Can you help ease the housing crisis (and make a decent buck) by building a tiny, self-contained home in your own backyard?
With Aussie homes ranking among some of the biggest across the globe, more and more homeowners outside of the inner city are doing their bit to boost housing supply and cash in on sky-high rental prices by building tiny granny-flat style homes on their properties.
But with blocks of land only getting smaller year-on-year and regulators tightening their grip on building codes, is it possible to squeeze in another home on your lawn in 2024?
Depending on the size of your yard and approval from the almighty local council – absolutely.
In some regional areas, you can even dodge the regulatory red tape if your property is quite large (generally over 450m2) and if the building is small and doesn’t interfere with any of your neighbouring properties.
If your ‘tiny house’ comes complete with all of the kitchen and bathroom facilities you would expect from a one-bedroom apartment, you could even get away with calling it an ancillary dwelling on your tax return. Best to check in with your council on that one though.
How much would it cost?
According to tradie marketplace website Hipages, the cost of building tiny home in your yard can start anywhere from $30 -$70K for a prefab model and shipping container style structures (like many tiny homes) to around $80K – $120k for a proper brick and mortar build.
But this price tag can naturally blow out depending on your choice of fixtures, finishes and what you want to ultimately get out of that extra living space. Before the first shovel hits the dirt, think about what you want the space to do. Is it an extra room for your 25-year-old daughter while she attempts to ‘make it big’ as a TikTok personality? Or will it be rented out during the holidays on Airbnb for a bit of extra cash?
Determining whether or not this is a permanent residence and how luxurious the materials are will go a long way to deciding how expensive you want the build to be.
You could also start racking up a hefty bill if you decide to go with expensive ground works like excavating and plumbing, so keep in mind what is fundamental to the project.
For the cheapest option, you can technically ‘park’ a portable tiny home in your own backyard and call it a caravan, but the council doesn’t like it when someone lives there full time or for more than 60 days out of the year.
Different types of backyard tiny homes
Granny flat
The traditional granny flat is likely what first comes to mind when you think about a tiny home. Basically a free-standing one-bedroom apartment, these structures are labelled as ‘ancillary dwellings’ to your home by regulators and have their size restricted by council approval, building permits and, of course, the space you have available.
Often limited to a 60-square-metre floor plan and a height of around 5 metres, these flats range from bland fibro shacks and stock standard prefab kits to trendy backyard havens, depending on how much you want to spend.
A 15x40ft (or less) studio
Got a 12-year-old breaking in their drum kit or a partner who loves to watch the footy at top volume on weekends? You might be better off with a backyard studio that doubles as both a tiny home and a home away from home.
These backyard studio dimensions generally start from 3 x 3.5m and are only limited by council and building permits and of course your budget.
Like granny flats, studios can be fully customised and built from scratch, or purchased in prefabricated kits or as modular designs, making it easier than ever to transform your property into a duplex.
Park up a tiny house
Technically, tiny homes are considered caravans when it comes to registration. By traditional definition, a tiny house should fit on a trailer and be on wheels.
For this reason, they are subject to regulations around road use and must not exceed 2.5m in width. However, tiny houses that are not used on-road could be considered ancillary dwellings (like granny flats) and are not subject to these restrictions.
Carefully planned designs and clever storage solutions make tiny houses seem bigger than they are, and can even accommodate a couple quite comfortably. Plus, they’re a popular (and affordable) accommodation choice for travellers.
