Have you ever wished you could take all the amenities and comforts of home on the road with you?
A Lethbridge man is doing just that – nixing the car from his road-trip and building himself a tiny home instead.
Michael Bartz is currently in the process of building himself a 200 sq. ft. house on wheels to take on a trip across Canada.
An article by Jasmine Ford and Lilia Gomez-Lanier from the University of Georgia entitled “Are Tiny Homes Here to Stay?”, describes the main tenets of the movement as follows:
“The movement’s development has also been influenced by the 20th century minimalist credo that “less is more.” The main assumption of the tiny house movement is that homeowners can reduce the environmental impact and increase affordability by reducing their spatial footprint. Also, proponents of the movement have been optimistic about the potential for tiny houses to address a number of housing issues.”
Growing up in a 600 sq. ft. home his father renovated, Bartz’s minimalist lifestyle has followed him throughout his life.
“We never had nice things, but we always had enough. Our family prioritized time together over material goods,” he said of his upbringing.
Bartz said the idea of a mobile tiny house is something that he had been developing for a long time before he began the project.
“I was at a turning point in my life and I thought, ‘well what do I want to do next?’ I definitely wanted to travel more and a dream I always had was to build my own house. The idea just kept percolating and I kept thinking, ‘yeah, a tiny house on wheels.’ I can’t build a huge mansion by myself — but [the tiny house] is something that I can still travel with. If I just travelled, I would come back. Then what would I have? The experiences would be great, but this is the best of both worlds.”
Bartz said he has spent around $30,000 on the venture so far and he’s not done yet.
“A lot of people online, especially if you look at American sites, say ‘you can build a tiny home for $25,000’ or ‘I built a tiny house for $1,500.’ I’m designing this for Canadian winters. If you’re in Florida, you could have a shed with no insulation and that’d be fine. I’m using a lot of recreational vehicle parts and those can be quite expensive. I’m actually doing this entirely debt free and just saving as I go along. It just takes a little bit longer this way.”
Bartz said he is also planning to buy a one-ton diesel truck to tow the 13,000-pound house with and he’s “just not thinking about the gas mileage yet.”
The previously mentioned article, by Ford and Gomez-Lanier, also found there may be some troubles with Bartz’s plan when it comes to finding a place to stay.
“The advantages of a mobile tiny house could be offset by the difficulties imposed on them by zoning ordinances, which regulate where tiny homes can legally be parked.”
Nonetheless, Bartz is hoping to hit the Trans-Canada Highway with his new home by next summer.
