The American dream comes in all shapes and sizes. At the Tiny Houses of Georgia dealership in downtown Augusta, it takes the form of a 400-square-foot home on a flatbed trailer.

The "tiny home" trend – fueled by demographic changes and popularized by HGTV programs such as "Tiny House, Big Living" – has finally hit Augusta.

Local businessman Allen Childs' dealership at 1203 Greene St. markets eight models of ready-made homes diminutive enough to be transported by a tractor trailer but roomy enough to comfortably house a couple or a young family.

Childs, a distributor for Alabama-based manufacturer Stone Canyon Cabins, has sold three tiny homes since opening his dealerships in Augusta and Milledgeville, Ga., three months ago. One buyer was a family whose Panama City, Fla., home was destroyed by Hurricane Michael; one was a Milledgeville resident and one was a local woman who has not yet decided where to put the home.

Childs' long-term goal is to sell three to four homes per month. The homes range in price from just under $50,000 to just under $70,000, depending on the model and options.

Because tiny homes are more common in West Coast markets with sky-high housing costs, Childs spends most of his time educating local consumers.

"The biggest problem with tiny homes is the stigma," said Childs, pointing to the wheels underneath a "Zion" model parked at his Greene Street lot. "In their minds, these are nothing but mobile homes. They're not mobile homes."

Childs said each home is custom-built at Stone Canyon Cabins' 150,000-square-foot facility in northwest Alabama; the wheels are simply to transport the home to its final destination, where it is held in place with tie-down straps. A home can be ordered, built and delivered in as little as 45 days, he said.

Legally, the homes are considered "park model" recreational vehicles; they even come with an RV Industry Association license affixed to the front door. The RV designation creates an additional layer of confusion.

"They're not really RVs because they don't have a motor and you can't just tow them behind an F-150," Childs said, noting that most tiny homes seen on TV are designed to be towable. "These homes are 22,500 pounds. They're the largest tiny homes on the market."

Outside of rural locales, finding places to put tiny homes can be problematic. Most local governments, including Richmond and Columbia counties, have zoning regulations and building codes that weren't designed with tiny homes in mind.

"That's a challenge right now," Childs acknowledged, noting that tiny homes in the Southeast are as likely to be used as lake homes, mountain homes or hunting cabins instead of primary residences.

Counties and municipalities regulate home construction using the International Residential Code, which relies on in-progress inspections by local building officials.

"The biggest issue we see with tiny homes is construction inspection," said Andrew Strickland, director of planning services for Columbia County, the metro area's fastest-growing housing market. "Unless our inspectors watch it during construction, there is no way for us to know if it conforms to building code standards."

To locate the homes outside RV parks and rural tracts of land, the burgeoning tiny house industry is lobbying to get new guidelines written into International Residential Code standards that would be acceptable to states, counties and municipalities.

Childs said his manufacturer, for example, is developing a 600-square-foot model that would be pre-certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Childs said he believes growing middle-class demand for affordable new homes will eventually force regulatory solutions nationwide.

"You can build a 2,000-square-foot house in California for $1 million, or you can have one of these for under $100,000," he said.

And these days, he said, many consumers do not need or want a 2,000-square-foot home.

"Believe it or not," he said. "The main demographic for these homes is single women 55 and older who are widowed, divorced or single."

Childs, the owner of a local marketing firm, started the tiny home dealership early last year after visiting an auto-dealer client in Royston, Ga., who had recently launched Stone Canyon Cabins by purchasing a former mobile-home plant in Alabama.

Childs' lot on Greene Street is owned by Fred Daitch of International Uniforms, who believes tiny homes could play a major role in repopulating the city center, which is becoming a popular destination for students and young professionals.

"This is the future for the young people," Daitch said. "They want smaller living spaces, less overhead, places that are easy to keep up – they want all of the creature comforts of a big house without the big house."

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