Before you pay a tiny house deposit — the 2026 checklist

Updated 6 September 2026 · prices as published on the date shown; confirm directly with the builder

Three tiny house builders in Australia and New Zealand have collapsed since 2022 while holding customer deposits — Podular owing $9.29 million, My Little House leaving families more than $40,000 out of pocket each, Tiny Home & Co in liquidation with the tax office as a major creditor. In every case the buyers were unsecured creditors. A builder can legally spend your deposit. This is the ten-minute check that would have protected most of those customers.

1. Check the certification for your intended use

USA: NOAH or RVIA certification — required for finance and insurance. Ask for the certificate number.
Australia: THIA accreditation; for a home on wheels, a trailer built to VSB1 with a compliance plate; read the free ATHA Buyers Guide.
New Zealand: a Licensed Building Practitioner must design or supervise anything built under the 70 m² exemption — nobody else signs it off.
Canada: match the CSA standard to the use — A277 or Z240 MH for a permanent dwelling; Z240 RV / Z241 are recreational and refused as residences in Alberta and Quebec.
UK and Europe: BS 3632 for UK park-home standard; CE-marked components in the EU; check the legal category (caravan, light habitat, building) in your region.

2. Search the company register — free, two minutes

Australia: ASIC Connect company search and ASIC Published Notices (administration and liquidation notices are public).
New Zealand: Companies Office. UK: Companies House. Canada: the provincial corporate registry.
Look for: how long the company has existed, recent director changes, a previous company under the same people that was wound up (phoenix pattern), and any published insolvency notice.

3. Never pay a large deposit up front

Insist on staged payments tied to milestones you can see — trailer delivered, frame up, lock-up, fit-out, completion.
A holding deposit of a few thousand is normal; 30–50% before a trailer exists is not.
Ask whether deposits are held in a trust account. Most are not; if the answer is yes, get it in writing.

4. Insurance and warranty, in writing

Builder's public liability and, where the state requires it, home-warranty or insolvency-event cover.
A written structural warranty with the term stated; what it covers, what it excludes, who honours it if the company closes.

5. See the work

Visit the workshop. A builder with nothing on the floor and a full order book is a warning sign.
Speak to two recent customers, not the ones on the website.
Check the build calendar — some good builders are booked out for 2026 (Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses, for one); a builder who can start immediately in a busy market may have a reason.

6. Get everything in writing before the first payment

Inclusions and exclusions, completed weight, delivery area and cost, registration, and the approvals you are expected to obtain.
The price with a date on it. A builder's own quote beats any directory figure, including ours.

The three cases in brief. Podular (NZ, Dec 2022): $9,288,372 owed, up to 60 home-buyers among 217 creditors, still taking deposits weeks before liquidation. My Little House / Liberty Oz (AU, Jun 2024): administrator appointed; the director cited under-capitalisation and port storage fees; couples lost $42,000–43,000 each. Tiny Home & Co / Randolph Industries (AU, Sep 2024): liquidation; ATO among major creditors. None of these buyers had staged payments or trust-held deposits.

Sources

Listing here is not an endorsement. Tiny House Guide has no commercial relationship with these builders. Always check current trading status, certification and insurance before paying anything — see Before you pay a deposit and our disclaimer.