Tiny homes offer big possibilities for Ottawa-area property owners
There are a lot of misconceptions about tiny houses, but the founders of Humble Creek Homes, an Ottawa-based builder that specializes in their construction, say that once customers learn more about the possibilities, they realize their uses are only limited by their imaginations.
Founded in March 2019 by business partners Simon Feizo-Gas, who has years of experience in the Ottawa construction industry, and Patrick Lamothe, an entrepreneur known for his business-development acumen, Humble Creek Homes is rapidly carving out a niche in this growing real estate sector.
“We thought we should really concentrate not just on building the homes, but really educating our client base, and really pushing the values and the versatility of the units. Instead of building and selling, we wanted to educate first and show the true benefits of living in a smaller dwelling.”
While many people think of tiny homes as a millennial hipster trend, Simon and Patrick have found that the segment of the population most interested in them is people 55 or older who already own a home and are looking to add a secondary building to their property.
Some are doing it to create an income property, either for long-term or short-term rentals, while others want a home for older relatives or adult children, a home office or for a space to host a small business. Patrick added that people are also interested in setting them up as cottages or hunting and fishing lodges. In those cases, they can build houses that are completely off the grid and even make them transportable by trailer.
Humble Creek’s tiny houses are built using traditional wood-framing construction methods or with shipping containers, which make them even more affordable, explained Simon. Several standard models are listed on their website, but he said they can customize a construction to their customers’ needs and encourage them to get creative.
In 2016, Ottawa amended its zoning bylaws to allow for coach houses in an effort to encourage densification as a means to curb urban sprawl. The law stipulates specific requirements such as the house can be no larger than 40 per cent of the footprint of a property’s primary building and not take up more than 40 per cent of the backyard in which it is built, but property owners otherwise have a lot of leeway in what they can build.
A common misconception, said Simon, is that tiny houses are cheap and easy enough to build that you can make one on your own. The price overall may be lower than a regular home simply because it is smaller, but he said their homes have the same high quality of finishing that you would get in a new construction so the price per square foot is comparable. He also noted that Humble Creek Homes adheres to provincial and municipal building codes with regards to insulation, electricity and plumbing, something that is not always within the abilities of the average do-it-yourselfer.
For more information, visit www.yourhumblespace.ca/
We wanted to educate first and show the true benefits of living in a smaller dwelling.
THIS STORY WAS CREATED BY CONTENT WORKS, POSTMEDIA’S COMMERCIAL CONTENT DIVISION, ON BEHALF OF HUMBLE CREEK HOMES.