It wouldn't take very long but I have some special features in my Tiny House design nobody else has. Here are three examples:
I am using a spiral staircase of 3 sq ft. Marvelous design! http://www.eestairs.com/en/36_1m2_by_eestairs_%28efficient_s...
Then I am creating a space illusion using a special one way mirror.
I can place two one way mirrors with a terrarium (a small indoor garden) between them. This way two different rooms (bathroom and stairs) can see the terrarium reflected but neither space can see the other. .
Normal one way mirrors require one side to be light and the other dark. With this one way mirror I can have light on both sides. http://www.okaluxna.com/products/viewblock/
I also hope to use natural daylighting with a solar collector and fibre optic cable. This will require some experiments so I am going to do those first.
I'll put all this up online for HN when things get interesting. In particular I'm looking for a cheap way transmit daylight (I have fibre cable but the normal kind is very thin).
> I found working all weekend on the house re-charged me for the job during the week.
I hope that happens to me! ;-)
> A tiny house should not cost hundreds of thousands - wood is just not that pricey at Home Depot. You should start pricing it out and give it a shot.
Looks to be 50k - 75k so far. You can build Tiny Houses really cheaply, even for 5k, but I'm optimizing for longevity (like a custom built stainless steel trailer foundation) and have unusual design features so it will be at the higher end.
A tiny house should not cost hundreds of thousands - wood is just not that pricey at Home Depot. You should start pricing it out and give it a shot. It is a tremendous feeling of accomplishment to live in a house you built yourself.