Put A Stake In OSMTH 1215 Time To Strike Tiny House Rebels

For those of you that have not been “plugged in” to the inner workings of the code and standards setting processes in the Housing Marketplace, (like HUD, Modular, Pre-Fab, or Tiny House verticals) you may not realize that there are some factions in the industry who have “serious” market positioning objectives to gain dominance of key areas of the Tiny House marketplace, (like trying to create a “de facto” definition of what a small residential house might be in terms of size).  They call it an “SRU” or Small Residential Unit).  Not only will this ill-advised term confuse the marketplace, it’s not even required in the marketplace as Tiny Homes have already captured the under 400 Sq Ft baseline and there is no more need for another housing designation above this and up to 1,200 sq ft as they have been proposing.   You can already build modular homes, and stick-built homes under existing  building codes and standards. 

It’s an idea searching for a solution.  In addition to trying to create a new housing type out of thin air… the ICC and THIA “Federation” are also trying to standardize on how a Tiny Home gets certified and inspected by a small number of “insider” certification and inspection firms with direct ties to their own in-house certification and inspection companies, clearly with an eye on dominating the marketplace.  Seems like just another attempt to control and influence the direction of an emerging market commercially before it ever gets out of the starting blocks.  We all know what happens next… The “Rebel Alliance” rises up to fight the “Empire” back.   Welcome to the Tiny House Standards  Wars!

So that’s why I am a big supporter of, and willing to contribute my professional experience and history in the emerging Tiny House marketplace (since 2015) to this CHANGE.ORG Petition that Janet Thome has recently posted: