150 Countries Have An Opportunity To Solve A Global Dilemma
Hello everyone, this is Janet Thome, the founder and President of Tiny House Alliance USA. I am also the proponent to lead a new initiative to create a new Global Standard for Tiny Houses On Wheels utilizing the voluntary consensus process through ASTM. A group of stakeholders came together for our first call with ASTM on February 22nd, 2021 . We are in an exploratory phase to discover if this is the path that is best for our industry and for ASTM. At the meeting ASTM presented an overview of their process, I was asked to give a presentation and the stakeholders were allowed to ask questions.
No decisions were made. I was asked by a few people to write down what I said on the call and to dispel some rumors that are already circulating.
In order for this to make more sense, please read this blog post first.
Who Is ASTM?
ASTM is ANSI Accredited international standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, and services.
We have the potential to include 150 countries as stakeholders. We had representatives from the US, Canada, China and Australia.
Many countries are facing the same barriers for acceptance for tiny houses on wheels as a viable option for housing.
ASTM has relationships with all the governments of the world that will be invited to participate.
My Presentation On The First Call
I want to share the gist of what I said with a few more thoughts and also share how I discovered this opportunity almost two years ago.
I have been documenting the jurisdictions that have adopted Appendix Q Tiny Houses for almost 2 years and this pertains to tiny houses on a foundation. I started researching other standards developers and ran across a very old article written by an ASTM staff member that explained the process. I do not think it is in print anymore
The way she described the process was so simple and amazing, you almost think it is too good to be true and you would dismiss it because of that. Oh my goodness! This could be a standard that you could sit down with the whole world that has the same issues and barriers and it has the possibly of been adopted worldwide. Wow!
I am going to simplify what she said. Someone in an industry has an idea to create a standard often because of a lack of safety and you approach the idea to ASTM. You then give all the documentation backing up the fact that you need a standard and what the lack of it is causing.
There is a discovery process to determine if you fit in an existing committee or does your initiative fit in the development of a new committee? You gather a few stakeholders together for an open discussion and decide if it is a fit for both ASTM and the stakeholders involved. If both parties go forward with the initiative, an invitation goes out to any interested parties in the world, the stakeholders write the standard, and ASTM publishes it -and a new standard is born. I am oversimplying the process. Once again to have a deeper understanding, read the previous blog post, it has numerous links to ASTM that explains their process.
Who Are The Stakeholders For Our Industry?
Those Who Want It
Those Who Do Not
Industry Leaders
Organizations
Consumers
Policy Makers
Governments
Manufacturers
Insurance Providers
Lenders
NTSHA
DOT
ASTM facilitates an open consensus process and everyone will be allowed to participate. No one can be left out of this process. Having more money, or more skin in the game will not give you an edge over this process. The process is 90% consensus and will be cleansed of all personal interest or leaning in favor of one manufacturer or individual.
How to Make Your ASTM Standard the Standard the World Uses
Great real examples of ASTM committees that did not ot leave their international standards development to chance, nor did they delegate the recognition and acceptance of their standards to any force outside of the global marketplace. They debated long and hard about where to do their international work and about which process they would use to do it. Their strategy was to place the world’s best technology and its standards investment where it was to be most quickly and efficiently updated and maintained, where international membership and input was individualized: ASTM International.
Why Am I Excited About The Process?
We Have The Opportunity To Be In Charge Of Our Own Destiny
Have you ever turned a certain age and looked around at the state the world is in and realized maybe you should have been involved as an advocate for a cause and you realize you left it for someone else to take care of and you do not like what you see?
My opinion is if we do not take charge of our own industry, someone else is going to do it for us and we are not going to like the outcome. I have seen signs of this and that is why this initiative is so important to me.
ASTM is offering our industry an opportunity to shape our own destiny and future instead of leaving it to chance or leaving it in the hands of a few who might not have thought out all the implications that would effect the whole industry.
We Are A Grassroots Movement
We are a grassroots movement of builders, DIYers, organizations, advocates, homeowners, inclusive of all ages, nonprofits, etc…The tiny house dwellers just want to live in peace and not have to live under the radar. The advocates want to blast open the door for affordable housing.
We have made great strides but in most places it is not legal and people are being evicted or snitched on by their neighbors and in the courts they are arguing is a tiny house on wheels a vehicle or a building?
Our industry has inspired TV Shows, movies, you tube channels, affordable housing summits and think tanks. All over the nation and world tiny house destinations are springing up tiny house villages are being created to house the homeless, our beloved veterans, the elderly and disabled and displaced. Many are seeking community to support each other in tiny house villages. The encouragement of multi generational housing is a hot topic in jurisdictions that want to increase density and a tiny house on wheels is the ideal home as a backyard cottage.
Have you ever seen more pride in the faces of these amazing people that are on the you tube videos? Those amazing students who built tiny houses for veterans in Texas, our my dear friend Melanie who built her home in 7 days at an Incredible Tiny House workshop and is now living legally on her own land with a home that is paid for and land that she is paying for that is less than $100.00 after she went through the county and they backed her to live there legally as a dwelling.
Or how about the 80 year old senior woman that now lives in a home she built herself without previous skills, or that darling 11 year old girl that poised proudly in her pearls that converted a little space to her tiny home herself. The happy stories are endless.
The world has a deep love affair for tiny houses and we are not a trend or a fad, we are here to stay and it is time to get legitimate.
The Tiny House Industry Thrived During COVID
Small Business Model Still Standing
The Tiny House Industry is one of the few small business models that was not decimated by COVID. The demand has gone through the roof. A tiny house is the perfect small isolation space, for disaster relief and is the first to go solution for affordable housing. Other markets have emerged such as backyard offices, renting a tiny house by the day that are rolled in, rural AirBnBs have thrived and cities are spending millions of dollars for tiny house villages.
Safety Issues
The issue of safety is very much on the minds of many advocates and builders because we are still seeing tiny houses without egress windows and houses that do not have as many axles that they need to safely support the tiny house-we need our own standard and we need it now.
Affordability
A huge amount of the stakeholders in the tiny house industry is the do it yourself builders ( DIYers) and small builders that are starting out or the craftsman that wants to build a few exceptional tiny houses a year. Affordability is a big factor in the decisions we make. I had that in mind when I approached ASTM.
ASTM E541 : This Standard Is Very Important For Affordability
ASTM has been on my radar partly because of an ASTM standard titled ASTM E541. I became aware of this standard because I received a phone call almost 2 years ago and I was told that the 3rd party agency that was certifying the park models for a builder I worked for had lost the ability to certify because this standard had been withdrawn without replacement. This call was from their competitor. I was told a lot more outrageous things and of course after I hung up, I shared this with the 3rd party agency. This rumor was spread to all the builders, Facebook and on a blog posts by the competitor.
ASTM E541 is basically what personnel of a 3rd party certification agency must adhere to, such as having a physical office, engineers on staff, etc……
ASTM E541 is still currently in the HUD code as of Jan. 13th, 2021 and is on the HCD website for California quality inspectors that inspect on their behalf.
California Department Of Housing And Community Development
A Quality Assurance Inspector ‘Original’ applicant must satisfy all the provisions of ASTM Standard E 541, Part B, 14 and T25, CCR, Chapter 3, Section 4856
Note: ASTM Standard E 541 was withdrawn without a replacement in January 2019.
Withdrawn Rationale:
This specification was initiated to meet the needs of regulatory programs for the certification of manufactured building.
Formerly under the jurisdiction of Committee E36 on Accreditation & Certification, this specification was withdrawn in January 2019 in accordance with section 10.6.3 of the Regulations Governing ASTM Technical Committees, which requires that standards shall be updated by the end of the eighth year since the last approval date.
1.4 This specification covers criteria by which the technical resources of agencies, both governmental and private, may be evaluated for their capability to perform the system analysis or compliance assurance function, or combination thereof, in the evaluation and inspection (certification) of manufactured building. Practice E651/E651M may be used for the evaluation of such agencies.
Agencies involved in testing, quality assurance and evaluating building components can be evaluated by using Practice E699.
Why Is ASTM E541 So Important
After further researching ASTM E541 with ASTM that a standard can still be referenced and utilized even if it has been withdrawn and is still valid.
All of the valid 3rd party agencies started their companies adhering to these requirements, it has been used for decades.
What I have discovered that has become very alarming to me and others is there is a push to have accreditation cost for the 3rd party agencies to the tune of $20,000 a year in the US and $20,000 a year in Canada to become the minimum level. That cost would trickle down to the builder, the consumer and leave only the largest manufacturers and certification agencies standing and in my opinion would have a devastating impact on our industry.
If we end up writing standards for tiny houses with ASTM, we could create a path for certification and ASTM E541 could be crucial for this step.
Waiting For The Other Shoe To Drop
Because we do not have a standard, we are at the mercy of the confusion with the building departments or government officials such as when Oregon stopped titling park models and tiny houses for 2 years which caused an 8 million dollar loss of potential revenue or the recent fiasco in Maine. We will always be waiting for the other shoe to drop until we have our own standard.
We are constantly at the whim of different interpretations and misinformation that is constantly circulating with no accurate why to fact check what is being said.
Dispelling A Myth
ASTM Can Write Standards On Any Industry
There is a continued myth being spread right now that ASTM only writes standards on materials. Not correct.
ASTM facilitates the process, they can write standards for any industry that has the need that they are interested in who can bring the experts of their own industry to write the standard. ASTM does not write the standard, the stakeholders do and ASTM publishes the standard.
This is at no cost to the stakeholders, except for each member to join ASTM for $75.00 a year.
Why Is This The Time?
I feel it is an opportune time, we are seeing changes in zoning and in jurisdictions that we never thought we would see in our lifetime, ADUs being sold separately to a main house, 4 houses allowed on one lot, the death of the single family dwelling, etc….
The International Code Council Connection To ICC
ASTM Aligns With ICC To Promote Resilient Construction Practice
An early-May webinar series timed with the International Code Council’s Building Safety Month, coupled with ICC and Alliance for National Community Resilience partnerships, highlight a longstanding ASTM International commitment to developing standards for safe and resilient construction.
“ASTM and the global construction industry have long partnered to promote progress and innovation in building homes, offices, and other facilities worldwide,” says Director of External Relations Jim Olshefsky. “Increases in severe weather events and changing climate conditions have underscored the need for resilient construction and increased use of codes and standards to protect citizens from disasters.”
The Hurricane Windborne Debris Webinar, May 6 at 2:00 p.m. (EST), will see speaker David Hattis discuss the impact of windborne debris on building performance, plus ASTM E1886 Standard Test Method for Performance of Exterior Windows, Curtain Walls, Doors, and Impact Protective Systems Impacted by Missile(s) and Exposed to Cyclic Pressure Differentials and E1996 Standard Specification for Performance of Exterior Windows, Curtain Walls, Doors, and Impact Protective Systems Impacted by Windborne Debris in Hurricanes. The Infrastructure Management Webinar, May 20 at 2:00 p.m. (EST), will feature speaker Marty Rowland examining the curtainwall fire at London’s Grenfell Tower, plus discussion of ASTM E3210 Standard Practice for Infrastructure Management.
The free webinars coincide with Building Safety Month weeks one and three themes: Disaster Preparedness and Resiliency, Sustainability, Innovation. Registration can be obtained here.
We Have To Come Together As An Industry
We have to come together as an industry and be unified by our common goal. Can we do this? Yes we can. Everyone gets to have a say in this, have your voice heard.
The Future Of Tiny Is Now!
Beautiful Message
I received a beautiful message from a lovely friend to inspire me for the first call with ASTM.
Please Contact Janet Thome To Be Notified For The Next Call
Tiny House Alliance USA Editor
The Future Of Tiny Is Now!
Janet Thome Founder And President
janet@tinyhouseallianceusa.org
509 345 2013
Founder Of Tiny Portable Cedar Cabins