New York University Will Teach You How to Build a Mini-House From Scratch: The Course Costs Just $5000

At Paul Smith's College in upstate New York, students spend months learning every step of the process of building a finished 2,4-by-3-foot tiny home. FastCompany tells in more detail.

In his final semester of college, between studying labor law and environmental impact assessment, Alex Elderbroom took a course on something completely different. He learned how to build a tiny house.

Useful course

Paul Smith's College in upstate New York combines traditional academic courses with more hands-on ones. A small group of students spent three months last fall learning every step of the process of building a prefabricated 2,4-by-3-foot space. The students learned everything from planning and purchasing materials to making basic furniture.

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Elderbroom, who has just graduated, is currently filming tiny houseHe was interested in learning how to build such a house himself.

“It seems like a good skill set,” he said. “And I feel like it’s a lifestyle that’s more rewarding than a massive house.”

He had experience in construction, but others were starting from scratch.

“Some of the students had never even held a hammer before,” said Associate Professor Deb Nighbor, who teaches the class. “So we started with very basic safety training.”

“It’s a life skill,” said Derek Grant, a senior majoring in natural resource management. “Anyone can benefit from this course.”

House on wheels

It’s not the only college with a tiny-house class. Laney College in California also has a tiny-house program. But Nighbor now plans to take that idea a step further. In a future version of the course, students will be able to buy materials. Everyone will be able to build their own tiny house on wheels — and take it with them when they graduate.

“I always joke with parents that if things don’t work out and students don’t find a job right away, they can move into a tiny house in their parents’ driveway and live there until they find a good job,” she reasoned.

Project cost

Even in the school's remote location in the Adirondack Mountains, Elderbroom said, the rental pay in the nearest city can be prohibitive for students. Nationally, rent is prohibitive for about half of all renters. For recent graduates who have trouble finding lucrative work right away, the problem is even greater.

The basic structure the students built last semester cost just $2800 in materials, though it lacked a kitchen or bathroom. A fully habitable cabin could potentially cost between $5000 and $6000 if students did the work themselves. Tiny house prices vary widely. A mansion with luxurious finishes in an expensive city could cost upwards of $300.

Building such houses can be cheap, but the big problem is zoning.

Some states and cities have adopted accessory dwelling units (ADUs) as part of a solution to the housing crisis. Other places have not yet done so. Only a few cities allow tiny homes on wheels, so finding land for them is another challenge.

Assuming the recent grad's new job isn't located near a relative with extra space in the backyard, things get more complicated.

Nighbor is an advocate not only for tiny houses as accessory dwelling units, but also for ADU villages, which would house multiple tiny houses. She believes that many people need to rethink their ideas about what a home should look like and how expensive it should be.

“The average price of a home in America today is $420,” she said. “Young people need to earn $000 a year to get a 100-year mortgage, let alone a down payment. Or you can live in a tiny house and pay it off in 000 years.”

Nighbor herself lives in a $50 tiny home.

"I always tell students: this is each of your choices. You don't have to live in the same house you grew up in," she emphasized.