92 | Tiny homes with amazing spaces Virginia Wright Amazing Spaces – tiny homes with a full-size kitchen and bathroom with loft bedrooms. BUILDING Amazing Spaces NZ When New Zealand went into lockdown in March 2020 the enforced isolation gave Mike Goodall the time to achieve something he’d been working on for some time – to complete the design work on his tiny homes which were to be prefabricated offshore and brought into New Zealand ready to be finished off and fitted out at the Morrinsville factory. His tiny home company is called Amazing Spaces and it makes a variety of sizes of tiny homes with 11metres length and anywhere from three metres to four metres width of liveable space. “They’re tiny homes on wheels but once we’ve towed them on-site we secure them into the ground with big stabilisers,” says Sales and Marketing Manager Pania Sigley. “They’re built on trailers but at 4.2metres high they’re too big to be towed easily, you need a D-Class truck to do it.” They compare favourably with many of the tiny homes which are now available which is part of what Mike Goodall was trying to achieve in the tiny home market at the time: to offer high quality tiny homes that were durable and would last a lifetime. “You’ve got a full-size kitchen with a bar-leaner, a full-size bathroom which also has a front-end loader washing machine, with a 900mm shower and a composting toilet. They’re designed so that they can be off the grid if you want to be. Then bedrooms are either one downstairs or two loft, in keeping with the tiny home sort of styling,” says Pania. It’s still tiny home living, so space is still at a premium, despite being three metres longer than many such homes. You can even have a three bedroom if you’re prepared to compromise on your kitchen, living or bathroom space. Appliances are sourced in New Zealand and clients have input into the finishes used although the kitchen cabinetry, sofas and so on are already built into their allotted spaces. These first Amazing Spaces tiny homes which measure anywhere from 32-45sqm start around $205,000 but by August they hope to be offering a smaller option they’re calling Freedom Homes which will be considerably more compact while still fully compliant with council regulations. Starting at $139,000 these are meant to be even more affordable with studio and one- or two-bedroom options. The idea behind the enterprise is to enable more people to get into the market by offering an asset that’s affordable in the more genuine sense of the word. “You get a completely finished home which, with the housing market the way it is for first home buyers, gives them an option. What’s exciting is that banks are now looking at providing loans for tiny homes and hopefully we can get Kiwisaver into it as well. It’s just a different way of living. With the current lack of space and land we provide an alternative,” says Pania. After two years many of Amazing Spaces tiny homes are scattered all over the country in places as varied as Dunedin, Wanaka, Gisborne, Wellington, and Wanganui to name just a few. “With the big ones it’s more of the highend market which is why we’re moving into the other even more affordable lines, to cater for a whole lot more people who might not have that much cash in the bank,” says Pania. “It’s a different way of living because tiny homes aren’t for everyone, some people don’t like the loft bedrooms, but the younger generation loves it: the 20 to 30 year olds who have maybe returned from overseas, who don’t want to be fixed to a long term mortgage, but can afford something like this which still leaves them with lifestyle choices,” says Pania. So, if you don’t mind making do without a lot of space and have some money in the bank, there are increasingly options out there that differ markedly from New Zealand’s traditional approach to the housing market, which often comes with a significant mortgage stretching over 25 years or more. EMAIL INFO@INSPECTHOUSE.CO.NZ CALL US 022 529 2108 Trusted Service, Qualified Builders Qualified and experienced building inspection and building reports Proud to be associated with Amazing Spaces NZ
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