‘I Learned What It Really Takes to Build a Tiny Home—and the Biggest Problems Aren’t What You’d Expect’

Tiny homes have long been viewed as an affordable alternative to traditional abodes—as well as a more flexible means of living. Having first risen to prominence as DIY off-grid cabins, the diminutive dwellings have since evolved into a much more mainstream form of accommodation, so much so that they are now even available for order on Amazon. But for those who have always dreamed of building their own property, tiny houses also represent something of a foundational learning experience, one that can help them to navigate the complicated waters of homebuilding, building up key skills that they can later funnel into a larger property. Brooke Morton is one such person. Having long harbored a desire to tackle her own home build, she made the decision to start with learning how to construct a tiny house—from the framing to the zoning and everything in between. While some enterprising tiny house owners have relied solely on how-to videos on YouTube or adopted a "learn along the way" method, Morton wanted to take in-person instruction from some of the best in the business—which she found at a tiny house workshop run by North Carolina-based company Wild Abundance. The "intensive" 10-day in-...