A local supplier of small-scale homes in Newfoundland and Labrador says he’s not surprised to see the proponents of a tiny home in Pouch Cove facing hiccups.
Scott Mansfield, owner and vice-president of Homeworx, says the desire for tiny homes is relatively new, which means municipalities haven’t adjusted their regulations.
“The problem with municipalities is that they don’t know what they’re dealing with. Their development regulations are old, they don’t have a classification for the type of home that it is,” said Mansfield, whose company is a St. John’s-based supplier of small-scale homes.
“The lack of familiarity that regulatory bodies have about the homes, whether they be tiny homes, manufactured homes, modular homes, is real. They just don’t know what they’re dealing with.”
Homeworx is a supplier of houses built by Kent Homes, a New Brunswick-based home-building company, affiliated with J.D. Irving Ltd.
The tiny homes haven’t been terribly popular for Homeworx, so far, but Mansfield says interest is growing.
Despite Jess Puddister and Tim Ward running into some problems with their application, Mansfield says Pouch Cove is an ideal location for an entire subdivision of tiny homes, similar to a 13-lot development recently approved in Stephenville on the west coast.
The same reasons Puddister and Ward are interested – affordable land prices – means Mansfield has plenty of reason to pay attention to what happens with the couple’s proposal.
Part of the issue for both the Pouch Cove application and what Mansfield is trying to sell is perception both from the public and with municipalities that smaller homes are shoddier or could reduce the value of neighbouring homes.
“The modern manufactured home could not be farther away from trailer and mobile homes of 20 and 30 years ago. There’s no comparison at all,” said Mansfield.
“But if you look at the regulations, this is where they want to put you. They don’t have anything else to classify you as.”
He says home evaluators look at homes of similar size, so even if a 5,000-square-foot home was next door to a 360-square-foot home like what’s proposed in Pouch Cove, the larger home’s value wouldn’t be affected in a way people seem to fear.
Most of the homes built by Homeworx are around 1,000 square feet — almost three times the size of what’s proposed in Pouch Cove.
Right now, younger people and the recently retired are most interested in a smaller home, largely attracted by the lower upfront and maintenance costs. To date, Mansfield says, his company has built about 100 homes.
In one example, a recently retired woman sold her home in central Newfoundland and requested a less than 1,000-square-foot home on the Avalon. Homeworx supplied the home, the land and everything else for $175,000.
“I think it’s just a question of municipalities seeing what’s going on there, what the quality of these homes are,” he said.
“We’re able to provide people who just can’t afford to get into the housing market an opportunity to do just that.”
Twitter: DavidMaherNL
