Introduction to designing and building a tiny home

Tiny houses are low carbon, low impact, compact timber cabins on wheels. The popularity of the tiny house movement has grown as a response to changes in our climate, ecosystem and society. The environmental and material cost of tiny house dwelling can make off grid living more obtainable.

Building tiny houses can create an accessible avenue towards living off the land, that can have a positive impact on our direct environment and your well-being.

Whether you’re considering building for extra space or accommodation, to fit a smaller budget or to live more sustainably tiny houses are a practical and achievable solution. This course is for anyone interested in building a tiny house; anyone wishing to learn the fundamental requirements of what is needed to build a tiny house, from concept to design and build.

This course is an introduction to planning, designing and building a tiny home. Depending on interest and demand we will look at planning a longer course which will apply the knowledge in practically building a tiny home.

What will I do and learn?

• Why choose a tiny house?
• Design aspects and budget
• Material choices & sourcing
• Chassis choices & sourcing
• Construction - overview of techniques, space required and timings
• Services – water, power, heat and waste systems
• Living - the practicalities

Key Information

Date - Sunday August 27th 

Time - 11am - 4pm

Location - Vowchurch Herefordshire. HR2 0RA

What you need - You should wear suitable, weather-dependent clothing. Please bring a notebook, water bottle and a packed lunch for a picnic.

Age limit - You must be 16 years old or above to take part in this course for safety reasons. Under 18s should be accompanied by an adult.

Who will I learn from?

Simon Whitfield is a gardener, chef, tiny house builder with 20+ years practical experience of homesteading and living from the land. His work focuses on sharing the creative practice of off-grid living through building homesteads and natural food systems. He shares first hand experience of designing, building and living in tiny homes. Simon has designed and built domestic tiny houses, cabins, house trucks. He also has designed and installed off grid living systems for low impact living. The tiny houses he has built are stand alone off grid homes, studios and accommodation.

How much does it cost?

We would like our short courses to be as accessible as possible cost-wise, whilst ensuring we are still able to cover material and teaching costs. We, therefore, ask you to pay what you can towards this event based on our tiered system. We have tickets available at £50 (reduced rate), £75 (actual cost), and £100 (pay it forward).

Consider contributing MORE on the scale if you:

• have the ability to comfortably meet all of your basic needs
• have investments, retirement accounts, or inherited money
• travel recreationally
• own the home you live in
• have a relatively high degree of earning power due to level of education (or gender and racial privilege, class background, etc.)

Consider contributing LESS on the scale if you:

• have difficulty covering basic expenses
• are supporting children or have other dependents
• are an elder with limited financial support
• have unstable housing and/or limited access to reliable transportation

If you select an amount at the higher end of the scale, you will make possible future offerings and support our volunteers who are generously contributing time. Thank you!

Tickets are non-refundable. Depending on the uptake of the course we hold the right to cancel it, in which case you will be refunded.

Please note that spaces on this course are limited. We operate on a first-come, first-serve basis.

We have one fully-funded spot on this course available to a successful bursary applicant. If you are unable to pay for the course and would like to be considered for a free place, then please complete this form. You will be contacted by a member of our team 2-4 weeks prior to the course starting.

Accessibility

This course is rated as 2 (some access) on our scale of accessibility. Read more about our accessibility policy here.

Please see our booking terms & conditions upon checkout for more information.

We will follow the most recent COVID measures and protocols in order to keep everyone safe and healthy for the duration of the course.