Small Talk With HGTV's Property Brothers

At the 2017 International Builders’ Show (IBS), I had a chance to sit down with two of HGTV’s most popular and trusted real estate/renovation pros, Jonathan and Drew Scott (aka, the Property Brothers), and I had one burning question on my mind: What do they think of the “tiny house” movement?

- Donna Peak

“Being human giants, almost every house feels tiny to us,” jokes Jonathan (he and his brother tower at 6'5"). “To see how tiny living feels, Drew and I filmed a digital piece called ‘Tiny House Arrest’ where we spent 24 hours in a tiny house with my two dogs, and we learned it’s really not realistic. It’s a fun craze that’s a novelty right now, but tiny houses are illegal in most jurisdictions because they don’t meet the minimum code.”

“If there were more tiny houses that did meet code, especially with cities getting to be more and more expensive, that would be great,” adds Drew. “But there are smaller homes that are becoming more functional. For example, a space where you have living, kitchen and dining all off one space, that makes sense — but it’s the lack of code compliance in tiny houses that bug me.”