Amazon Homes?

[Pen & Wrench]

My niece just asked me if I ever heard of Amazon homes. I did home lending and built homes with Habitat for Humanity in my career, retired now, still involved in Habitat for Humanity. I had never heard of an Amazon home, and lo and behold, they have several on their website! It looks like they are mostly tiny homes. I am not against tiny homes, and for my niece it might be a good fit, but for me personally, my wife and I seem to appreciate our more average sized home that we raised our family in. I'm assuming the construction meets a recognizable building code, and they are moved to the buyer's site. I tend to think that it will be more cost effective to find a local builder so transportation would be less of an issue. Has anyone had any experience with an Amazon tiny home, or tiny homes in general? Thanks.

 

[manwithtools]

No experience with the Jungle houses, but apparently Walmart is also selling tiny homes: Walmart Tiny House

 

[johnre]

Not really that new a concept:

SearsHouses.com

The National List

www.searshouses.com

 

[manwithtools]

Not really that new a concept:

SearsHouses.com

The National List

www.searshouses.com

Well, it is a bit different, the Sears houses were a kit - sort of. Really it was plans and all the materials, then you built it, including cutting all the materials to size and finishing all the utilities and wall and roof finishes. These new offerings are nearly fully assembled according to what I've read.

 

[madison069]

Yea, basically a foldout house so to speak. Been watching videos on them since I'm facinated with the storage container homes, and these are not too much different than the storage container concepts.

 

[Stuart in MN]

I saw an Amazon tiny home pop up in an ad recently, I think it was selling for $15,000. The weird thing is the only access to the bathroom was a door on the front porch.

 

[manwithtools]

I saw an Amazon tiny home pop up in an ad recently, I think it was selling for $15,000. The weird thing is the only access to the bathroom was a door on the front porch.

That is so it is easily accessible to your local Amazon delivery driver if you are not home

 

[dougf]

I wonder how cost comparison between one of these homes and a build from a shed or container. Now I'm curious

 

[zendriver]

I see no reason to believe this is not the future housing

Lower cost, less people having kids energy cause even space

my wife and I live in a small nineteen fifties two bedroom home . we get through the winter on one tag of Fuel Oil air conditioning cost are reasonable and we got a quuote of seventy five hundred dollars for a new roof .

My sister has a McMansion not sure what their energy cost are but they got a quote of $35,000 to replace the roof

 

[E-RX7]

I think roof costs are one of those regional things. Especially if it's metal one. Ours (1300sqft) just got a new metal one, with new gutters, downspouts, soffit, etc and it was 25k. To be fair, we had the roof extended over our small patio so I'm sure that was an extra 4-5k right there but all of our quotes were around 20kish.

 

[LXCam]

I was somewhat fascinated by the whole tiny house things for a while. I knew something like that would never work for us but I still gave it considerable thought.

Then the first year I moved out to Arizona I lived in an Airstream….

I got the F over that tiny house **** in a heartbeat

 

[theoldwizard1]

I always wonder about "tiny homes" and "container homes", where do they put the bathroom. A decent 3)4 bathroom takes up a lot of square feet!
!

 

[zendriver]

I always wonder about "tiny homes" and "container homes", where do they put the bathroom. A decent 3)4 bathroom takes up a lot of square feet!
!

This one shows a normal size human on the crapper.

https://www.amazon.com/40ftx20ft-Foldable-Prefabricated-Bathroom-Kitchen/dp/B0CVTSKWFX/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[john.k]

A lot of sellers of tiny homes here ...and they are not cheap ......nor do they comply with planning regulations ,being regarded as 'caravans' ..........I might also mention the house I have here is a 'kit home'...from 1921........certainly not tiny ,though.

 

[john.k]

Id also add ,containers are not suitable house building material ,certainly not the Chinese new made containers sold for domestic storage..............every house built of containers here has been removed within 10 years due to severe structural rusting .........one that cost over $1 million ,scrapped and a conventional house built on the land.........Admittedly ,the $1m container house was basically for a TV program over five hour episodes ...............If you must use containers for a house ,find ones made of 'corten' steel ,its somewhat rust resistant.

 

[PoorUB]

I see no reason to believe this is not the future housing

Lower cost, less people having kids energy cause even space

my wife and I live in a small nineteen fifties two bedroom home . we get through the winter on one tag of Fuel Oil air conditioning cost are reasonable and we got a quuote of seventy five hundred dollars for a new roof .

My sister has a McMansion not sure what their energy cost are but they got a quote of $35,000 to replace the roof

My wife and I live in a smaller, 1950's rambler. It is a good, solid house. A few years back she got the bug for something larger and I was ok with it. We kept looking around and we were upwards of $500,000 before we saw a serious improvement. At the time our house was worth around $200K. I didn't say much but reminded her that we would have a $300K mortgage, or around $1500 a month. It didn't take long and she told me that our house was just fine! There are some improvements that need to be done, like a kitchen blow up we are working on, but other than that some paint and flooring should hold us for years.

 

[dcg9381]

I'm assuming the construction meets a recognizable building code, and they are moved to the buyer's site.

Lets see, a product from China that's shipped to the USA that meets all of the various local building codes? Hmmm.

I tend to think that it will be more cost effective to find a local builder so transportation would be less of an issue. Has anyone had any experience with an Amazon tiny home, or tiny homes in general? Thanks.

There are a few YT reviews.

We just stayed in a "tiny home" this weekend, but I'm sure under the skirt it had wheels... There are quite a few "domestic" manufacturers of these, but many are really "park model" type homes. If I was shopping for one, I'd go see them in person. AirBnB around here has a bunch of them.

 

[Aaron_W]

I wonder how cost comparison between one of these homes and a build from a shed or container. Now I'm curious

I think these are basically the same as those shed kits, just with more house like styling.

I've looked at a couple. They are 2-3x the price, I'm guessing due to better quality windows, doors etc. Not sure if they include plumbing and electrical components with them.

I couldn't live in one long term but it could be a reasonably cheap vacation cabin.

 

[Jayman17]

I tend to think that it will be more cost effective to find a local builder so transportation would be less of an issue.

Free 2 day delivery for Prime members.

 

[Hiball]

Not really that new a concept:

SearsHouses.com

The National List

www.searshouses.com

My Last house was a Sears house, My neighbors house was identical in floor plan, He also claimed it was a Sears house. It wasn’t until I pulled door hardware and visited the attic and seen the codes on the rafters till it was verified. I later found that we had quite a few Sears houses in the area, I guess they where more common in towns with Rail service.

 

[bwringer]

Honestly, tiny homes could be a good solution for a lot of people.

Various laws and regulations will need to be updated. There was some reality show about tiny homes a few years ago (it's probably still going...), and the thing people kept slamming into headfirst was zoning laws. In most places, you had to live somewhere WAY outside a town for the thing to be remotely legal, and that meant huge costs if you wanted stuff like electricity. And you usually can't put them into RV parks or mobile home parks.

And then there are people who want to tow a tiny home, which is not really workable if you drive a Subaru...

Solutions are appearing. There's a tiny home factory in Newport TN with a tiny home village right outside, and others scattered around:

Home - Incredible Tiny Homes, Inc - Where your Dreams begin

-

www.incredibletinyhomes.com

 

[WisJim]

The container based homes that I have seen certainly didn't have insulation that met our area's requirements and seemed pretty cramped to me, but that would depend on just how you lay out the floor plan. The problem that I see with tiny homes is the ratio of outside area to floor space, especially when compared to any kind of apartment design. All those tiny exterior walls and roof lose a lot of heat (or gain it, depending on location and season). Bigger houses isn't a solution to much of anything but tiny homes seem impractical to me. I know a couple of people who have build them, and they ended up costing a lot more than expected and were a disappointment that they will be living in and paying for a long time.

 

[zendriver]

I always thought a container home seems like a waste of effort.

Buy a 8000# already rusting steel box, pay to move it then completely modify it to be useful as a livable space. Maybe just frame some wood together and put on a roof?

 

[sjvicker]

I have my office in a shipping container in the woods and its been great so far. I think there's definitely a use case for these and if I still lived in the city I'd definitely be considering putting in a 20' one that is half office, half bbq/grill area with open sides. Even as a cabin I'm not completely sold on the container idea because you only have about 7'3" inside width once you frame it out and insulate.

The amazon tiny homes are interesting but I'd be worried about getting RV quality parts and permitting.

It seems we are at a point where someone could swoop in with Sears style kit homes that are basic, cost effective and generic enough to work for building codes in most regions. The amazon tiny homes are a step that way but that's a lot of money to gamble on quality.

 

[dcg9381]

Honestly, tiny homes could be a good solution for a lot of people.

So this is "major drama" where I am. I'm in a high cost of living area that has outpaced the state and most of the nation (prior years). So the (Austin) city decided one of the ways to "combat" the high cost of rent/housing was to allow "ADUs" (Accessory Dwelling Units). IE, add a dwelling to your residential lot.

I'm not going to speak opinion, but this resulted in massive drama. You could take a 1950s ranch house, put in a "garage apartment" and get $1500/mo for it. Good / Bad? I have no opinion, but that's how that rolled. In all fairness, I run an ADU and have an RV tenant, but have stayed outside the city. That's as "redneck" as I'm wiling to bring it to the neighborhood, but I paid for "no restrictions" and have the space.

And then there are people who want to tow a tiny home, which is not really workable if you drive a Subaru...

Don't name-call. I have a Grandma's Subaru.

But honestly, there is a big difference in "van life" and "RV life" and "tiny home" life communities. "Park Model" (Tiny home) people generally are not mobile. Lots of people have 20k lbs RVs and chase the sun, as do van life people. Having a tow vehicle for that is a whole level of financial commitment.


We stayed in a "tiny home" this weekend, it was great, and I get it.. Easy way to throw up a residence.

 

[NUTTSGT]

For me, by myself, I could do a tiny home or RV. However, what would make more sense for me is living quarters in a shop sized building.

 

[dcg9381]

However, what would make more sense for me is living quarters in a shop sized building.

RVs (off grid) are how I've managed to finish the living quarters in shop buildings. Highly recommend if your skill set and domestic situation can handle it.

 

[reader2580]

The linked tiny home from Amazon is not really a tiny home as most of us think of them. The linked house is 800 square feet. Most houses that are called tiny homes are around 400 square feet and are on wheels. Tiny homes also tend to be fairly tall as they most often have a loft/second floor large enough for a bed.

 

[nadogail]

During my High School days and shortly after I had the idea that I.could build my own house. I thought about building a prefabricated cabin.

I was going to assemble the wall panels in my father’s garage and haul them to a site not yet determined.

I had what I considered to be great ideas but not much actual experience. Almost 65 years later I realise that I would not be happy living in a “Tiny House”.

 

[Fixr]

For me, by myself, I could do a tiny home or RV. However, what would make more sense for me is living quarters in a shop sized building.

Living quarters in a shop was one of my dreams for years. I still think it could work for me if I was single. My wife isn't real enthusiastic about the idea, but she would probably go along with it if we found a great deal on one. I've never seen such a thing around here in our price range, so it will probably never be a decision we have to make.

 

[Worsedog]

This one shows a normal size human on the crapper.

https://www.amazon.com/40ftx20ft-Foldable-Prefabricated-Bathroom-Kitchen/dp/B0CVTSKWFX/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Check out the second picture. The end wall fit pretty much *****.

 

[CraigStu]

I think I'd rather have a standard mobile home.

 

[johninct]

Not really that new a concept:

SearsHouses.com

The National List

www.searshouses.com

There is a Sears house on my road.

 

[Notgrownup]

I think I'd rather have a standard mobile home.

I can almost build a modest stick built home for the price of a single wide trailer.

 

[dcg9381]

Living quarters in a shop was one of my dreams for years. I still think it could work for me if I was single. My wife isn't real enthusiastic about the idea, but she would probably go along with it if we found a great deal on one. I've never seen such a thing around here in our price range, so it will probably never be a decision we have to make.

We lived in our shop for 1.5 years, which is entirely open wall on the inside. I did put in a 3/4 wall for a "kitchen". We did a port-a-potty for a bathroom and I setup a gray water distribution system.

Honestly, the easiest way to get shop "living quarters" is to buy an RV and park it inside the shop.. Used, there are some deal out there as the RV market has kinda taken a nose-dive.

 

[zendriver]

Check out the second picture. The end wall fit pretty much *****.

Going out on a limb here.

Since the house appears to be set up on the manufacturers lot, is it possible that the unit was set up for promo pics and is not completely leveled out?

Otherwise, one could just stuff rags into the cracks, just like the pioneers did with log cabins.

 

[RalphInCA]

I can almost build a modest stick built home for the price of a single wide trailer.

Build it for yourself? Or build it for someone else with a market rate profit/markup built in?

 

[NUTTSGT]

Hmmmm. . . . will my Prime membership cover shipping ?