There are many considerations around safety when it comes to tiny house construction and tiny house trailers.
Fred Schultz is a thought leader, innovator, advocate and teacher in Australia’s Tiny House movement. He designed, built and lived in his own off-grid (fossil-fuel free) tiny house with his family and in doing so, innovated the Unified Construction Method® to make tiny houses lightweight, safe to tow and comfortable to live in year-round.
Fred educates DIY builders and professionals alike on how to build safe tiny house vehicles through his online course and face-to-face workshops. He also makes highly engineered tiny house trailers that are perfect for building a tiny house on, featuring the strongest attachment method available between the tiny house and the trailer.
Fred is always up for a chat about tiny houses and the philosophies that underpin them. If he’s not supporting trailer clients in his tiny house office, he’ll be on the tools or working in the garden at his home in Castlemaine, Vic.
This was a wide-ranging conversation, and in this episode, we talk about:
- The shifts Fred has observed in the tiny house space and where he thinks we’re headed
- The importance of constructing a long-lasting, safe, and thermally well-performing tiny house on wheels / tiny house vehicle
- Why building to the Building Code of Australia or the National Construction Code doesn’t necessarily make a safe tiny house vehicle
- Some consequences of building over the weight limit of a trailer (4.5T)
- All about the Unified Construction Method®, Fred’s Tiny Trailers and Tiny House University….and more!
You can work with and follow Fred’s tiny adventures here:
W: https://fredstinyhouses.com.au/
Education: https://www.tinyhouseuniversity.com.au/
Workshops: Face-to-Face Tiny House Building Workshops: https://fredstinyhouses.com.au/tiny-house-building-workshops/
On-Line Course: Hosted at Tiny House University, HOW TO BUILD A TINY HOUSE: The Australian Online Course: https://www.tinyhouseuniversity.com.au/courses/how-to-build-a-tiny-house
Trailers: https://fredstinyhouses.com.au/tiny-house-trailer/
IG: www.instagram.com/fredstinyhouses
FB: www.facebook.com/fredstinyhouses
Impact for World Benefit: https://fredstinyhouses.com.au/impact/
Podcast: Candid Tiny House: https://fredstinyhouses.com.au/candid-tiny-house/
Resources mentioned in this conversation:
- Unified Construction Method®
- Vehicle Standards Bulletin 1 (Revision 5) *Current until 30th June 2023
- Vehicle Standards Bulletin 1 (Revision 6) *Fully implemented 1st July 2023
- NSW Local Government (Manufactured Home Estates, Caravan Parks, Camping Grounds and Moveable Dwellings) Regulation 2021
- Australian Design Rules
- National Construction Code
- Building Code of Australia
- Development Approval – NSW
- Sikaflex 11FC (Construction Adhesive)
- Radiant Barriers (discussion starts at 4 min 37 secs)
- Tiny House Conversations – Composting Toilets & Greywater Systems with Anthony Smith
- Tiny Homes Expo
- Fred’s Tiny Houses – Resources for DIY Builders
- Fred’s Tiny Houses – Should I Build My Own Tiny House?
- Fred’s Tiny Houses – Tiny House Consumer Information
- Fred’s Tiny Houses Blog
- Ordinary House
