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In this book, we’re going to build a tiny house on wheels together. It’s a house that is a popular build that I make and sell with my company, Tiny Industrial. It’s a little tiny house, not a big one, that’s ultimately going to be your own custom, recreational, traveling tiny house. You don’t have to follow the instructions all the way through to the end and build the exact type of tiny house that I show you here; you can branch off instead to build something that better suits your wants and needs. The step-by-step portion of this book (Part II) is divided into the shell and the customization. First you establish the shell: the four walls, the roof, the cutout for the door, the windows, and an empty interior that can become anything you want it to be. Then you make what you will of that interior. So, although I will show you how to take your blank slate and turn it into a livable tiny home on wheels, you don’t need to take it to that level. Perhaps you just need some guest space for your backyard. Maybe you want to build a space for your kids to hang out in. I’ve been considering making one of these for my teenage daughter so she can have a little bit of extra independence by just living in her own space and taking care of it, albeit in the relative safety and security of the backyard. The choice is yours. It could be a backyard office, a recording studio, a man cave, a she-shed, a place that you go to meditate. The possibilities are endless, and I will elaborate on some of the more creative uses throughout the book, but especially starting on here.

You’re going to build a house with this book. It will be a big, messy, impressive project. But it will be worth it.

This is my second book on tiny houses. The first book, The Joy of Tiny House Living, is about contemplating your tiny house dreams and all that entails. It is less about doing and more about learning, imagining, and planning. It outlines all the considerations that go into either purchasing or building your own tiny home—and I mean all of them, from lifestyle to toilets to insulation—but it is not a hands-on book. This book is designed to dive more into the hands-on aspect and actually walk you through building your own (small) tiny house. Think of it as a starter tiny home that you can create by using this book.

After building this basic and structurally sound shell, you will be able to customize your tiny house however you like.

What This Book Does	… and What This Book Does Not Do
Teaches you the general step-by-step process of building a basic tiny house	Gives an exact architectural plan for you to follow inch by inch and cut by cut
Tells you which woodworking tools you’ll need and why	Teaches you how to use all the woodworking tools you’ll need
Gives you ideas for what to do and how to furnish your tiny house	Tells you how you must furnish your tiny house
Touches upon the many considerations you need to examine when deciding what to build	Details every single consideration you need to think about—that’s what my first book, The Joy of Tiny House Living, is for!

The detailed, nitty-gritty instructions and measurements that are in this book are unique to the particular type of trailer that I used. Not all the measurements, cuts, and builds that I do will be directly transferable to your project, because you may wind up with a differently sized or shaped trailer. For this reason, this is not going to be a book that says “cut this piece of wood to exactly 5 feet and 6 inches in length.” Instead, it’s going to give you transferable information that will allow you to independently adapt your own build as needed. If you do happen to get a very similar trailer to the one that I use for the build in this book, 95 percent of everything that I show you will be directly transferable to what you’re doing.

This headboard isn’t an essential part of the build—it’s a customization option—but by teaching you how I did it, I hope to give you the skills you need to figure out your own custom touches.

If you don’t know what these tools are and how to use them, you’ll need to learn before you build a tiny house. See here.

The process of creating actual human shelter, something with four walls and a roof that will protect you from the elements, is both thrilling and scary if you’ve never done it before. If you’re going to embark on this journey, it is helpful if you already have some familiarity with basic building tools, something a little more advanced than just a hammer and a screwdriver. Your experience could be doing repairs to the deck on the back of your house. It could be putting together a bunk bed for your kids. Whatever the case is, some history with some form of construction is helpful—even having assembled numerous pieces of IKEA® furniture can qualify in this regard. I’m not going to go so far as to say it’s a necessity for this book, though. Many people who built their own tiny homes did so while learning to use their tools for the very first time, and this could be true for you. But it adds a lot of time and stress and opens you up for mistakes. The focus of this book is not to teach you basic tool use, so make your own decisions about how to learn what you need to know before you get started.

If you’re feeling a little nervous about embarking on such a big project, look for help. This could be in the form of family members who have some construction or DIY background. It could be by establishing contacts with folks online who are interested in supporting the tiny house community. The whole do-it-yourself community tends to be very supportive, and they embrace people who take that leap of faith and create things that they would never have thought they were capable of. I’m always happy to hear from people who are either looking to build their shelter or need some form of advice that I might have for them. I’m excited to impart that knowledge to people when and if I can, and this book is one way for me to do that.

Last but not least, I want to talk about self-confidence. Bringing a certain level of confidence to the project is essential. Without it, you’re only going to doubt yourself and think that you can’t do it. Let me take this opportunity to say, yes, you most likely can do this build. Yes, there are some physical capabilities you’ll need in order to build any substantial structure. For instance, you will need to be able to lift 20 pounds (9kg) or more. However, unless there’s some form of physical limitation that you may need assistance with, most people will be able to build something like this on their own. You have to start with the self-confidence of wanting to do it, and then the self-confidence boost that you will get from actually doing it is quite rewarding and not to be underestimated.

I hope that this gives you a clear picture of what I’m bringing to this book and what I’m asking you to bring to your build. Now, let’s dive in and talk about tiny houses in general, their history, and why all of this is so relevant these days.

Someone—you—is going to have to lift and place roofing beams and aluminum roofing sheets. Remember, though, that you can always ask for help when you need it.

VIDEO LEARNING

I have put together a ton of video instruction to accompany Part II of this book. If, as you are following along, any of my descriptions or ways of doing things described in this book are not entirely clear, you can go to the video that corresponds with the specific part of the build for additional guidance and visuals. This will help you along and get you to the next step. Check out the videos at www.youtube.com/c/tinyindustrial.