At Heart & Soul Tiny Homes, we want to help make people's lifestyle and affordability dreams come alive. We believe there are five things that living in a tiny house provide: we call them the Five Fs:
(and we reckon, seeing as you're on this site, you may already know all about them!)
Flexibility
The whole 'location location location' struggle of choosing a place to live is removed. You can take your tiny home on wheels and park it in a location of your choice. No longer are you bound by a street or suburb address! And who knows what the future holds? Imagine a future of choice, where you're not restricted by a home that is hard to sell and no longer meets your needs. You can add pods, take away pods... making the home cater for your exact accommodation needs.
Feasibility
Getting on the property ladder, or having an investment property is getting harder harder. Everything, cheese included, is getting more expensive! With 5 kids of our own, we're super conscious of how hard it's going to be for them to buy a home. A tiny house makes having your own space an affordable reality!
Freedom
Aahhh the freedom that comes with having exactly what you need and love, and no more. No more worrying about / maintaining / insuring all the stuff you have but don't ever use. Or cleaning corners you don't use. Just imagine the extra time you'll have to do what you love doing, when living in a place that takes minutes to clean instead of hours!
Fun!
So much fun! It's like going back to your childhood where you lost time making huts, playing doll houses and climbing treehouses. Tiny Home living is THIS MUCH FUN, all wrapped up into one. But better - it has a wine fridge and a dishwasher! Clever use of space means there's always somewhere to put something!
Friendly - Environmentally friendly
Building a tiny house allows you to choose to future proof by living off grid - if you want solar, or to collect your own water, you can. And you can pack up and move to another location as and when you want to without worrying about pipes, cables and plumbing! It comes back to the first 'f' - flexibility.
About Dean the Builder
Dean's passion since childhood has been building, problem solving and designing, so when the idea formed to start building tiny homes, it brought together all his dreams into one happy bundle. He's found that sweet spot of connecting his passion, his skills and strengths with something the world needs right now - affordable, flexible and fabulous housing! And every single day he's grateful for the journey that brought him to build tiny homes!
Dean's been building for nearly 20 years after leaping from corporate to do a building apprenticeship in 2004. And with his wife Rhonda as an enthusiastic 'apprentice' they built their first tiny home in 2020. This tiny home, affectionately known as Tahi, is their weekend get away. Sure, it's only 100m from the house they share with 2 of their 5 kids, but living the dream in a tiny house doesn't mean you have to go far!
Now Dean is designing and building tiny homes, so others can live their dream. Building takes place on site at their 4 acres in Tamahere, Waikato.
Between them Dean and Rhonda have 5 children ages 15-22 years, Charlie the non-guard dog, Elmo the cat (who's favourite place to hang is on Tahi's deck!) and 4 happy chickens. Together they yoga, run, grow veges and dream about the day they move into Tahi permanently!
Any time you'd like to pop out to view Tahi or take a look at our current Tiny House project, just give us a call.
What we do
We build Tiny Homes for grown ups of all ages and stages. First home buyers, empty nesters wanting to downsize, or those wanting an Airbnb investment. Anyone who wants the flexibility, feasibility, fun, freedom and (environmentally) friendliness that tiny home living provides. The 5 'f's as we like to call them!
View our work
You can visit Tahi if you're interested in the recycled rustic feel of a tiny home (you can even book a night or two to stay in Tahi). Or take a virtual tour of Rua ... built with all new materials, with the same heart and soul as Tahi! Anyone who loves tiny homes, or is interested in learning more, we'd love to meet you!
Licenced Building Practitioner (LBP)
Dean is proud to be a LBP, a licence issued by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment. The LBP licence recognises builders who build with quality and keep up to date with the latest building practices. You can be confident of the high building standards we adhere to at Heart & Soul Tiny Homes.
