Recently a reader asked the question, What size truck do I need to pull a Tiny House?
It’s a little tough to say since the final weight has a lot to do with how the tiny house is finished – like choice of siding, roofing, flooring, cabinets, etc. As a general rule of thumb you can estimate the rough dry weight by multiplying 450-pounds by the length.
So a 16 foot house should weigh about 7,200 pounds – which is about the limit of a base level full size truck (like a Ford F-150, Toyota Tundra or GMC Canyon). But most full size trucks often come equipped with bigger engines and towing packages – which can bump their capacity up to 10,000-12,000 pounds or more. So if you have a use for a big truck, owning a vehicle that can also tow your house might make sense.
But most folks prefer driving things like SUVs and trucks like Toyota Tacomas, which can usually tow only 2,500 – 3,500 (or with a towing package up to just about 7,000). So while these vehicles can be great for day-to-day activities, they are just a bit too small for towing a tiny house.
If you don’t need to move the house much it may be a better option to rent a moving truck to tow the house and simply keep a smaller car (or bike!) for getting around town. Many tiny house folks choose to take this route actually.
But if you’re set on buying a truck to tow your tiny house on a regular basis, I highly recommend reading about the journey’s of Jenna and Guillaume at Tiny House Giant Journey. They travel full time in their tiny house and have shared the true cost of towing a tiny house. Their house weights 10,100 pounds and they tow it with a Ford F-250 Diesel 4X4.
