The Shape of April
and the Growth of Tiny Roots
How to Start a Business: Do the Thing you Say you Want to Do
In April’s wake we are welcoming the unknown, adapting to changes in the plan, letting go of expectation, and allowing ourselves to see where the road leads. While attending the JLC Live Conference at the end of March, I knew I’d be spending time reflecting on HIRS, our annual goals, and the tiny home – but wasn’t aware of the crack that was turning into a crevasse.
Over the past five years, HIRS has grown in ways I never imagined. I was finally in a position of growth and had brought on Keri to work directly with me in the field and Gabe to assist with the office and administrative tasks. HIRS has been full steam ahead with an upward trajectory and ambitious plans for 2025. And yet in all these grand plans, we’ve left the door open to new possibilities - and in our case, that door opened in June 2023 when Travis brought home the 8x24 flatbed trailer. And just like that, the idea of building a tiny house took root.
Over the course of the last two years, quietly, and in between busy schedules, Haley – an extended cousin, electrician and project estimator working in the trades – and I have been meeting and discussing the tiny home trend, the current opportunity in our backyard, and the feasibility to actually enter the market to build them. Yet, for the last 24 months, the tiny house has been a hobby and weekend project: Haley was working full time, and I was booked out with residential projects and strategizing the buildout of HIRS. It had been more about dreaming and planning than actually doing.
That is until Haley found herself with an abundance of time in mid-March and offered to work on the tiny house. This year all along, our personal goal had been to dedicate more time and finish it by summer - so we have the summer to sell it. So, while attending the JCL conference, the bits and pieces started coming together. I worked up a budget, received buy-in from Travis, and have postponed residential projects for HIRS into the June, July or indefinite timeframe.
The timing of Haley’s arrival is reminiscent of how HIRS started in 2020 – which then was mostly an organic whim after being laid off, and took minimal capital to get started. This time around, it’s not a whim, we’ve just been waiting for the window to open, and the window has opened enough to assess feasibility. The new arrangement sounds something like this: we drafted up an 8-week project plan that would take us through the end of May with a goal of finishing the tiny house around June. Will we be done? Ehh, I have doubts. But we will most certainly have made significant progress and be in a better position for selling over the summer.
With this rapid shift, the last 4 weeks have been a haul to rearrange the schedule and make challenging decisions. While on this tiny home sabbatical, in order to dedicate the time and resources to finish it, it requires streamlining HIRS, where I regretfully let go of Gabe and Keri. One moment we’re hiring and growing a team, building out a social media and marketing plan, and the next moment we’re shifting gears and tearing up one project plan for another. And in the meantime, while keeping our foot on the gas, Haley and I are figuring out what it means to work together to form a solid business partnership.
Over the course of the last 2 decades, I have shifted lanes, taken hairpin career turns where it felt like I was careening off the edge, and embodied a willingness to be afraid but adaptable. And yet somehow I continue to land on my feet and not look back. I’m embracing this chapter of entrepreneurship – I’ve been fulfilled with the work that HIRS has accomplished and have no doubt building tiny homes is possible if we put our energy and mind to it. So for now, as we step into Q2, we’re taking a moment to level-set, refine our plan, and see where the journey leads us—or perhaps, where we can steer it.
The first two weeks of June Travis and I will be on an overland adventure in Norway. While we celebrate our milestone birthdays and attend a viking festival, we’ll have a short study of tiny homes as they are permitted and very popular and where we are staying half the time. We’ll see where the summer takes us – I suppose that’s the exciting part of the newsletter. You’ll have to stay tuned.
Tiny Home Update
The Buildout
In the last 4 weeks we’ve counted hours of design discussions, pertinent decisions, changes of mind, reconsiderations, purchasing and returning, questioning and confirmation of the interior layout and design. We’ve finished the majority of the electrical work and rough plumbing, agreed and decided on wall paneling (drywall does not work in homes on wheels and the movement of transporting it); installed and wood-filled said paneling; we agreed on a palette of paint colors, we agreed on and purchased flooring; we began designing the buildout of cabinets; we primed and painted the walls; we painted and installed some of the window trim; we installed a storm door; we installed and painted the pocket door, among other things.
We are starting to realize that the build out may not be the most challenging aspect – that selling it might be. Currently there is no nationally recognized standard or regulation regarding tiny home placement; there are some national standards on building code, but each town and state has different regulations or lack thereof, on the allowances of “tiny homes.” Tiny homes aren’t a real thing – they are either an RV (on wheels) or mobile/manufactured home that’s been delivered and placed on a slab or foundation. Tiny homes are not part of a town’s vernacular so they don’t know how to treat it. …Is it for short-term rental or permanent, primary or secondary living. The amount of nuance, research, and red tape in order to place a tiny house on your property is the main reason they are not more commonplace. Some states have been quicker to adopt policies than others - yet still extremely frustrating when I hear about the housing crisis and know that tiny homes (on wheels or slabs) are 1 (of many) potential solutions. These issues could be a whole newsletter on its own. But we forge ahead knowing there are thriving tiny home communities and the research that backs a developing, frontier market.
As for Everything Else
At the end of March I attended my third JLC Live, Residential Remodelers Conference in Providence, Rhode Island. In addition to walking around the expo, looking at vendors and live demonstrations, and sampling products, tools, and equipment, I attended the following technical and business workshops:
Stair Building for Carpenters
Sketchup: Essential Techniques for Residential Construction
Women in Construction Panel
How to Generate Leads from your Website
4 Keys to Business Success
Rot Repairs and Techniques
I always enjoy the educational seminars – they are a great way to meet peers, continue industry education, and keep up with latest trends. Yet mostly from this conference, it’s a time for me to reflect on lessons learned in the last quarter and confirm strategic plans for the remainder of the year.
And while the following may only be described as pure coincidence, it was the only sign I needed:
While participating in this 2-day conference and assessing the viability of HIRS against working on the tiny house – I attended the Women in Construction Panel – of which there were maybe 8-10 women at say 8 tables. Let’s remember this is a completely male dominated conference, thousands of men roaming the halls with a handful of women gathering in a large conference room. I arrived early, picked my seat and helped myself to the chaucuterie spread. When I sat back down, I introduced myself to the woman who had just sat down next to me. Keep in mind—we’re in Providence, Rhode Island, a handful of women,, and it turns out, the woman who sat next to me works at Backcountry Tiny Homes in Hampstead. Yep, the same company we’ve toured twice, taken a weekend workshop with, and regularly send our tiny house questions. What are the chances? That random occurrence reassured me we are meant to be working on the tiny house at this moment. At least, that’s how I took it.
Wild Abundance and Buildher
On Track for Q3, Q4
(My brother-in-law once told me I run a company of one like a fortune 500, it was the best business compliment I’ve received to date. I can only hope to be a Fortune 5000 one day.)
As we see where the road goes, we continue to network and collaborate as planned early in the year. We reached out to Wild Abundance in North Carolina and proposed a multi-day site visit to tour the facility, observe their operations, and volunteer on current projects. Aiming for sometime late summer. Wild Abundance is known for creating community through courses in carpentry, training individuals on self-sufficiency and interdependence through tiny home building and teaching practical skills for living with the land. In wanting to connect with like-minded, industry peers, and women-owned businesses, Wild Abundance sets the bar high for teaching and building inclusive and sustainable ways of living.
Their mission continues to resonate with our values – and by initiating a site visit, we aim to share knowledge, explore opportunities for future collaboration, discuss operational best practices, and exchange skills that empower people, specifically women to reclaim their potential through craftsmanship and teamwork. Our goal still, even in a state of flux, is to grow through connection, share knowledge, and co-create meaningful experiences that reach beyond our respective and local communities.
The Ultimate 2025 Goal
Since we love working behind the scenes – even with the ongoing shuffle, we continue to update and finalize the plan for the site visit to Buildher, which is tentatively scheduled for the end of October. We've drafted an initial budget, mapped out a preliminary itinerary, and continue to refine the curriculum for the onsite activities: tiling, painting, framing, doors, windows, flooring, among a range of current ideas. This visit would be a unique opportunity to engage directly with the team at Buildher while exploring their approach to building, design, and sustainability. Haley and I are committed to building a solid foundation that ultimately supports and inspires women and individuals to get outside their comfort zone, discover new capabilities, and be open to risk (and failure). We are learning and understanding that growth doesn’t come from perfection and knowing all the answers, but from the mistakes, the scars, and the guts to try something (new, hard, scary, overwhelming, add your own adjective here). Stay tuned.
HIRS Origins
Home Improvement and Renovation Services (HIRS) is a woman-owned, family-operated business specializing in residential remodeling and repairs across southern New Hampshire. Founded in 2020, HIRS has grown organically through word-of-mouth referrals, offering a wide range of services, focusing on interior renovations such as kitchen, bedroom, bath remodels, flooring, doors and windows, painting, finish work, and custom carpentry. We bring quality service, extensive knowledge with a passion for learning, a drive for growth, and the resilience to make meaningful outcomes. We push the boundaries of the glass ceiling and look forward to ongoing collaboration with change and thought-leaders across the industry.
