Excerpt From MiniMotives-Luck In Coveralls
I want to share an excerpt From Macy Miller’s blog post from her website regarding the ICC standard that is now being developed called ICC/THIA 1215 Standard –202x, Design, Construction, Inspection and Regulation of Small Residential Units and Tiny Houses for Permanent Occupancy. Macy has committed her time to every single public meeting and work group meeting as a voice for the owner builder, the heart and soul of the tiny house industry. The committee has an imbalance of manufacturers and the interests of the owner builders and small manufacturers are not represented by the voting members of the OSMTH 1215 committee.
Short Summary
The International Code Council ( ICC) is developing a tiny house standard by the OSMTH 1215 Committee and ICC is co-branding the standard with the Tiny Home Industry Association ( THIA).
The current title of the standard is called ICC/THIA 1215 – 202x Design, Construction and Regulation of Tiny Houses for Permanent Occupancy.
The original intent was to add chassis provisions to progress tiny houses on wheels as a viable solution for housing and further the progress of Appendix Q Tiny Houses.
The standard has been completely hijacked by the Small Residential Unit ( SRU ) and Tiny Houses has now become an incidental focus.
SMALL RESIDENTIAL UNIT (SRU). A dwelling that is 1200 square feet (111 m2) or less excluding lofts and is constructed as a permanent residential structure with or without a permanent chassis.
There has been a great debate in the OSMTH 1215 committee regarding the Small Residential Unit takeover of the standard which is the agenda of ICC.
They want to position the Small Residential Unit, a made up term that is not used by anyone and is not enforceable over Tiny Houses, a codified term in the IRC, making Tiny Houses a subcategory under the Small Residential Unit.
On May 16, 2025, the ANSI Standards Action Newsletter published a revised PINS notification that the International Code Council ( ICC) submitted to add the the Small Residential Unit ( SRU) to the title and the scope of the Tiny House standard.
The proposed new title is ICC/THIA 1215-202x, Design, Construction, Inspection and Regulation of Small Residential Units and Tiny Houses for Permanent Occupancy.
More Tiny House Code Updates : Author Macy Miller
”I am finding that there is a time to be loud and there is a time to move in silence. There might even be some great tightrope walk to balancing the two, if there is, I feel like I might be walking it! To date, I have been loud and proud about all involvement in the tiny house world. At first, there was no industry so when industry emerged, there was a bit of wondering, “is this a good thing or a bad thing?”
Ultimately, at the time, I decided it was good. More visibility, more legitimacy, not everyone can or should DIY so these businesses popping up provide a path for people who can benefit from living tiny but who could or would never build themselves. We have all lived in relative harmony for a bit over a decade now while popularity rose around tiny homes (and it has risen!). I think that time is over and I think we need to collectively start making efforts to keep industry in check so that they don’t take over this housing segment. That would absolutely remove the magic from the tiny house world and render much of its value moot. I can tell you I would not live tiny if I had to pay over $100,000 for it which is a conservative cost estimation by a couple builders of what it would cost to build my house. I’ll take my $12,000 cost of self building over that any day! ”
I have been moving in silence, advocating fiercely but quietly for owner builders. I think I need to start getting loud again though about preserving the important parts of this tiny house movement. Because, as I have always said, it is not actually about the house, it’s about the lifestyle it enables.”
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