Before anyone places an order for a custom tiny house trailer, the same handful of questions always come up, and for good reason. Your trailer isn’t just a frame; it’s the entire foundation of your home. Getting it right means everything else goes smoother. These are the 5 questions all customers ask before buying their tiny house trailer.
Here are the top 5 questions we get asked every day and how we help customers find the right answers.
1. How much does a tiny house trailer cost?
This is the first question we get in almost every conversation. And honestly, it’s a great place to start. The cost depends on the trailer’s width, length, weight rating, and the options you add (such as flush crossmembers, drop axles, or a gooseneck). It also varies based on where we’re building it since we have factories across the country.
While we have over 390 different trailer sizes, it would be too much to list here so here is a couple of quick prices on some significant features that can help guide you when deciding on a size and width.
Costs of Different Deck Widths
8ft 6in wide tiny house trailers are considered our standard size. From there, you can get a 10ft wide model which is a $2200 option over the cost of the 8ft 6in wide tiny house trailer. Then we offer 11ft wide decks, which is a $3800 option over the 8ft 6in wide deck, and lastly, our 12ft wide deck, which is a $4400 option. With any of these sizes, you can choose any inch increment between those ranges, for example 11ft 10in wide deck.
Cost of Goosneck Versus Bumper Pull
When adding a gooseneck option to a trailer, it will add 8ft of buildable platform on the gooseneck hitch and a total of 8ft total length to your selected length for the lower deck. this gooseneck option will add $2600 to the cost of the selected trailer, if it is a 10ft wide gooseneck, it will be $3349 and a 12ft wide gooseneck will be $3849. This extra cost for the 10ft – 12ft wide gooseneck will only apply to the actual gooseneck package; You will still have that added cost to the lower deck as mentioned in the above paragraph.
We price everything up front with no hidden fees. If you want real and up-to-date numbers for your exact trailer, just fill out our quote form and we’ll send you a detailed estimate.
2. Should I go with a deckover or a trailer with fenders?
This one depends on your layout and how you plan to build.
Deckover Trailer
A deckover trailer gives you a flat, unobstructed surface from side to side and for the full length, great if you don’t want to deal with wheel wells. But it sits higher off the ground at 34-35in, which reduces vertical interior space and loft height. So this style is recommended if you don’t plan on having sleeping lofts.
Standard Deck With Fenders
A standard trailer with fenders keeps your house lower, which is ideal for maximizing headroom in your loft. The tradeoff? You’ll need to design and build around the wheel wells. If you’re looking to have a sleeping loft, this is the route most people go. Deck height with standard axles is 26in above grade and 22in with the optional drop axles.
Quick Note: Standard Fenders are 10in Wide x 10in Tall Above the Trailer Deck. Drop Axle Fenders are 10in wide x 14in Tall Above the Trailer Deck.
We’ve built thousands of both styles and can help you figure out what works best for your design.
3. Can I build a 10ft or 12ft wide tiny house and is it worth it?
Yes, you can and for a lot of people, it’s absolutely worth it. That extra space changes everything inside the house: bigger kitchens, Plenty of room for stairs, full-size furniture, more open layouts. It just feels better. That is why over 95% of trailers ordered in 2025 are 10ft wide and wider.
Of course, going wider does mean you’re dealing with wide-load permits, planning for delivery routes, and coordinating transport. However, we do this every day and can walk you through exactly what’s involved. Additionally, the wide load permits range from $14 to $55 per state.
Pro-Tip: When choosing a 12ft wide trailer deck, we recommend going with an 11ft 10in wide deck so you don’t have to deal with pilot cars and only have wide load permits.
Joshua & Shelley Engberg
“We lived in an 8ft 6in-wide tiny house for over 10 years, and we made it work. However, once we built a 10-foot-wide version, we realized just how cramped we were. It’s like going from coach to first class.”
If you’re on the fence between 8.5ft and 10–12ft, we wrote a whole article about that here:
👉 Should You Build a 10ft or 12ft Wide Tiny House?
4. How long does it take to build a trailer right now?
Lead times vary depending on the season, your trailer size, and which factory we are building it at. On average, you can expect around 3 to 6 weeks, though during some times of the year it can be much less.
Once we know your desired trailer length and width and location, we’ll let you know what’s realistic and we will always communicate along the way if anything changes.
5. What features do I actually need… and what’s just nice to have?
Not everyone needs all the bells and whistles. But some upgrades make a huge difference in the build process and speed things up. A few of our most popular options:
- Flush crossmembers: Use the trailer as your subfloor and speed up the build.
- Drop axles: Lowers your deck height for and extra of 4in of headroom loft headroom.
- Deckover: If you don’t want a loft, Easier to build on and recommended for 10ft – 12ft wide trailers
- Threaded rods: Allows you to bolt your framing to the trailer using simpson strong ties to hold the framing down like HTT4 & HTT5 Heavy Tension Tie. (can be placed in custom locations or our selected default locations)
- Extended tongues: Gives you added space for utility boxes or for custom bumpouts
- Custom Bump Outs: Allows you to add extra interior space built out on you tongue or to use as a exterior-built storage shed.
If you’re not sure which features you need, we’ll walk you through your build plan and help you decide what’s worth based on your layout and budget.
Bonus Question: Do You Offer Plans?
Yes, we do… and like everything we build, our plans are fully custom. We’ve been offering made-to-order tiny house plans since 2014. Whether you’re building on a 20ft bumper pull or a 40ft x 12ft deckover, we’ll tailor the design to fit your exact trailer size, layout goals, and lifestyle.
All of our plans are built in 3D, and the process starts by working with you to establish a solid framework based on your needs. From there, we create a 3D model and send you interactive links and apps so you can visually walk through your space, getting a real sense of how it flows and feels. It’s a collaborative process that allows you to tweak and refine the design before any construction begins.
Once your design is approved, we’ll build a detailed plan set with elevations and floor plans to guide your tiny house build. You can lean on our experience to make sure your floor plan not only works now, but continues to work for you long term.
We also offer a set of ready-to-go plans based on our popular 28ft “Entertaining Abode,” but most of our customers choose something fully custom, and that’s what we love to do.
👉 Check out our custom plans here
Wrapping Up
These 6 questions come up in nearly every conversation we have and they’re the right questions to ask. Your trailer sets the stage for everything that comes next, and getting it right at the start saves you time, money, and stress later on.
If you’re in the early stages and want help thinking it all through, we’re here for that.
Let’s build your tiny house foundation the right way, together! (life-time consultation included with all trailer orders!)