.

Cabana Village offers a full color 24 page brochure for $10.00. They will include a coupon for $100 off the price of any structure if you buy the brochure and then purchase a kit.

By Christina Nellemann for the (Tiny House Blog)

Tim explained that the P-POD housing is a “building system” more than simply a specific house design. His system is a uniquely engineered “kit of parts” and space frame grids, that can be adapted quickly for any and all housing regimes, programs, and designs desired. P-POD units can be stacked 2 or 3 tall, or spread out in any configuration such as townhouses, duplexes, apartment buildings, etc. They are built as a 3-D grid system that simply snaps and locks together fast, enabling a house to be assembled in only hours including the complete foundation system. No infrastructure is required to assemble these homes onsite, such as bulldozers, backhoes, electricity, water or concrete trucks. The P-PODs assemble fast with simple hand wrenches and hand tools.

P-PODs are designed to be 100% off grid, with a 480 watt solar PV electrical system and a solar hot water system included with the kits. The P-PODs are engineered and constructed of steel, with EPS foam bonded to metal studs to create a composite material for floor, wall and roof panels, making them super strong, lightweight, easy to assemble and recyclable. Also, each unit is handicap accessible. Each P-Pod kit is sold for $15,950 with options and systems available for your locale, including:

• Wind energy
• Solar photovoltaic
• Solar hot water systems
• Passive solar space heating and cooling
• Tankless hot water
• Rain water collection
• Gray water reclamation
• Ultra low flush and composting toilets

If you are interested in a P-Pod or polehouse, Tim and his company will work with you on your customized design with erasable vellum plans for each platform.

Because they can be easily assembled, disassembled and moved by an unskilled labor force, the P-POD is becoming popular in Third World countries. Currently, Tim is working on several projects in Africa, manufacturing and assembling tens of thousands of P-Pods.

P-POD Kit Features

• Delivered Pre-Fabricated (not pre-assembled)
• Bolt and Screw Assembly
• Unique Pin Foundation System
• Pole House Engineering
• Open Beam Construction
• Wind and Seismic Resistant
• Cantilevered Platform
• Sliding Glass Doors
• Polycarbonate Corners
• Full Surrounding Decks
• Cedar Plywood Siding
• Cedar Decking
• Zinc-Alum Metal Roofing
• Vented Gable Roof
• Loft Storage
• Handicap Accessible

P-POD Kit Options

• Operable Skylights
• Solar Electric PV Lighting
• Solar Water Heating
• Cedar Shake Roofing

“Housing should provide much more than simple shelter for inhabitants. A home should be instrumental in satisfying spiritual, mental, physical and emotional needs so an individual can be free to explore and expand their full creative and visionary potential.”  ~ Tim Cornell

Inhabitat article on the P-POD

Thanks to Tiny House Blog reader, Brian McClure, for the link to Polehouses.com

By Christina Nellemann for the (Tiny House Blog)

The FirstDay Cottage company in New Hampshire offers a house kit which they claim a couple, and a handful of friends, can build in approximately fifteen weekends and for under $45,000. These house kits can be customized for each customer and can be built with almost no carpentry experience. What I found very refreshing about FirstDay is that they insist that their kits are so simple to put together, that they encourage all their customers to contact them frequently to get advice and support throughout the project. They even help to get the owner/builder financing.

While these houses are little larger than the average tiny house, the smallest is under 1,000 square feet. The smallest of the plans is the Basic, which is 16 feet by 30 feet or 960 square feet and costs about $26,900 for the kit.

The FirstDay Kit Includes:

• Instructions and plans
• Posts and beams
• Sheathing and decking
• 2″ High-R Foam Insulation
• Roofing and siding
• Windows
• Interior and exterior doors
• Nails
• Building wrap
• Interior partitions
• Kitchen cabinets

I actually found the FirstDay plans through this couple, who are living the simple life in upstate New York with their young son. They built their own FirstDay as a spec house and then built a tiny cabin in the woods from the scraps left over. The entire project cost them about $900.

By Christina Nellemann for the (Tiny House Blog)

On my road trip to the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park, I had to stop and take some photos of this darling little log home just outside of Cedar City, Utah. The Mini Pine Hollow log home by Pine Hollow Log Homes is 11 by 16 feet with a full loft and a 4 by 16 foot covered deck.

Pine Hollow offers this tiny cabin as a kit and will deliver it within 250 miles of Cedar City. It takes about two weeks to have a kit delivered. This particular home was unfinished inside, but the Pine Hollow website should have updated photos of the Mini log home soon.

The Basic Package includes:

• Blueprints
• Treated skids
• Floor framing
• 6″ starter/finish logs
• 6″ wall logs, gable ends
• 8″ oly screws/construction adhesive
• Calking for windows and doors
• Loft floor joists
• 2×6 rough sawn window/door bucking
• Windows and door
• Deck framing
• Roof framing with OSB sheathing
• Porch posts
• Porch framing with OSB sheathing
• Milled 3×2 handrail
• Dormer framing with 1×6 tongue and groove siding

Cost: $8,781.00 (plus 6% Utah sales tax)

The Deluxe Package includes:

• All of the above items
• 1×6″ tongue and groove soffit
• Batt insulation
• 1×6″ tongue and groove ceiling
• 2×6″ tongue and groove loft floor
• 1×6″ tongue and groove porch sheathing
• Tar paper
• Steel roof, trims, flashing and screws

Cost: $10,865.00 (plus 6% Utah sales tax)

Pine Hollow offers other log home kits, most around 1,000-2,000 square feet.

By Christina Nellemann

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I think that some of the best cabin kits are coming from the Wilderness Cabin Company and Greystokes International. The Wilderness Cabin Company sells cabin kits to customers in Canada and Greystokes International sells the same kits to customers in the U.S.

A few years ago I started following the building process of Chris and Alyssa Thompson’s cabin. This is the first beginning to end documentation of a Wilderness/Greystokes cabin construction that I have seen on the web and the couple has posted some great photos of their Nicola cabin.

The Thompsons ordered their cabin and blueprints through Greystokes, and the supplies arrived on a semi truck about one week after their building permits were issued. The shipment included basically everything needed to build the exterior shell of the cabin, including the doors, windows and decking. The exterior wood even came stained with the colors the couple had selected. The Thompsons provided the labor and the flooring, plumbing, electrical, insulation and drywall.

The planning and building process took more than five years, while the Thompsons dealt with the Ventura County permit process. They finished the house in 2005.

What I liked best about the Thompson’s Nicola cabin is that they personalized it with their own creative tile work and warm colors. The kitchen is cozy and utilizes the small area very well.

The cable channel, DIY, did a show on their cabin project called “Assembly Required” and included footage from the couple’s trip to the Wilderness Cabin/Greystokes company.

Wilderness Cabin Company and Greystokes International offers cabin kits in sizes ranging from 588 to over 2,000 square feet. Smaller cabins ranging from 192 to over 700 square feet are available, but only in groups of four or more and are called Resort Cabins. The Nicola cabin is 629 square feet.

By Christina Nellemann

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