Company News Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses

24′ Albuquerque Tiny House

October 5, 2015 By Greg Parham 58 Comments

We are pleased to share the latest completed tiny house to leave our shop, a custom 24′ build that was delivered to a newly wed couple in Albuquerque, NM. The shell is constructed of Structural Insulated Panels (SIP’s) which are then finished out with gray stained cedar lap siding, natural stained cedar shakes, and galvanized corrugated roof on the outside and white tongue and groove on the inside with walnut stained accents/flooring.

This unique design centers around a set of French Doors that sit on the wheel well. You enter on a platform that is about 12″ above the main floor. Below this platform are pull out drawers for storage. On the left side of the platform is a ladder that climbs up to the sleeping loft that fits a queen size bed. The portion of the roof also has dormers on both sides for increased head height and airiness.

On the right end of the lower platform is a higher platform that the kitchen is situated on. Beneath this platform is a full size bed that pulls out for guest sleeping. The small couch hides the end of the bed and rolls out of the way when needed. On the portion of the platform where there is dead space, we installed trap doors for even more hidden storage. A simple drop-leaf bartop with seating for two or three separates the kitchen space from the living area.

At the back of the trailer is a wet bath with some very nice tile work, a sliding barn door, and a customized exposed shower faucet that doubles as the sink spout. You cannot see from the photos, but there is a Nature’s Head composting toilet opposite the shower wall.

Next to the wet bath is a nook that will serve as storage for time being, until a baby comes along and then it will be used for a baby crib!

All in all it is a simple layout with lots of volume and nice finishes, designed with an expanding family in mind. The design came almost exclusively from ideas the customer gave us, we just took these ideas and tweaked them a little bit to properly scale the components and make construction a little easier. For anyone interested in a similar build, expect final costs to be in the $51k-57k range depending on desired features and finish out.

Fall Build Spots Open!

September 21, 2015 By Greg Parham 15 Comments

Wow, what a summer it has been! Unprecedented activity here at the shop in beautiful Durango, Colorado, USA. Things have slowed down now that fall is here. Our waitlist has all of sudden fallen to zero! For those looking to get into a tiny house of their own prior to Christmas, or even Thanksgiving, we can do it! Typical build times are 6 weeks from the day we receive a trailer, and about 3 weeks to get a trailer from the time you put down a deposit. So, do not waste another second, and give us a call right now! Turn your tiny house vision into a reality!

Custom hOMe Tiny House Build

August 25, 2015 By Greg Parham 19 Comments

We are pleased to announce the recent completion of a custom hOMe build. For those of you not familiar, this is a very well known design by Andrew and Gabriella Morrison. You can view the original hOMe and learn more about the design on their website: http://tinyhousebuild.com/

A newlywed couple in Colorado Springs contacted me back in the Spring to inquire about this project and whether or not we could customize it and still stay within their budget. Absolutely! I have actually been wanting to build a tiny house from someone else’s commercial set of plans, not only to see how they do things, but to spare me the process of having to generate plans from scratch. This was the perfect opportunity!

The most notable differences from the original are:

Built with Structural Insulated panels instead of stick framed! Very straight, strong, and better insulated.
Interior beetle kill pine instead of drywall
dark stained cedar lap siding instead of t&g
copper apron sink
curved glass shower enclosure
modified cabinet layout to accommodate customer’s needs
cabinets built in-house instead of Ikea to save weight and be custom fit
small 18″ dishwasher installed in the kitchen
fold down dining table
dry weight of 11,900 lbs instead of the estimated 17,000. easier towing!

We were able to complete this custom 28′ build for $74,000. For those who like the original design and would like to save a little money we could complete this build in stock form for closer to $68,000 using either SIP’s or stick frame with Spray foam insulation. Please note that you will still have to purchase the plans from the Morrison’s at tinyhousebuild.com prior to contacting us. The prices above do reflect the cost of these plans, however. Enjoy the photos below!

Boulder Tiny House 2.0

May 27, 2015 By Greg Parham 17 Comments

A young woman living in Boulder commissioned us to build a custom “Boulder” model tiny house this spring. She really like the aesthetic of the original Boulder but wanted to change a few things. We went with an 18′ trailer and decided to construct the shell from SIP’s rather than stick frame it. We also installed an off grid water system with 50 gallons of water storage and a Shurflo pump. Eventually the house will be powered by solar panels.

Other notable differences on the interior include a hanging couch that was inspired by the 12′ East Austin build, dark hardwood floors, aspen partitions instead of barnwood, and a large built in work/dining table. The house was designed for an off grid compost toilet, but a regular flush toilet will be installed since the tiny will be parked at Wee Casa in Lyons, CO over the summer to be rented out at this location. The toilets will again be switched out when the owner moves the house to its more permanent location.

The original 16′ Boulder base model starts at $35,000 and can be customized to meet your needs. An 18′ model would start at $37k and a 20′ trailer will start at $39k. Plans for all three lengths in both stick frame and SIP construction will be available for purchase online sometime in spring 2017.

For Sale! Front Range Tiny House

May 6, 2015 By Greg Parham 16 Comments

The Front Range model is finally complete! Please click here to be redirected to the permanent page for this model. Price is $37k for those interested.

A River Runs Through It: Custom Gooseneck Tiny House

February 17, 2015 By Greg Parham 83 Comments

A gentleman that I went to college and used to race bikes with back in my days of collegiate cycling contacted me last year. He and his wife Krissy were interested in having me build a tiny house for their young family to live in so they could simplify life, pay off their debt quicker, and start saving up for their ultimate dream of buying a sailboat and sailing ’round the world. With a toddler, a dog, and a cat comprising this family, as well as a second child on the way, they knew they would need something on the larger end of the tiny house spectrum, preferably 32′ or longer.

While the 30′ bumper pull tiny house was completed back in December ’14, I wasn’t sure how I felt about doing a 32′, especially knowing that they would eventually be towing it themselves from their current location in El Paso near Ft. Bliss to some place further north where Steve could be a park ranger after his time in the reserve was up. I asked if they would be open to a gooseneck design, partially because I had yet to do one and really wanted to, but also because I knew it would be easier to tow than a bumper pull of equal length. After drumming up some quick sketches, they said “sure!” And so started another fun, innovative, creative tiny house build here in the San Juan Mountains.

I like to name all the houses I build, as does most everyone else, so I asked them what they wanted to name the house, and after a little thought Steve got back to me: “Rio Grande”. It was a fitting name in so many ways. The headwaters of the Rio Grande lie only about 70 miles away from Durango in the San Juans, just on the other side of the Continental Divide. From high up in the alpine, snow melt travels south into New Mexico, meandering by Sante Fe and Albuquerque, before paralleling I-25 down to Las Cruces and then to El Paso. Most of the drive from Durango to El Paso follows the river closely. The river is always ebbing and flowing, changing with the seasons, reacting to the demands we humans have placed upon it. Just like life.

We took this river theme and found ways to artistically incorporate it into the design. The overall shape of the tiny house with the gooseneck, the changing rooflines, and a shed roof that gently drops off towards the aft invoke a feeling of flow. We took a propane torch to the cedar siding to brand on the shape of a flowing, growing river. Making “water” with fire. It’s awesome. Steve and Krissy collected river rocks, which we inlaid into a “river” that we let into the wood countertop and then applied epoxy over. I was ale to collect some river willow and use it for the guardrail over the gooseneck bedroom. Everything really turned out great.

I will stop babbling let the pictures and video do the rest of the talking. First, here are some quick stats:

24′ deck with 8′ of floor over gooseneck for a total length of 32′. Typical 7′-5″ width 13′-6″ tall at ridge
(2) 7000# axles with brakes, GVWR 14,000#
actual dry weight 11,500#
218 sq ft main level living ( including front gooseneck), 70 sq ft of sleeping loft
36″ reclaimed front door with a fold down porch, 24″ rear door made from reclaimed wood and glass
Custom river rock inlaid counters at 41″ height for tall people!
reclaimed picture windows in the main loft
propane range and on demand water heater
full size fridge, full size bathtub, washer/dryer combo
110v shore power
on grid water system with hose hookup
Nature’s Head composting toilet
greywater drain system
Full size 30×60 bath tub
Woodstove primary heat
Mini split A/C (not shown at time of photography)
approx sale price: $73,000
time to construct: 6 weeks (from day of trailer arrival)

Custom SIP Tiny House (As Seen on TV)

January 4, 2015 By Greg Parham 29 Comments

A lovely couple from Colorado Springs commissioned me to build this tiny home for them in spring of 2014. As the time approached to get started on it late summer, a tv production company also contacted me asking if I had any unique builds going on or knew of any people building their own tiny house that they could film for a new tiny house reality series for HGTV. All I could send them was the contact for my clients to see if they were interested. Turns out, Derek and Mary were, and so we all agreed to let the house build be filmed.

After nailing down the details and getting all our ducks in a row, the crew came down to Durango from Denver on three weekends to film construction, and we filmed a fourth weekend in Colorado Springs once the house was complete and delivered. I wasn’t really able to talk much about the house, and absolutely none about the filming. We wanted to keep everything a surprise up until the air date.

The show aired back in December ’14, and so now it is ok for me to share this. People have been looking for more info about this house and haven’t been able to find it, until now!

Like all tiny houses that pass through the shop, this was a full custom design and build from scratch. Here are some of the design parameters we had to work around:

Needed to be light enough to be towed by a 1/2 ton Ford F-150
Needed to be warm, since the clients might have to move to a colder climate for work
Needed stairs that their dog Buddy could go up and down
Also needed a doggy door for Buddy.
More or less a traditional looking tiny house, but with some contemporary flair
Stainless counterops. A fridge larger than typical dorm style fridges.
Woodstove, and Dickinson propane heater if feasible
Room for a store bought couch. Also enough wall space to mount a 40″ tv

I worked with the Voight’s extensively to refine the design. I had just developed a great relationship with a SIP (structural insulated panel) company while on business trips to Boulder earlier in the winter. In fact, I had just built 3 energy huts for Hunter Douglass using SIP’s the month before, so I had learned about how the product goes together and was excited to apply it to a full time living tiny house. Luckily, Derek and Mary were open to SIP’s and were ready to become one of the few owners of a tiny house made from SIP’s.

SIP’s are a cool building product to work with, esp. for tiny houses. You absolutely have to pay attention to the minuscule details, however, or you are going to fight the system until it drives you crazy. My experience with the other three SIP structures along with the help of a very good sales rep made the assembly of these panels a breeze. I made absolutely sure my trailer was square and level before starting. We triple checked the locations of our baseplates before raising the walls. We made sure all of our edge nailers were flush with the OSB and no dried glue was sticking out. We left some wiggle room in key places. Everything went together perfectly until the last dormer roof panel. Things had somehow gotten a hair off, and a hair multiplied over nine or ten feet can add up to 1/4″ on the other end. Luckily, we were able to attach some mounting plates to key areas of the roof and pull everything into plane using winches.

I called Derek the other day to see how the SIP’s were performing now that they are in the dead of a Nebraska winter. He said “Great, it’s -4 outside and 77 on the inside.” Without doubt, the thermal performance of SIP’s is the number one reason to use them, but let me also cite a few more:

They go up very fast compared to stick framing. The added cost of the product outweighs the labor time involved with traditional methods
They are CNC cut, from the angles of the walls and roof panels, to the rough openings for the windows and doors. You are left with a very precise shell that makes it easier to install windows, siding, and interior wood.
You have a solid substrate to attach components to on the inside. No need to locate a stud, just screw or nail anywhere and you will hit meat.
they are strong as all get out. So strong, that you can actually use less steel on your trailer frame and still have a tiny house that is stronger than a stick frame house with an overbuilt trailer. The use of SIP’s on a trailer really takes rigidity to a whole new level. This was important since we were trying to keep weight down

SIP’s do have their drawbacks, too, but I will save this for a later post since they did not effect any of the design goals for this project. Moving along, here are some quick stats of the finished product:

custom fabricated 18′ trailer with (2) 5200# axles equipped with brakes and a break away system
Walls and Ceiling constructed from pre-engineered 4 5/8″ Structurally Insulated Panels. Floor insulation and subfloor is integrated into trailer frame to provide an extra 4″ of headroom
Finished dry weight came out to 6900# This was within the weight rating of Derek’s truck with a little bit to spare for personal goods
Electric and Water supply are setup for grid tie
Grey water goes to a gravel collection pit that the clients installed after delivery. Solid wastes are handled via a “humanure” composting toilet
Primary heat is provided by a woodstove, backup heat by a propane Dickinson Marine Newport
A/C not required due to temperate climate
Cost for a replicate would be in the 46k range

Due to all the filming craziness, I wasn’t able to snap too many shots of the finished product, but I did get a few:

To close this post out, I would like to share a photo that the clients sent me with the house all settled in alongside a sweet deck that they installed on top of an old trailer frame that was laying around at the Nebraska farm where they are parked. Tiny House, Big Living!

Custom 30 Foot House

December 12, 2014 By Greg Parham 111 Comments

I am pleased to show you the latest tiny house to leave our shop and find its way to some very excited owners. I hauled this beauty down to Driftwood, TX where it will live for a year or so before moving right back into the Rockies. A family of three contacted me in late Spring this year to discuss having me build their dream home. The program requirements were pretty grand: 30 feet or longer, two lofts, a bedroom, a murphy bed, full size appliances, a full size tub/shower, stairs, A/C, LOTS of storage, an electic mix of gingerbread traditional, and rustic modern. We collaborated a few months getting the design complete and had to wait til mid October to begin construction.

From a RMTH standpoint, you can throw just about every superlative on this house you like: longest, tallest, heaviest, most difficult to tow, most complicated, most expensive, most delayed, most man hours, and most fun! The project came in on budget, but our completion was delayed two weeks due to a late delivery of all the beetle kill wood.

I’m not going to write up a whole lot more about it, because I actually made a video tour! My camera and impromptu documentary skills really suck, but I think you’ll get a pretty good idea of how this house feels and functions. Also below this are some photos of the exterior, the haul, and a few interior stills.

A few quick stats for the curious:

30 foot 15,000# triple axle trailer chassis custom fabricated
about 12,000# dry
197 sq ft on the main floor and about 100 sq ft of loft space
4″ EPS foam floor and wall insulation, 6″ in the ceiling
advanced wood framing
$89,000 as shown

RMTH To Be On National Television

December 10, 2014 By Greg Parham 20 Comments

This past summer, a production company working with HGTV filmed Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses building a custom tiny house for some wonderful clients now enjoying their tiny house in Nebraska. I got word today that the pilot show will be airing Monday December 15 8pm CST. While there is definitely an entertainment factor involved, this should be a good honest look at the construction process, as well as builder-client relations. It will also be the first really good shots of the house that I wasn’t able to publish after the house was complete due to our agreement. If you have this channel or can find some place to stream it, please do so. Also, I’d appreciate it if you could help spread the word to all tiny house enthusiasts!

Funky East Austin Rental

November 30, 2014 By Greg Parham 54 Comments

Mandy Harris Urban Oak Photograpy

Here it is December and I am just now getting to this! Things have been crazy busy this fall heading into winter-so busy that I now have four employees! That’s a whole other post though. Today I wand to share with you a wonderful tiny house project that was completed back in October.

Sometime earlier this summer a lovely woman from Austin contacted me to see about having a unique tiny house built that she could use as a nightly rental for Airbnb and other similar sites. She was on a very tight budget and timeline, but was looking for some really funky and creative design ideas. After some back and forth collaboration, we agreed on a price and delivery date, as well as began with the design process .

With some careful planning and thoughtful use of reclaimed materials, along with some very much appreciated assistance from the client, we were able to meet budget constraints and were if not for some large rains that flooded the shop a few times, we would have been exactly on time but instead were a week late on delivery. Most importantly though, we were able to create a tiny house with very unique details that has caught the attention of tiny house enthusiasts the world wide. It is with great pride I present the Funky East Austin Rental tiny house.

Mandy Harris Urban Oak Photograpy

First off, this tiny house is built on a single axle 12′ trailer. The client was originally drawn to the 16′ Boulder house I built since her backyard was fenced in by faded corrugated metal and cedar pickets, but due to the small size of where she had room to park it, we had to go with a 12′ design. We were both glad we did after I showed up and we had a heck of time just getting this 12 foot trailer through the gate, turned, rotated, and placed in the final spot! I have a motorized trailer dolly that I fabricated to help in situations like this, but it broke down right before delivery, and I’m not sure how well it would have worked since the yard had very loose soil. We enlisted the help of some neighbors and in duo with a hand winch, were able to manually get the house situated!

Similar to the Boulder, the plan features a kitchen up front, bathroom in the back, living space in the middle, and alternating stair treads that lead up to the sleeping loft. The house utilizes a shed roof design.

In addition to the inspiration taken from the original Boulder, the client wanted some steampunk and industrial flair, yet with a healthy dose of rustic elements. We achieved this unique look with the following:

Mandy Harris

Pipe fixtures- using off the shelf pipe fittings, these fixtures were installed for items such as TP holder, paper towel, pot racks, closet rods, handrails, and more

Mandy Harris

Barn wood with sliding barn door- much like the Boulder, there is a barnwood wall separating the main space from the bathroom. This design, however, features a sliding door that we fabricated the hardware for in house.

Steampunk light fixtures-these were all hand picked and purchased by the client. She had them shipped to my shop in Durango. This was not only a huge load of work off my to do list, but afforded the client a very hands on approach that reflected her tastes very well. They are beautiful!

Steampunk plumbing fixtures-these were all fabricated in house using carefully selected off the shelf pipe fixtures

Mandy Harris Urban Oak Photography

Live edge maple stairs- I bought this wood in large slabs from the salvage yard next door. They took A LOT of cutting, planing, jointing, glueing, and prep work, but the end result speaks for itself. Another element of the stairs that was integral to the program requirements was to have a space under the stairs to use for suitcase storage, and or a small work area with a charging station.

Mandy Harris Urban Oak Photograpy

Hanging couch- while I wish I could take credit for this beautifully designed and crafted piece of furniture, it was the client’s idea (purchased from this Etsy shop), so that suitcases and a small sliding coffee table could fit underneath. Most of my clients have a hard time comprehending just how compact tiny houses are and how to maximize function and storage, so hats off to Denise for bringing a ton of good ideas like this to the project.

Mandy Harris Urban Oak Photography

Barnwood kitchen shelves. Simple but undeniably gorgeous. Care was taken to make sure electrical outlets were put in the right place to power the appliances the client had purchased as well as make sure they all fit neatly.

Live edge maple countertop- using the same maple slabs, we crafted a beautiful and large kitchen counter for guest to use during their stay.

Mandy Harris Urban Oak Photography

Overall, this was a very fun project to work on and I’m proud to have had a hand in it. All accessories/furnishings were pre-purchased and installed by the client. I have to say, the grand vision for this project was entirely hers, and it wouldn’t have been nearly as nice without her very close coordination and help. Thank you Denise, for trusting me with this unique and fun project. I hope many folks come to stay and partake in your hospitality!

You can view a full gallery of images at the Rocky Mountain Tiny House facebook page here!

You can view the AirBnB listing and get in touch with Denise, the owner, here.

Hope you enjoyed learning about this project. Stay tuned for more awesome tiny house projects coming up!