Tiny homes come to Manitoba with couple's custom builds

Thinking of buying a house? A Manitoba couple wants you to think mini — that is, a cozy abode less than 250 square feet in size that's energy-efficient and has a kitchen and living room, bathroom, bedrooms and more.

Anita Munn and her husband, Darrell Manuliak, have already sold three custom-built tiny houses with their company, Mini Homes of Manitoba, which aims to bring the tiny house craze to the province.

They're hosting an open house this weekend to display a 242-square-foot house they've built for a customer. It features a kitchen and living area, a bathroom with a composting toilet and radiant floor heating.

"Our current build that we're showing off this weekend is 28 feet long, eight feet wide and 13½ feet tall," Munn told Ismaila Alfa of CBC's Radio Noon on Thursday.

"It's going to be a complete beauty with radiant floor heating, spray foam insulation … two cozy little lofts for sleeping space or storage, whatever you choose."

She noted that the home's two loft bedrooms bring the square footage closer to 342 square feet — still within the range of what tiny homes are considered to be.

Mini Homes of Manitoba will display the house at 1557 Brookside Blvd. on Saturday between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. and on Sunday from noon until 6 p.m.

Munn said the houses they have built range between $45,000 and $68,000 — the latter was the price for the house going on display this weekend — but because the homes are custom-built, prices can vary.

They take about five weeks to build, she added.

Who are tiny homes for?

Munn said she and Manuliak became interested in mini houses because they are minimalists, don't have a lot of stuff and are more comfortable in smaller homes.

However, she acknowledged that tiny homes are not for everybody.

"It's whether or not you can see yourself downsizing and making the most out of the space that you have," she said.

Potential tiny home buyers, she said, could include "parents that need to be close to home but still want their independence, children that leave and come back or just refuse to leave, starting out buying your first home — really, there's a wide range of who they're for."

Munn said it was difficult to launch the company at first, but business took off when a couple of clients committed to buying tiny homes.

"In Manitoba, it's something that more and more people are going to gravitate towards — costs of living, being able to purchase your own home, I think people are going to jump on and just say, 'Hey, we can do it,'" she said.

"It's been growing so quickly and, you know, four or five years ago there was just a handful of them out there….
I think people are getting it, that they're economical, they're less of a footprint."