In their mid-20s, Luise and Lukas have fulfilled their dream of home ownership. They live in their own Tiny House. What makes it special: Their house stands in the middle of a residential area on a developed plot of land and has an official building permit.
When Luise and Lukas were standing by the sea in their camper in Italy in 2020, the idea came to them: they wanted to live in a Tiny House. They realized that they didn't need much to live on, but wanted to have something of their own, gladly in the middle of nature. They found the 1987 construction trailer on the Internet. They bought their first house for 9,000 euros and rebuilt it in Lukas' parents' garden according to their ideas.
As is probably the case with many Tiny House owners, finding a suitable site presented them with a particular challenge. And they had to fight for it for a long time. The conditions could not have been better. Luka's family gave the couple a fully developed plot of land in Eberstadt in the Heilbronn district. At 18 meters long and 9 meters wide, it is far too small for a normal single-family home, but ideal for the Tiny House, which is only 8.10 meters long and 2.45 meters wide.
Nevertheless, the responsible district office was initially taken aback by Luise and Lukas' plans. A building permit for a Tiny House had never been issued in the district before. The office therefore classified it as a building and wanted to see floor drawings, structural analyses and a site plan. A civil engineer friend helped Luise and Lukas prepare the documents. Nevertheless, the first application was rejected. They said the house was 1.50 meters too close to the adjacent meadow. For the Tiny House owners, that meant submitting all the plans again, and in triplicate. But in the end, everything worked out and the building permit was issued. Even though almost a whole year passed from the first application to the building permit.
The young couple used the time when they had to wait for the permit for the extension.
There were also a few hurdles to overcome. Because nothing in the 18-square-meter construction trailer with a monopitch roof was built according to standard. The entrance door and bedroom window had to be specially made. They also had to find special solutions for the bathroom: The tiles are made of plastic and were a special order from Italy. Ceramic tiles would have broken when the Tiny House was moved. The drain pipes in the Tiny House also don't have a standard diameter, so a toilet without a flush was needed. Luise and Lukas therefore installed a dry separation toilet. Maybe not quite as odorless, but environmentally friendly.
Luise and Lukas didn't want to cut any corners when it came to the kitchen. So they actually built a four-and-a-half-meter-long standard built-in kitchen in their mini-house. Dishwasher, oven, ceramic hob - everything is available in normal size. The only improvisation that takes place here is cooking.
In August 2021, the construction trailer was finally able to move. From Luka's parents' garden, where it had been parked for the expansion, to Eberstadt, to the narrow plot with a view of the meadow and vineyards. This is where the two have lived ever since and where they are officially registered as residents.
Luise and Lukas have invested a total of 35,000 euros to realize their dream of owning a small home. This includes not only the construction trailer, but also the garden plot with adjacent meadow. A small Jacuzzi and an outdoor shower create a vacation feeling here in the summer. There are also other co-inhabitants in the so-called outdoor living room: the two dwarf goats, Fridolin and Butterkeks, and nine chickens. Fresh eggs and a bit of bleating thus enrich Tiny House life.
Luise and Lukas enjoy their Tiny Living idyll to the full. But they don't want to stay here forever. They plan to move into a "real" house by the time they have children. They then want to use their construction trailer as a vacation home.
A film by Sarah Wilk (editor), Frederik Dietz (camera) and Jan Parvu (camera, sound) and Diana Kalb (editing).
00:00 Tiny house with plot
00:29 Hallway
00:50 Office
01:29 Kitchen
02:07 Dining room
03:55 Music studio
04:34 Bedroom
07:03 Building permit
07:40 Bathroom
08:25 Outdoor area
10:49 Garage with laundry room