Tumbleweed Tiny House Company
FounderJay Shafer
Headquarters
Sonoma, California
,
United States
Websitetumbleweedhouses.com

Tumbleweed Tiny House Company is a company in Sonoma, California that designs and builds small houses between 65 and 887 square feet (6 and 80 m2), Many are timber-framed homes permanently attached to trailers for mobility. The houses on wheels are available to be purchased ready made and shipped to consumers, and are individually manufactured and customized for their buyers. The company also offers construction plans for their mobile houses and larger designs, as well as workshops geared toward teaching people how to build their own cottage or tiny house on wheels.

Tumbleweed is part of the small house movement.

History

Tumbleweed was founded in 1999 by Jay Shafer, and originally focused on sheds and chicken coops.[1][2] In 2002, Shafer, co-founded the Small House Society[3] in Iowa City, Iowa. In 2003, he was commissioned by Gregory Paul Johnson,[4] Small House Society co-founder,[5] to build The Mobile Hermitage,[4] which became one of Tumbleweed's first commercially sold homes. That same year, the company began selling how-to books and hosting workshops about building tiny homes.[6]

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a few were sold to Gulf Coast residents who preferred them to government-supplied temporary housing.[7]

In 2007, Steve Weissman bought the company, after volunteering with them the year prior.[1]

In 2008 the company reported selling only one house per year, though this had increased five-fold in 2009.[8] As of 2011, the company reported building "only a few houses" annually. The majority of the houses built to its designs are constructed by customers using Tumbleweed's plans.[9] In 2012, Shafer left the company and founded Four Lights Tiny House Company.[10]

In 2012, the company's headquarters were moved to Sonoma, California, although the houses were manufactured in Colorado.[1][2] In 2013, the company began to lean more into selling pre-manufactured homes.[6] In 2015, they began to advertise tiny homes as a vacation experience.[6]

Between 2011 and 2016, the company grew 50% each year, and its staff leapt from three people to 80 people.[1][2] In 2016, it was the country's top tiny house manufacturer, building about 125 tiny homes each year.[1][11][12]

In February 2017, the company's headquarters were moved to Colorado Springs, where it had a 20,000-square-foot factory.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Michelle, Karas (2017-11-27). "Colorado Springs tiny home builder to appear on CNBC's 'The Profit'". Colorado Springs Gazette. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  2. 1 2 3 Kelleher, Carole (2016-02-23). "The big impact of Sonoma's Tumbleweed Tiny House". Sonoma Index-Tribune. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  3. ↑ Small House Society – About Archived December 8, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Resources for Life.
  4. 1 2 The Mobile Hermitage Archived September 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Resources for Life.
  5. ↑ Kurutz, Steven (September 10, 2008). "The Next Little Thing?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
  6. 1 2 3 Cox, Katherine (2017-06-23). "Tiny house trend makes its way to NH's lodging industry". NH Business Review. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  7. ↑ Cheryl Corley (May 15, 2006), Tiny Houses Find a Friend on the Gulf Coast, National Public Radio
  8. ↑ Kurutz, Steven (September 10, 2008). "The Next Little Thing?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-10-10. His business is still modest, but in the past year Mr. Shafer has sold five houses and 50 sets of plans, up from a yearly average of one house. The houses range in size from about 70 to nearly 800 square feet, cost $20,000 to $90,000 to build, and resemble birdhouses: boxy shape, wood siding and high, pitched roof.
  9. ↑ Jenna V. Loceff (June 20, 2011), "'Tiny house' builder Tumbleweed locates in Sebastopol", North Bay Business Journal
  10. ↑ Jay Shafer’s New Venture – Four Lights Tiny House Company Archived June 1, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, The Tiny Life
  11. ↑ St Louis-Sanchez, Maria (2016-06-25). "Colorado Springs quickly becoming tiny housing 'capital of America' as trend takes off". Colorado Springs Gazette. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  12. ↑ "An inside look at the US' largest 'tiny house' manufacturer". CBS 42. 2016-07-10. Retrieved 2023-12-29.

Bibliography

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