Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of commonly asked questions. If you have a question that you haven't found the answer to, please get in touch by email.
Yes.
Most insurance companies provide coverage for tiny homes. This is left up to the client.
No.
Building permits are not required for tiny homes.
Salt Spring Island Tiny Homes are built using the BC building code — with a few exceptions as the function of the Building Code is to oversee the construction of conventional homes. These exceptions include tightly fitted stairs and room sizes.
Company owner and lead carpenter, Colin Crystal, is Red Seal certified to build and design homes using the building code across Canada. Salt Spring Island Tiny Homes assures our clients that our homes are built to high-quality Canadian standards.
A 1-ton truck or bigger is recommended depending on the size of the tiny house. We deliver!
Yes we do.
It's great to see our tiny homes in their new locations.
Delivery costs are depend on a few factors including distance, time and equipment used for the trip.
Yes! We work closely with the client to design a perfect house that meets all their needs.
Salt Spring Island Tiny Homes are built in many different shapes and sizes.
In order to avoid a transportation permit, the width can be up to 8.5 feet, while the height can be up to 13.5 feet from the ground. The length can vary. If they are larger than 8.5 feet wide, they require a $15 transportation permit in Canada.
The weight of Salt Spring Island Tiny Homes ranges between 5000 and 14000 lbs.
Depending on the specifications of the project, once the design has been completed, a home can take (on average) between 2 and 3 months.
We design the building envelope of our homes to the building code requirements of the municipality or region where the owner is living.
We can supply trailers.
Some clients choose to source the trailer and have it delivered to our building site. If the client chooses to source the trailer it must meet the weight requirements for the home being built on it.
Yes we do.
Building your own tiny home is very satisfying and is a big achievement! Without years of experience, this can be a huge undertaking. We are here to offer our years of experience to help you along the way. We offer consulting: from a distance, over the phone, or by email. Local on-site visits are also available.
We accept cheque, money order, bank draft, cash and direct bank transfer. We also accept e-transfer for the initial deposit.
Salt Spring Island Tiny Homes builds tiny buildings which are amazing for:
Studio ~ Yoga + Music + Art ~ Guest Suite ~ Sauna ~ Office ~ Man Cave/She Shed ~ Shop ~ Tiny Boutique ~ Food Cart/Commercial Kitchen ~ Kids Playhouse ~ Teen Bedroom
We also build custom outbuildings and exterior add-ons to go with your Tiny Home, such as bathhouses, outdoor showers, decks and awnings.
Yes we can build partially completed homes, for you to finish.
The most common request for this is called a shell where the exterior is fully completed and the interior is left unfinished. This would happen if the client wanted to complete the finishing, gas, electrical and plumbing themselves.
Yes we can build tiny homes on foundations rather than on trailers.
We build them at our building site and then have them delivered and secured to the foundation site. We use a crane truck for this as it is more cost effective to do the construction at our building site.
Many families own and live in tiny homes. Salt Spring Island Tiny Homes will work closely with your family to design the size and layout of the living space, including the location of the beds, furniture, and appliances to ensure that all of your needs are met. We build happy and functional places for families to grow!
Basic Electric
Our tiny homes have their own electrical panel that acts as the rub panel to the main panel of a nearby house. The average tiny home can be wired up to 150 feet away from the power main which offers plenty of space and privacy. Having a panel in your tiny house gives you the independance of easily moving and hooking into a panel in another location, as well as being able to switch to solar/offgrid.
Solar electrical
Our tiny homes can be built to be completely off grid by using solar panels. Solar panels can also be added at a later date without any rewiring.
The most common way of heating water is propane on-demand, as it greatly reduces the electrical draw of a tiny home.
Another much less common request is electric on-demand heating.
Typically water enters our tiny homes through a potable water hose or a public water line. An off-grid option for water is the use of rooftop collection and water catchment storage tanks. From there, the water is usually heated by a hot water on-demand unit. When used, hot water on-demand functions as it would in any home.
Greywater and blackwater leaving the building can be routed together or separately depending on the sewage facility at the clients' site. Composting toilets are a quite popular option to eliminate black water.
Yes we do offer a range of add-ons.
Please contact us to discuss this in further detail.
We would be happy to build you the off-grid tiny home of your dreams. Please contact us to discuss the different options available. The average cost of an off-grid tiny house is between $2000 - $6000 more than a conventionally plumbed and wired tiny house.
• You will have more control over the design of the house
• The design and interior of a tiny home is one of a home and not of a travel trailer.
• You can have a full-size, custom kitchen, a beautiful bathroom, a dreamy sleeping loft and custom details that you can update or renovate as your taste and lifestyle changes.
• Our tiny homes are built to live long lives: just as traditional homes are. RVs are made with materials that have fast deterioration rate and therefore have short life spans. They alse greatly lack in quality and are missing many fundamentals of a home such as sufficient insulation, warmth, character and the ability to easily make changes to improve or update your space.
• RVs depreciate in value quite significantly and rapidly. A tiny home, when well maintained, will be better at holding its value, making it an asset and an investment.
Yes, Salt Spring Island Tiny Homes are fully winterized!
Our tiny homes are built to the same building code requirements as traditional homes. We design the R-value (insulation) and building envelope in accordance with the requirements of the region where the tiny home will be delivered.
Once you decide you are ready to build with Salt Spring Island Tiny Homes, we will begin consultations over the phone or by email about your tiny house design, timeline and cost. For this service there is a $200 fee. When a deposit is given and your spot is secured, this fee will be refunded.
Once we have created and confirmed a contract together, a $2500 deposit is due to secure your space in our schedule.
The difference of the first 33%is due upon starting the project.
When the exterior is completed the 2nd 33% is due.
The final 33% is due upon delivery.
During the process, we work very closely with you to ensure the tiny home we are building for you suits your tastes and preferences and meets your needs from start to finish (materials, appliances, size and shape, styles and shapes of rooms, finishes, colours, etc). Some of our clients choose to design every aspect of their tiny home, while others have a general idea of what they want and ask us to create most or all of the design. Whatever your involvement preferences are, we will make sure every aspect of the design is approved by you to ensure that you get the home that is perfect for you.
Yes we do sell to US buyers.
For our American clients we build on trailers that are registered in the United States.
There are many elements that play into the cost of a Salt Spring Island Tiny Home.
Design, materials and level of design intricacy are the main factors that impact cost. Our goal is to ensure that you have a tiny home that can best fulfill all your wants and needs while staying within your desired budget.
The majority of the cost of the home comes from the kitchen, bathrooms, services, infrastructure and of course the fine finishing details. A large conventional home has large amounts of unused space, while all areas of the tiny home is very much utilized and intentional. While there are no large unused spaces in a tiny home, it still has everything a large conventional home has — just in a much smaller space. That is why the cost per square foot can be slightly more in a tiny home than a conventional home. The cost of living in and maintaining a tiny home, however, is much less, so you can use your time and money to do the things you enjoy in life.
We do not currently offer financing.
We recommend discussing a line of credit or a personal loan with your banker.
You don't ordinarily need a tow-truck to move a Salt Spring Island Tiny Home. You can use a full-sized pickup truck on the highway and on B.C. Ferries without a permit.