AUGUST 2016 PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY
Company with a dream to build tiny
houses. “What I want to do is build
five to 10 houses,” Sam explained.
“Or even do workshops where I
teach people how to build a tiny
house themselves. I’d like to have my
own shop where I can show people
how to do it step by step.”
Lynsi plans on helping her
husband, but she also would like to
do something to help the community.
“I’d like to talk to the city manager
about some land,” Lynsi said. “And
maybe get the OK to build a tinyhouse community for college kids or
single moms.”
The house they built is 20 feet
long and built on top of a trailer they
purchased. They built the sub-floor
on top of the trailer and then the
frame over that. The house, though
mobile, cannot be removed from
the trailer. “We built it to where you
can either hard-wire directly into
it like a normal house or plug it in
directly like you would do an RV;
so it has an exterior RV plug,” Sam
said. “Plumbing is the same way,
either into the ground or hooked
up.” It even has a real toilet. “Most
other tiny houses are going to have
compost toilets, but not ours,” Lynsi
said. “I wanted a regular toilet.”
The house is 13 feet tall with
174 square feet of space with a
60-square-foot loft. “I just dreamed
it up. I wanted the house to be kind
of rustic and use all of the space
possible with light colors, simple and
plain but still beautiful,” Sam said.
The outside is built to last of metal
and cedar. “We wanted to make sure
it lasted for a long time,” Sam said.
“We built it to the minimum bridge
height. That way we knew we could
travel without an escort.”
Tiny house builders always face
the challenge of space. “Our biggest
challenge is storage, and on this
project that was the staircase,” Lynsi
said. “Because we didn’t want to just
have a ladder that led to the loft.” So
they made everything themselves.
Even their kids are on board
with the tiny houses. “They think
it’s great,” Sam said. “I tried talking
our daughter into staying in one and
living with us forever but she won’t
do it.” She did ask her dad if he
would build one for college when
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Kitchen and living area
she goes. “And our son wants his
own to live in the backyard and stay
with us forever,” Lynsi said with a
laugh. “They are so opposite. One
wants to leave and one wants to
stay.”
The Underwoods are preparing
to attend the Tiny House Jamboree
in Colorado Springs, CO, August
5th through the 7th. The jamboree
takes 27 builders nationwide and
Small Dwelling Company was one of
the groups accepted to participate.
“We’re going to wait until we get
back from Colorado to start on
another one. We want to see what
the Jamboree brings,” Sam said.
“Getting involved with all those
people helps your company and gets
you connections. HGTV Tiny House
Hunters contacted us. Based on what
we’ve heard and what other people
who have houses the size of ours are
going for, we’re going to try selling
our tiny house for about $50,000.”
Once their kids move out, the
Underwoods plan to live in their
own tiny house and travel. “We’ll be
moving out of the school district so
we have about six years before the
kids will be out of the house,” they
said.
Parker County Today called
around and asked a couple of realtors
what they thought about having a
tiny house community in Parker
Co unty.
“I think it’s incredible and
inventive,” Brooke Ladouceur of
Worthington Realty & Investments