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A COUPLE has issued a warning to others after they had to pay over $60,000 for an incomplete tiny home.
Lindsay and Eric Wood decided to downsize after they realized their budget was too tight to move into a traditional house or apartment.
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The couple attended a tiny home festival in Arlington, Texas, in 2017 in order to find a builder that would design and customize their dream home.
“We went there and found the builder on the last day, the last hour. We were so excited,” Lindsay told Insider.
The Woods decided to partner with Alpine Tiny Homes.
“They were personable, we liked some of the aspects that their tiny homes were about. We also had enough time to sit down and chat. It’s not a quick decision,” Lindsay said.
The couple began to work with the company in November 2017, and were quoted $90,000.
Their dream home was going to include a rooftop deck and a rock-climbing wall, according to Lindsay.
Over the next several months, the couple had constant communication with the company over email and phone.
However, the couple said that midway through the build, they received a “nightmare” phone call from Alpine Tiny Homes.
They learned that the company had gone out of business, and their home was not finished, according to Insider.
The Woods claimed that they had to pay $65,000 for their incomplete tiny home, which was just a shell at that point.
Brian Hawkins, who ran the sales and marketing for Alpine Tiny Homes, told Insider that he understood why the couple was upset.
“The situation surrounding Lindsay Wood’s home is definitely a difficult one, and I completely understand why she was upset about it. We all were,” he said.
The couple decided to pick up their home from Alpine Tiny Homes’ headquarters in Utah.
Lindsay said that the home didn’t have solar panels, a rooftop deck, dropdown patio, or rock climbing wall as promised.
It also had no appliances or the windows that Lindsay had requested, Insider reported.
“[I felt] totally overwhelmed. It was a punch in the gut,” she said.
The couple told Insider that they signed an “as-is” agreement, meaning that the builder could not be held responsible for any mistakes found later down the line.
After traveling for two days with their incomplete tiny home, the couple said that they discovered it had the wrong axles and wheels attached.
The couple hired another building company, J&R Trailers, to inspect the home.
“The house was underbuilt, and it needed to be a lot more beefed up to be safe,” one of the new builders told Insider.
The couple decided to complete the process themselves and did so over the next eight months.
They now run a tiny home consultancy service, The Tiny Home Lady, to help others with their downsizing journeys.
