Take only what you need: why build a small house?

Why build a small house? There are multiple ways to answer this question.

So here are our reasons for choosing a small sustainable home:

Cost

• We don’t have the budget to build a big house especially with the ever increasing price of building in New Zealand
• Lower energy and maintenance costs

Footprint

• Reduction of your footprint starts by minimising building materials and size. In New Zealand the average home size has increased from 120 m2 in the 1950’s to more than 200 m2 since 2010¹.

Lifestyle

• Even if we had the money we wouldn’t want to live in a big castle. We loved the apartments of 35 m² and 66 m² we have lived in
• Small fits with our wishes to basically simplify life. We want to scale back and own only what we really need
• Less mortgage means a more flexible and independent lifestyle
• Building your own home is a once in your lifetime learning experience
• Less cleaning!
• Small feels more cosy

Smart solutions

• We like well thought out smart solutions, multi-purpose use, clever storage spaces. A small or tiny home asks to be cleverly designed for it to work

But how small is small? Although we love the tiny house movement² and everything it stands for, 15 m2 with a family of four including an office seems to be pushing it for us and we also don’t see the immediate need to be super mobile. We hope to fit 3 bedrooms and an office in a 60-80 m² home.

What are your thoughts?

[1] https://www.qv.co.nz/n/news-details/phoenix-78?blogId=62

[2] http://thetinylife.com/what-is-the-tiny-house-movement/