Tiny houses a big drawcard at Field Days
The traditional sight of men admiring sheds at Central Districts Field Days is swiftly being replaced by couples sizing up tiny homes and portable cabins, as farmers and lifestyle block owners put spare land to use.
Be it spacious two-bedroom homes, one-bedroom “plug and play” trailers, or compact offices, display models are proving popular at the agriculture expo in Feilding, where more than 500 exhibitors are vying for the public’s attention.
Dannevirke-based Turton Farm Supplies began building portable cabins five years ago and has found increasing interest in their use as rural Airbnb rentals, farmhand accommodation or beach houses.
Building consultant Caitlyn Te Huki said the cabins were also an affordable shortterm option for people who were planning to build a main house and wanted to remain on the property during construction to avoid the strained rental market.
Turton Farm Supplies could design and build the units to suit clients. The business was displaying models that ranged from a 12-metre by 3.6m two-bedroom cottage down to a 4.8m by 2.4m office.
Branch manager Shaun Turton said the offices were particularly popular as more people were working from home but didn’t necessarily have a dedicated space inside.
The business was building eight to 10 of the smaller cabins, and three to four larger ones, each year.
Taylor Dewis has been designing portable homes from scratch for the past five years under the banner Tiny By Taylor, in a sector he said was “growing and growing”.
Dewis, who is based in Wairarapa and has 14 years in the building trade, said the main appeal was the versatility.
A unit could provide housing for a seasonal worker or visiting family, and then be a holiday rental when vacated. “What we’re seeing a lot at the moment is people have got spare land and are thinking, ‘We might as well make some money off it’.”
A distinct feature of his tiny homes was the option to leave them on a trailer and effectively use them as a caravan that could be towed to the beach.
There was capability for solar and water tanks to take life off-grid, as well as “plug and play” capability – where a garden hose could be plugged in to provide water, and power would come from a caravan plug.
Dewis could design cabins up to 5m by 3m for a trailer and had also made a two-storey model for fulltime living.
Inquiries over the first two days of Field Days had been constant, he said. “For just the two of us, we didn’t need any more people through.”
Lumberland, a Palmerston North building products supplier, pivoted to tiny homes many years ago as a made-to-order addition to its shed and fencing trade.
Managing director Simon Cavanagh said the business built a “little speccy one” for Field Days that had attracted plenty of interest.
Many of Lumberland’s tiny homes were for clients who were building a new house, he said. “Instead of living off-site or renting, they build a cabin and live in it for six to 12 months over the time they’ve built the house.”
It was then common for units to be on-sold, sometimes at a higher price than what they were bought for.
Bryce Glover, a sales manager for nationwide player House Me, said it was impossible to peg down the current market for tiny homes given they were so versatile.
“We do get a lot of the older age bracket – the retirees who are buying them and putting them on family lifestyle properties and farms, just to be closer to their families.
“There’s a lot of staff accommodation in the rural sector; farmers are buying them for their workers. And we’re starting to see a lot of investor opportunity pop up, people buying them for rentals and Airbnbs.”
House Me had been in the tiny home game for 17 years, building and delivering about 45 units a month. Its larger 12.5m by 3.6m two-bedroom unit accounted for about 45% of orders.
Glover said most customers were setting up permanent homes, and it was not common for them to relocate the units.
Yesterday, forecast rain was largely held at bay, though cooler conditions were most likely the cause of a dent in attendance at Field Days and meant Thursday’s sunglasses and popped collars gave way to puffer jackets and Swanndris.
The sun was expected to return for the final day of festivities today, when townies typically join the throng, and the Young Farmer of the Year and excavator operator contests culminate.