Tiny house trend provides haven for sustainability-minded buyers

Every morning his crew is tapping away to construct the small structures measuring nearly nine metres long by almost two-and-a-half metres wide, and a maximum of 4.3 metres high, all built on to a trailer.

Mr Yates has been building tiny houses for the Hawkesbury and surrounds for two years, and when the Gazette spoke with him, he was completing two jobs for customers at Kurrajong.

"We started off doing portable granny flats then people started asking us to build tiny houses, so there was a demand there and we responded to what our customers wanted," he said.

"Everything's custom-built. We do what the customer wants, and everyone's different."

So far, most of his customers have been single women in their thirties, forties and fifties.

While every build is different, typically Mr Yates' tiny houses have a queen size bedroom on the ground floor with two robes, and a slide-out loungeroom.

They offer a full-size kitchen with upright gas cooker on LPG, a split system air conditioning system, space for a washing machine and dryer inside a cupboard with an exhaust fan, a full size fridge cavity and pantry.

They also offer a full-size bathroom with a shower, a toilet, mirrored shaving cabinet, and a vanity.

Upstairs, there is a second bedroom in a loft, a storage area, and a ceiling fan.

"It's got everything a normal house has got, just a miniature version - and there's an instant gas hot water service," Mr Yates said.

A lot of people buy tiny houses to live more sustainably, or to add a guest or B&B structure to their properties.

"A lot of the people who come to us are interested in having a smaller carbon footprint," Mr Yates said.

"They want to have a water tank that collects water from the roof of the family house, they want to have solar panels, they want to use their waste water to irrigate the veggies."