subject: Kansas City Handyman Are Smaller Houses The Wave Of The Future ? [print this page] Families are getting smaller and the time spent away from the house is greater than families of the past. 60% of today's American households comprise of only one or two people so why not smaller houses. Scaled down houses are much less expensive to build and maintain.
Can you imagine a new house for $15,000 or how about a $50.00 electric bill in August . or having your house painted for just $300.00. Smaller houses may be one answer to our growing energy and natural resources appetite. If smaller houses are such a good alternative why don't you see them spring up like tulips in April ? The answer in two words Building Codes, yes indeed Most new houses built require at least fifteen hundred square feet, and that's ok because you don't want a three hundred square foot house devaluating a three thousand square foot house next door.
The solution is to zone in areas to accommodate our new downsized dwellings. We need to sell our bureaucratic pace setters on the advantages of cost effective energy efficient mini dwellings. A common solution is to build these mini houses on wheels classifying them as a mobile homes. This limits your size and design dramatically and puts you at the mercy of the local trailer park, subject to lot fees and your new neighbors Clem and Turleen. One other solution is to go country. Many smaller community's zoning laws don't specify square footage, but who really has the ability to move very far away. The best thing is for all communities to recognize the importance of building small and to allow specific areas for theses little labors of love to flourish, and when we do... the world will be just a little more greener.
