Two-Story Tiny Takes the Henry Ford Approach to Tiny Living, With Focus on Comfort

In the currently troubled context of the economic crisis and the dire housing situation in most major cities, tiny living is a more convenient and affordable approach to home ownership. Tiny houses are a quicker, more affordable, and highly more mobile type of home ownership, without lifelong monthly payments and high mortgage debt.

That's not to say that tiny living is a perfect solution that can or will work for everyone. Far from it. But it works excellently for some, and that segment is growing by the day. Ruru Tiny Houses, a relatively new presence on the market in New Zealand, is hoping to contribute to the increasing number of tiny home owners.

Ruru Tiny Houses is a family-owned builder that made the transition from the tourist sector into tiny house building in 2020 when business dried out in the first months of the international health crisis. Theirs is the somewhat-classic story of "if you try, you can do it better than others," in the sense that they ran a rental business out of a couple of tiny house units someone else had built for them. They decided they could do a better job at it, switching from renting those units to building new homes for others.

The Toroa is one of the two models they sell. Fran Huelsmeye, who runs the business with her husband Daniel, says that they're taking the "Henry Ford approach to tiny living," in the sense that they're offering only two models, with a handful of customization options the client can choose from. This allows them to expedite the building process, to the point where they're building 50 units a year, and to keep costs down, even now that prices for materials are spiking. They still do fully-custom units, either based on these two models or on the client's, but these are the exception, not the rule.

For example, the Toroa comes in two different layouts, either with a central kitchen or a U-shaped kitchen, which is the most expensive model. There's also a Toroa XL model, which is the same as the base one, but sits on a larger trailer, thus allowing a third bedroom.

The base Toroa is a two-story, two-bedroom home that's just perfect for family life. The layout is what we'd call a standard two-loft one, with the difference that you get a standing walkway with a proper banister connecting the two bedrooms, and standing height in each bedroom, except immediately near the bed. It's the closest thing to a brick-and-mortar home, but in a much more compact space, as the two videos available at the bottom of the page will confirm.

The ground floor houses a full kitchen, a residential-size bathroom, and a living room. In one layout, the kitchen is located centrally, so you walk right into it through the double-glazed sliding French doors. If you add a deck outside, you can expand this space right into the great outdoors. The other layout sees the kitchen placed at one end, with the living in the central area.

In either case, the kitchen is well-specced and quite spacious. After all, this is intended as a family home with an eye to sustainability, so cooking your own meals is a must.

The bathroom comes with a choice of toilet models, a full-size standing shower, a sink with vanity, and space for a washing machine. You can also add a wardrobe that runs the length of the wall, and opt for additional storage options integrated into the staircase that leads to the two bedrooms.

The Toroa was designed to "offer height and space:" 1.9 meters (6.2 feet) of standing height on the walkways on the second level and 2.1 meters (5.8 feet) on the ground floor. Available floorspace is 49.5 square meters (533 square feet), putting the Toroa in the “larger" category of tiny homes.

Options that allow personalization include finishes, colors, and certain materials. All Toroa units are fully insulated and have timber frames and SIP structural roofing panels, RV-style hookups to the mains, and gas califont. Extra optionals include heating and solar panel pre-install, and full customization where the budget allows.

Another thing that makes Ruru Tiny Homes stand out from the competition is the desire to bring as much sustainability to each build as possible. Materials are locally sourced where possible, and local suppliers are preferred to reduce the carbon footprint in the build process and allow operation at a single location with a small team. The downside to this is that Ruru tiny homes, the Toroa model included, are only available in New Zealand. Pricing for this model starts at NZD 205,000, approximately US$125,800 at the current exchange rate.