We are moving…

We’ve been watching the industry for some months now and have taken the decision to consolidate our operations into our Nelson branch. This is to curb overheads and remain a viable business. Tiny House businesses are not the only ones that have been doing it tough in 2024. Reasons are varied but there is uncertainty about council rules to start off with. This is actually a good thing in our view because it means that Council are dealing with it. Sure, you can’t overlook those rules any longer if you were trying to avoid paying rates, development contributions and other fees that are payable to improve the infrastructure. However, many councils agree that easier solutions have to be found (same as the central government, see our previous post). This means that the current situation should only be a glitch and tiny house dwellers should be counting on more certainty before too long.

Other reasons for tiny houses not being snapped up like hot cakes right now are the still increasing prices and job uncertainty, as well as a good supply of second hand tiny homes on the market. While the quality can’t be guaranteed like it can with one of our houses, it means that consumers have a good number to choose from. This trend shows that tiny houses are coming of age. Like normal houses, there is a cycle of buying and selling, and one generation of tiny house dwellers is now ready to move on.

What does this mean for our Southern South Island customers? Well, you may be enticed to visit sunny Nelson to have a chat with us and view the factory. If you are serious about purchasing a tiny home, we will subsidise the freight (and may even shout you a flight to see us here before committing).

Once things are looking up - economists say that this could take another year - we are not ruling out opening up Wanaka again. Until then - see you in Nelson!