The Revolution Will Be Tiny

At 400 square feet or less, these starter homes offer an affordable path for ownership.

- By Ellen McGirt

EARLY IN 2020, GAIL KINGSBURY WAS JUST ONE INSPIRATION AWAY FROM her next big idea. “I had decided to be a snowbird and see what that was like,” she recalls of the time when the pandemic sidelined her global events business. She relocated from Oregon to an RV park in Glendale, Arizona, where she spent time outdoors with her daughter, Jenna Hall, and family friend Austin Bennett, a former professional soccer player-turned-builder.

The pair had been recruited to join a tiny-home-building outfit started by a friend of a friend, and Kingsbury, 62, was curious about the industry. The founder, she realized, was wildly unqualified. “So we couldn’t work with him,” she says with the calm possessed by the truly unflappable. But the trio had become invested in the idea of high-quality, affordable homes designed for a specific type of homebuyer.

“We'd done the research. Jenna learned the business, Austin could build, and I put together a marketing plan,” says Kingsbury. “So we just started our own company.”

Without a construction facility, Kingsbury found a builder in Southern California who used their specs to create two home models, which they showcased at the Maricopa County Home Show in 2021. “I know how to do events,” she says. “We had people standing in line for over two hours in nearly 100-degree weather to walk through those homes.” Seventeen deposits later, Kingsbury was in business. “That weekend bootstrapped us to where we are now.”