How great would it be to leave everything behind, disconnect from the world, and vacation overseas?
This thought came to Adrian Chia’s mind after a two-week holiday to explore the Great Ocean Road in Melbourne in 2016.
Shortly after returning home to Singapore, he floated with the idea of living an unsettled life in his friend Dave Ng, whom he met in the 20s during compulsory national service.
“We were hanging out, but Dave started thinking about it more seriously,” Chia, now 43, told Business Insider. Ng came up with the idea of creating a tiny house on wheels – a mobile home that could be easily moved if a certain location did not attract visitors.
In 2017, the two decided to sell their businesses – Chia was working in IT and Ng in waste management. – and starting a small home business called Big Tiny. See invested 100,000 Singapore dollars, or about $77k, each, and expects to consider their first prototype.
Chia, who was married with two young children and had a newborn baby at the time, says: “I knew I was going to a field I didn’t know. in the ear.
The first obstacle
Since they had no construction or building experience, their first hurdle was finding a way to build a small house.
“I can’t even turn a doorknob at home,” Chia said, adding that the thought of fitting a kitchen, bedroom and living room into a 20-foot space was daunting.
They hired an architect to help design the house and agreed on it a few important points. First, the house had to be on wheels. After that, they had to make sure that the house did not feel disturbed.
Six months of trial and error later, Chia and Ng put together the first model home in Chia’s garden, Singapore.
The friends built the first small house behind Chia’s house. Adrian Chia
They started to increase the business by sending the tiny houses overseas. The first two were sent to Australia, one to Victoria and the other to New South Wales.
In 2018, Chia convinced his elementary school friend, Jeff Yeo, to join the founding team and help with the internet. Yeo had worked as an account manager and manager in several advertising agencies.
Together, they have raised about SG$4.2 million in two rounds of funding, said Chia. That includes SG$3.8 million in the second game, which took place in 2021.
Developing their tiny houses into a profit-sharing business
After gaining attention from local media, the group began receiving inquiries about buying the tiny houses, Chia said.
So, in 2017, the group launched a program that allows people to buy a small house for around SG$90,000. On the other hand, they managed the hotel side of the business by renting the unit from the client. They rented a small house for two years and paid 8% per year or five years and paid 10% per year. Big Tiny now gets the benefit of the overnight stay, Chia said.
Although headquartered in Singapore, Big Tiny’s first step was to send tiny houses around the world. The houses had a modular design – packed “like Ikea furniture,” as Chia explained.
In 2023, they created tiny houses in Singapore
A small house move encourages a lean and sustainable lifestyle. Although this movement has started in countries like the US and Germany, it is not very popular in Singapore.
In 2021, an opportunity arose for Big Tiny to build homes in Singapore under a government initiative promoting new business ideas.
The government has given awards Big Tiny state land, which the company pays rent for, to build their small houses on Lazarus Island – one of the eight Southern Islands of Singapore.
“We jumped at it,” Chia said.
In an email response to BI, a representative from Sentosa Development Corporation, which is an organization under Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, said the project aims to complement the existing environment of Lazarus Island by introducing “light-touch” entertainment options.
In addition, the response noted that Big Tiny houses are equipped with sustainable materials, which is in line with their goal of reducing the carbon footprint of visitors to the island.
The government also gave another company the opportunity to build nine tents nearby.
Since opening the small resort in April 2023, Chia said, it has been operating at an average of about 90% occupancy. Guests must book several months in advance to guarantee their stay. He added that they have had cash flow since they started.
In August, BI was able to book accommodation for SG$380 per night, less than three weeks in advance, although there were only a few cottages left at that time. All the houses were full during BI’s stay.
Each small house is set in nature
Big Tiny House in Lake Stella, New Zealand. Little Big
Seven years on, Big Tiny has placed more than 400 tiny houses in more than 10 countries around the world, from Taiwan to Europe and Australia.
At Singapore’s Lazarus Island, visitors are surrounded by lush greenery and can swim in the ocean. At Lake Stella, New Zealand, two hours north of central Christchurch, visitors can hike nearby or go diving in the lake.. In Yilan, Taiwan, visitors can sleep in a small forest house and gaze at the stars at night.
Chia and his colleagues, Jeff Yeo and Dave Ng (right). Adrian Chia
Working with friends can be difficult
Looking back on that trip, Chia says she learned that ideas don’t come fully formed. “When I was talking to Dave, it was just an idea to put small houses in the countryside so people could enjoy nature,” he said.
He said they never thought they could build tiny houses in his garden – let alone ship them around the world.
And while working with close friends can be tricky, Chia credits their successful collaboration to clearly defining their roles.
While Chia oversees revenue and strategic development, Ng leads operations and production, and Yeo focuses on business.
“Every time we face problems, we will call for discussions. Everyone will have an opinion on how things can be resolved,” he said.
“But at the end of the day, the person leading the business is going to take ownership and decide what’s the best way forward.”