We did a version of tiny house living while building our small (925 sq ft) home, so I can share some of the pros and cons. We had two small cabins- the first we bought from the local mennonites so we wouldn't need to sleep in a tent every time we came to our property. It's 10' x 12' with a 4' covered porch, no lofts. The second is our "kitchen shed"' which is 10' x 16' with 4' covered porch and 2 lofts, also from the Mennonites. They do very good work at a reasonable price. Note that these do not technically count as tiny houses, since they are wider than 8' and thus require a wide load permit to transport on main roads.
We winterized both (insulation, finish walls and floors) added heat, and a propane range in the kitchen shed. No power or running water, just a sink that drained to a bucket; water we pumped from our well into jerrycans and then into an in-wall tank operated by footpump faucet like you see in boats. Composting toilet in a separate outbuilding.
Pros:
- got us living on our land and not in a crappy rental in town two years before the house was done. Saved lots on rent, even considering what we spent on the kitchen shed. This also helped us design a house appropriate for the site since we were there all the time to observe and revise our plans.
- forced us to purge stuff, and live with the bare minimum. We have slightly more now that we are in the house, but not much
-easy to clean!
- felt like an adventure, and we still feel pretty badass having done it.
Cons:
- ventilation and mold issues. We insulated but probably should have foamed all the seams. Any place that cold air hit the warm air in the winter, we had to deal with mold. Vinegar and tea tree oil were our weapon of choice.
-ventilation and carbon monoxide issues. We knew this would probably be an issue so we had a CO monitor. We had to open a window or two whenver we cooked. We avoided anything that had to burble on the stovetop for more than 15 minutes. The oven produced less, so we baked a lot in the winter. We also had a propane refrigerator that tried to kill us twice- because of the small air volume, any combustion hiccup became a big problem. BE VERY VERY CAREFUL ABOUT THIS IF YOU USE ANY NON-ELECTRIC APPLIANCES
I would recommend Lloyd Kahn's books and websites for inspiration and PAD for plans- they have a $20 ebook that was helpful, even though we didn't do the home on wheels version.
FWIW, if we go for the move-able tiny home living in the future, I am leaning toward the sprinter-type van conversion, mostly because neither one of us likes dealing with a trailer, or the hefty truck one needs to haul a full on stick built tiny home.