Tiny houses are the epitome of cute and affordable when it comes to a roof over your head. But they also come with a huge question: Can you really squeeze in there and be happy?
For Jacqueline Urick, who lives in a 540-square-foot home in Sturtevant, WI, with her beloved dog, Spice, the answer is a resounding yes.
“I had never stayed in a tiny home before I bought mine,” she says. “But I have always been attracted to unique and unusual properties.”
And her house is definitely one of a kind: The Quonset hut was originally built as a storage unit for the military during World War II. Today, only a handful of huts remain and have been moved to the 2800 block of 97th Street, where they were converted to residential housing.
When Urick, who is head of Organic Growth at Realtor.com®, first saw the two-bedroom, one-bath tiny house perched on a tenth of an acre, she was intrigued—particularly since it was priced at a mere $35,000.
But she also saw that the property had been lingering on the market, run-down and in need of a lot of work.
“My dad really did not want me to buy this house,” she admits. “But as I looked at other more traditional homes in the area, I kept coming back to it.”
As a person who travels frequently for work, she says “a smaller home seemed like a logical choice. I don’t need a lot of space.”
So she decided to go with her gut, and in March 2023, she moved in.
The benefits and drawbacks of living in a tiny house
Urick relocated to Sturtevant from St. Paul, MN, where she owned a 1,000-square-foot loft in Lowertown. She was relieved to discover that living in half that square footage wasn’t a difficult adjustment. In fact, she immediately noticed some significant benefits.
“The biggest advantage of living in a small space is that it’s not a lot to clean and maintain,” she says.
Another huge plus? It’s easier on the wallet when it comes time to pay monthly bills.
“It’s not a lot of space to heat and cool, so the utilities are very reasonable,” says Urick.
Reducing her carbon footprint wasn’t top of mind, but it has been a nice side benefit.
However, there have been some downsides.
“I don’t have all my art and other sentimental objects on display, especially because the Quonset has curved walls,” she says. “So those items are in storage.”
Entertaining guests is also a challenge.
“More than three people inside, it starts to feel a little claustrophobic,” she says. “It’s great to have one person over for dinner or lunch. But if I’m entertaining, we have to go outside.”
Urick also found that clutter collects fast, which has forced her to change her shopping habits.
“I definitely have stopped shopping for home-related things,” she explains. “I run into many ‘Oooh, I like this, but I have nowhere to put it’ situations.”
Her closet is so small, she says, that if she buys a new article of clothing, she needs to get rid of something first for everything to fit.
This helps her be more fiscally responsible, she says. “It prevents me from buying a lot of stuff.”
How much her tiny home cost—along with renovations
Another benefit of this tiny house was its tiny cost. At $35,000, the property cost less than a new car.
“I paid cash for this home,” she says. “It’s not as easy to finance a nontraditional home. But if I had to do it over, I would have taken out a loan in order to have the cash to renovate it right away.”
She didn’t realize at the time that most lenders make you wait six months before taking out a home equity loan for renovations. When she finally did start renovating, she was shocked by the cost.
“It’s more cash upfront than you think it’s going to be,” she says.
Urick spent about $110,000 total for renovations to her tiny home, including the following costs:
- Foundation work: $35,000
- Exterior: $25,000
- Plumbing: $13,000
- Electrical: $13,000
- Acrylic kitchen cabinets and countertop: $20,000
It’s not necessarily cheaper to remodel a small home rather than a bigger one, she discovered.
“The renovation cost per square foot tends to be higher because the labor costs don’t decrease significantly because the space is smaller,” she explains.
For example, the foundation work required digging a trench on three sides of her house. However, she says, “the cost to get the equipment to the property and all the prep for the digging doesn’t change much if they are digging 60 feet or 200 feet.
“The cost to have the kitchen cabinets delivered is the same regardless [of] if I order five cabinets or 50,” she continues. “It’s the same size truck that is delivering them.”
Another challenge was finding contractors willing to work on a tiny home.
“Only a small number of contractors want the challenge of working on something unusual,” she says. “I remember one contractor coming in, taking one look at the curved interior walls, and was like ‘sorry, nope.’ Another issue I ran into was contractors who didn’t want to take the job because they felt it wasn’t worth investing the money into the property.”
Once she finally found contractors who were on board, she hired them to fix her home’s myriad problems—which included mold and asbestos remediation, foundation work, plumbing, electrical, and installation of the kitchen cabinets, the shower walls, drywall, and more.
“The windows in the place were all those aluminum storm windows that you’d find in an older mobile home. They were very thin and drafty,” she recalls. “Additionally, whoever installed them did not install them correctly, so they were leaking in between the interior and exterior walls. This caused a lot of mold and wood rot.”
The total gut and rehab of the Quonset took a year and a half, and the money was well spent, according to Urick. Her house is estimated to be worth between $150,000 and $180,000 now.
Plans for the future
Throughout this process, Urick has embraced tiny-house living.
“Overall, I think it’s great that people have so many options when it comes to housing that fits their values and lifestyle,” she says. “I don’t have anything against people who have large homes. A large home is just too much for me to maintain.”
Even so, she doesn’t see herself living here permanently. But she also has no plans to let go of her tiny home.
“The property taxes and upkeep is low-cost, and there is some peace of mind in knowing I have this place to fall back on no matter what,” she says.
Check out the incredible before-and-after shots of Urick’s tiny-home renovation below.