Tiny House Certification Companies

Several companies now offer  inspection and ‘certification’ services for tiny homes.  As tiny houses gain acceptance as low-cost housing alternatives, these Tiny House certification companies are hoping to provide a nationally-accepted building standard for professional builders and do-it-yourselfers alike.

These are ‘Buyer Beware’ opportunities. Here’s why:

They claim that their certifications will swing the door wide open for you to get insurance, mortgage loans, and RV park admissions. They also suggest you’ll have more peace when buying a tiny home with their certification. This is just beginning to be somewhat true.  A few insurance companies and lenders are beginning to accept these certifications as authentic, but before you spend a dime on the ‘certification’ process, you’ll want to check with your prospective insurance company and lender to see if it matters one iota to them.

As the Tiny House industry grows, more insurance companies and lenders are offering their products with or without any type of certification. It is reported that RV parks are beginning to be more welcoming to tiny homes regardless of certification.

Would a Certification Help You Get a Certificate of Occupancy?

It is important to keep in mind that these tiny house certification companies are not governmental agencies and have no influence with the government’s regulatory housing agencies or your local building inspectors. These certifications will not help you get a ‘certificate of occupancy’ from your local building inspectors to allow you to live in a tiny home legally. For more on actual building codes and Appendix-Q refer to my web page.

What the Tiny Home Certification Companies Actually Do

Unlike the RVIA code for recreational vehicle manufacturers, these certifications are for individual THOWs. Someone (guaranteed to be an expert building inspector) at the company will inspect your home as you video it on your smart-phone. If they spot discrepancies they will suggest a fix to bring your build up to “code” standards. These standards seem to be a mesh of the various building codes taken from NFPA 1192, ANSI 119.5, NFPA 70 (National Electric Code) that they feel are applicable to tiny houses, plus some specifications of their own.  They archive this information and make it available to ‘concerned parties’ on your behalf. Then you get a certificate and a shiny sticker. For this you pay about $1,500.00*. They do not add any sort of warranty or guarantee to the THOW.

The Players

National Organization of Alternative Housing (Noah)

This is the sticker you get after passing the NOAH inspection process.

From the ‘about’ section of their website: “In the summer 2015, he [Robin Butler] started NOAH Certified, a third-party inspection and certification company for tiny houses on wheels.” “Robin saw a need for standards in the tiny house movement. NOAH Certified began filling this void by setting tiny house standards using national standards from the RV and home building industry. Even though NOAH Inspection and Certification is a voluntary process, over 100 builders across the Nation have become members of NOAH to assist them with the building of tiny houses.”

There are six people listed as employees of this organization.

Bildsworth International

There is no “About Us” section on this companies website. However I have learned that it was started just recently by Barbara Reilly. Barbara is the former co-founder, treasurer, general manager at NOAH. This company will do the same video certification, but also offers a ‘registration’ of a tiny home AFTER it’s completed.

As of June 4 2023, we have not been able to access any website and the phone numbers found are not in service. Barbara Riley has a Linkedin page.

Pacific West Tiny Homes (PWTH)

Here is their story from the “About Us” section of their website: “Pacific West Tiny Homes, Inc. is a subsidiary of Pacific West Associates, Inc. which is an accredited third party agency that has been recognized in the industry for over 30 years. PWTH is composed of licensed electrical, mechanical, structural and forensic engineers. Our evaluation and certification staff meet the requirements of the ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) E-541, which​ is for agencies engaged in design and system analysis and quality control and assurance analysis.

Our President, Chuck Ballard, is a principal member of the NFPA (National Fire Protection Agency) Technical Committee on Recreational Vehicles. He is also a Principal member of the NFPA 1194 Recreational Vehicle Parks and Campgrounds committee.  In addition, he is a principal member of ANSI (American National Standards Institute) A119.5 Recreational Park Trailer standard. All 3  are responsible for writing the codes and standards for the Recreational Vehicle Industry.”

Tiny Life Consulting is a member of the American Tiny House Association.

Here’s my experience with certification companies

Home theater in 50,000 sq. ft. house.

I have recently retired from the Custom Electronics Industry where CEDIA is a certification company. For many years they have charged membership fees, insisted on members paying for classes, just to get a “shiny sticker” that said they were CEDIA certified. While this is in no way a government recognized or approved agency, customers are just now beginning to ask if a company is CEDIA certified. So now it means something.

While I still think that CEDIA is just a for-profit rip off, custom electronics install companies now need to weigh the expense against the recognition effect on business. But the custom electronics install business is barely regulated by local inspectors personal interpretation of local electrical codes. CEDIA Certification means nothing to the building inspector.

The Bottom Line on ‘Tiny House Certification’

Here’s my point: While NOAH and the others are starting to become somewhat industry recognized, it is more important to building code inspectors to comply with government accepted building codes. Appendix-Q is pushing that down the road.

There are thousands of these local inspectors across the county, many have not yet heard of Appendix-Q, let alone any other certifications. They see the wheels and just walk away.

The best suggestion I saw is to video document every step of your build. Even so, a friend of mine just had to rip out his sheet rock because they failed to get it inspected by their county’s building code inspector. Maybe it would be better to make some cookies for the local inspector and have him excitedly involved in every step of the build. See my page: How to be Proactive with Building Codes and Zoning Laws

On the other hand, if I was buying a used tiny home, or one from a tiny house builder, I might feel pretty good about it having a shiny sticker certification from one of these companies.

For more information about Tiny House Certification Companies

For more information on codes and zoning visit my web page.

Find out more information about buying a used tiny home.