Off-Grid Tiny Homes

It means the home is built to accept solar panels, battery storage, water collection and filtration, and a composting toilet, with those systems specified before the build starts rather than retrofitted afterwards. Choosing the capacity at design time is what keeps the systems, the envelope and the electrical layout consistent with each other.

It is quoted at design time, because the array, battery bank and water storage are sized to your site and your loads rather than sold as one fixed package. A home on a shaded northern lot and a home on an open southern slope do not need the same system and should not be quoted the same price. Package figures will be published on this page once they are confirmed.

There is no single answer, and any builder quoting one without asking about your site is guessing. The array is sized from your winter sun hours, your daily load in kilowatt-hours, and how many days of autonomy you want the battery bank to carry. Heating is usually the load that decides it.

Yes. Cold-climate insulation, freeze protection for water lines and tanks, and a backup heat source that works when the batteries are low are all part of the design rather than add-ons. The envelope does more of the work than the array does.

It depends on the municipality, not the country. Zoning decides whether the dwelling is permitted, the building code decides which water and waste systems are allowed, and the health authority decides on-site sewage. Some jurisdictions permit an off-grid modular home on a foundation while prohibiting a home on wheels as a dwelling anywhere in the same area.

On a foundation, often yes. Zenith is built to CSA A277, which is inspected as a building and treated as real property, and that is the classification lenders look for. Homes on wheels are financed as personal property instead, which is a different product at a different rate.

We build self-sufficient homes to order rather than holding finished inventory, because each home's power, water and waste systems are sized for the site it is going to. If you are after an existing off-grid house with land, that is a real-estate listing. If you already have land or are buying it, check what the parcel allows first.

Yes, if the format suits the parcel. A modular home on a foundation is inspected as a building, which is how zoning treats a house. A home on wheels is certified as a recreational vehicle, and some districts do not allow those to be lived in at all. Choose the format after checking the parcel, not before.

No. We build finished homes, with the power, water and waste systems specified before construction. A kit leaves those systems, and with most shell kits the insulation and air sealing too, to the buyer. That is the work that decides whether an off-grid home holds up in winter.

Start with the format the parcel permits, because a home you cannot legally live in is the most expensive outcome. Then stage the systems: specify the capacity at design time and install the full array and battery bank later. The affordable tiny homes page covers the lower-cost end of the lineup.