8 Tiny House Workshops You Should Know About

Tiny house workshops are a great place to learn everything you need to know before you build a tiny house.

A good workshop will teach you how to safely build your house, add electricity to it, add plumbing to it, and even how to make it comply with government rules and regulations.

Here are 8 tiny house workshops for you to consider:

(See reference links below for Websites to Courses)

Workshop	Location	Price
Tiny Home Builders eWorkshop	Online	$99.00
Tiny Home Builders Hands-on Workshop	Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Washington DC	$399.00
Wild Abundance	Asheville, North Carolina	$1,400.00 to $2,200.00
Vermont Tiny Houses	Various Locations	$250.00
Yestermorrow	Vermont	$2,300.00
Build Tiny	Virginia	$425.00
121 Tiny Homes	Oregon	$400.00
Relax Shacks	Various Locations	$399.00

Table of Contents

Tiny Home Builders eWorkshop

The Tiny Home Builders eWorkshop is an online-only set of video courses.

It consists of 54 videos that take you from an empty trailer to a fully-built tiny house complete with electricity and plumbing.

These videos also answer popular questions like, “how to build a tiny house alone” and “how do tiny house toilets work?“. The main benefit of this course is that you can access it as many times as you want so you’ll be able to work at your own pace.

Also, at $99.00, it is less expensive than a hands-on workshop.

The downside is that you won’t be able to get hands-on experience until you actually begin work on your own tiny house. Also, you won’t have direct access to the instructors to ask questions.

This being said, there is a forum that eWorkshop purchasers will be able to access so that they can ask any questions that they might have.

Tiny Home Builders Hands-on Workshops

Tiny Home Builders also offers hands-on workshops in Atlanta, Georgia, Washington DC, Asheville North Carolina, Nashville Tennessee, and Orlando, Florida.

These workshops typically last one weekend, and they run from around 9:00 am to 4:30 pm.

The best part about these workshops is that you get to actually take part in building a tiny house. This gives you exposure to different building methods, and it gives you practice with the tools you’ll be using when you build your own tiny house.

The hands-on workshops cost $399.00, but they are the best option for people who have never built anything before.

This is because you’ll have live instructors with you who will be able to give you training on how to use tools and how to work so that you don’t hurt yourself or the people working around you.

Wild Abundance

At $1,400.00 to $2,100.00, the Wild Abundance workshop is more expensive than many of the other tiny house workshops out there.

However, it also takes a lot longer than many of the other tiny house workshops as well.

These workshops are over a week-long, and they include a lot of hands-on learning. During this week, you’ll learn all about tiny house foundations, roofs, walls, and even passive solar design. This company isn’t just focused on tiny homes on wheels, so you’ll end up learning many different types and styles of the tiny house design.

Before the end of the workshop, you’ll end up designing your own tiny house plans, and you’ll get valuable feedback from both the instructors and your fellow students.

This will give you the skills and the confidence you need to get started on your own tiny house as soon as the workshop is over.

Another nice feature about this workshop is that you can camp out right on the facility’s grounds. There are even an outdoor kitchen and an outhouse that you’ll be able to use as you camp out on the campus grounds.

You also don’t have to worry about what to pay for the workshop, either. Attendants get to choose whether or not they’ll pay $1,400.00 for the workshop or the full $2,100.00 for it.

This can be paid all at once, or the attendant can arrange to make payments.

Vermont Tiny Houses

Vermont Tiny Houses holds most of their workshops in Vermont, but they’ve also held a few in New York, Maine, and California.

This workshop lasts two days from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm each day. Meals and lodging are not included as the locations of the workshops are not on a typical campus setting.

The interesting aspect of these workshops is that you actually build a tiny house for a client. This is done with pre-cut wood, which is why you’re able to do it in just two days. Because of this, you’ll get a crash course in framing and sheathing, but you’ll miss out on the planning and design phases that other tiny house workshops have to offer.

The upside of this workshop is that you get a lot of hands-on experience. You’ll literally get to erect a tiny house in just one weekend, and you’ll gain the confidence you need to eventually build your own tiny house.

The downside to this workshop is that you won’t learn a lot about different tiny house systems. You’ll only get to see how one particular tiny house is erected, and you’ll then have to apply what you learned to your own particular build.

This workshop only costs $250.00, but keep in mind you’ll also be providing free labor, so it’s a good deal all around.

Yestermorrow

Yestermorrow is another Vermont based tiny house learning center. This tiny house workshop lasts 12 days and costs $2,250.00.

There is also a $50.00 materials fee as well, so it’ll end up costing you $2,300.00. This breaks down to less than $200.00 a day, and at the end of the 12 days, you’ll have accumulated 5 continuing education units with Sterling College and 70 HSW learning units with the American Institute of Architects.

The objective of the course is to build a tiny house on wheels from start to finish. You’ll learn how to frame the house, how to sheath it, and how to put a roof on it. Additionally, you’ll learn the fundamentals of designing and building a tiny home on wheels.

The course is held on Yestermorrow’s campus, where you’ll have plenty of on-campus housing options. You can stay in the dormitory for $45.00 a night, in a rustic cabin for $25.00 a night, or in a tent for $10.00 a night. Off-campus options are also available nearby.

I find it interesting that there aren’t any tiny house options on-campus, but I guess one could consider the cabins to be comparable.

Build Tiny

Build Tiny offers a 3-day workshop in Virginia for $425.00. This works out to $141.00 a day, so it’s pretty much in line with the other tiny house workshops.

Also, for your $425.00, you’ll receive a free place to primitive camp, and you’ll get free meals as well. If primitive camping isn’t for you, a bed and breakfast is nearby, but you’ll have to pay to stay there.

The workshop will teach you how to build a tiny house on wheels from start to finish, but you won’t do any plumbing or electrical work. Instead, you’ll focus on installing a subfloor, framing the walls, sheathing the house and adding a roof, windows, and doors.

I like that the workshop takes its time to show you exactly what needs to be done to completely build the frame of a tiny house.

The only thing I don’t like about it is that attendants will still need to learn how to add electricity and plumbing to their tiny homes afterward.

121 Tiny Homes

121 Tiny Homes offers workshops in Portland, Oregon. While Portland certainly isn’t centrally located for most Americans, I can’t think of a more picturesque place to learn how to build a tiny home.

This workshop costs $400.00, and it’s two days long. It gives a broad overview of everything you need to know, so by the time you leave, you’ll be able to choose a trailer, design a home, frame it, finish it, plumb it, and add both electrical and heating to it.

On top of this, the workshop talks about the legalities of owning a tiny home. You’ll learn about accessory dwellings, zoning laws, and building codes that could affect you.

The only real drawback that I see with this course is how ambitious it is. While I do believe you could get a great overview of these subjects in two days, I just can’t see how you could learn to physically do it all yourself in just two days.

In fact, just reading up on the zoning laws and building codes could take an entire weekend in some states.

Relax Shacks

You can’t look up tiny homes without eventually running into Relax Shacks, and I wasn’t surprised at all to find that they were running their own tiny house workshops.

The latest workshop is being held in Joshua Tree, California, but they’ve held various workshops throughout the country over the past few years. The workshops are hosted by the host of HGTV’s Tiny House Builders, and they cost $399.00.

Each workshop is $399.00, and they last three days. This brings the price to about $133.00 a day.

The entire workshop is off-grid, so you’ll need to bring your own camper or camping supplies, but there will be a basic outhouse in place for attendants to use.

Each day is a long 12 hour day in which you’ll be framing up buildings and doing demolitions as well. This will teach you how to build from the ground up, and it’ll also teach you how to use salvage materials for your own builds as well.