The Mathews County Planning Commission heard a presentation about tiny homes from building official Jamie Wilks at its April 18 meeting.

Wilks said he had received numerous inquiries from people interested in building tiny homes. He said that there are three types of homes—a site-built house, a manufactured home and a modular home.

He said people can build small homes as long as they comply with the state building code, but there’s a problem when such structures are on a chassis and people want to place them on their property.

A tiny home on a chassis is not a dwelling by any means, said Wilks. Instead, they are recreational vehicles that have been built by individuals, and they often don’t comply with any regulations and have not been inspected for mechanical, electrical, insulation and other possible deficiencies.

“They bring them in and want the building inspector to sign them off as safe, and I’m not prepared to do that,” he said.

Wilks said...