Ruru Tiny Homes - Australia

06/10/2026

06/10/2026

This is an example from New Zealand.

The ruru owl — a small native New Zealand owl and our namesake — lives in native timber forests.

The name, the bird, the material: they connect.

We build in the stuff New Zealand is made of. Douglas Fir from managed NZ forests. Joinery from NZ aluminium. Quality insulation, and NZ-made tapware where available.

There's a coherence to choosing materials that come from where the home is going to live. Not as a marketing claim but as a real preference for things that make sense together — the landscape, the climate, the building culture, and the material.

A home that's made from things that belong to its place has a different quality to one that's made from global commodities assembled without thought.

We think about this. We've always thought about it.

The ruru lives in the forest. Ruru homes are built from it.

That feels right to us. 🦉🌲

📞 0433 114 155 | rurutinyhomes.com.au

05/10/2026

Built-in wardrobes.

Freestanding furniture eats a small home. Built-in storage gives you the same capacity and about a square metre of floor back.

Worth asking for at the design stage, because it's very hard to add later.

📞 0433 114 155 | rurutinyhomes.com.au

05/10/2026

Would they do it again?

"Nothing short of amazing, we love our Ruru and would not hesitate to buy another if we were looking again. From the first contact, to fixing a fault with the oven, the service has been first class."

– Toroa owner, Google review ★★★★★

Every review on our Google page is from a real owner. Search Ruru Tiny Homes New Zealand.

📞 021 190 4155 | rurutinyhomes.nz

05/10/2026

This is an example from New Zealand.

One of our early designs - The original RURU - with our first trial of a new finish.

📞 0433 114 155 | rurutinyhomes.com.au

04/10/2026

Nest units.

Small standalone pods. An office, a guest room, a teenager who needs their own door, or the extra space that stops a house feeling full.

Not everyone needs a whole home. Sometimes you need one more room.

📞 0433 114 155 | rurutinyhomes.com.au

04/10/2026

The deck entry.

Tiny homes benefit from a transition zone — even a small one — between outside and inside. Somewhere to arrive, possibly even hang coats, drop bags, kick off muddy boots, put wet umbrellas. Somewhere that contains the chaos of arriving before it reaches the calm of the living space.

In a conventional home this is taken for granted. In a tiny home it has to be planned.

We can design a mud room entry into the layout — a small transition zone at the front door with coat hooks built in, a bench for boots, somewhere that does the work of separating outdoor life from indoor life.

It doesn't require much space. But it has an outsized effect on how tidy and calm the main living area stays on a daily basis.

The alternative is hanging your wet coat on the back of the bedroom door and leaving your boots in the middle of the kitchen. None of these are good.

Build the mud room entry in. Future you will thank current you every single rainy day.

📞 0433 114 155 | rurutinyhomes.com.au

03/10/2026

This is an example from New Zealand.

The Kererū layout (the Wompoo concept here in Australia).

📞 0433 114 155 | rurutinyhomes.com.au

03/10/2026

FOR SALE EX BRISBANE
There's one Brolga XS UQ home, and it's for sale.

It's the first home we're building in Australia, inside the structures lab at The University of Queensland in St Lucia, as part of a timber research project. Framed, closed in and fitted out under a roof, so the timber never sees a drop of rain.

AUD 199,000 incl GST, excl transport, with the upgrades already covered (usually an extra):

- split-system air conditioning
- timber slat balustrade
- 2 m servery window over the breakfast bar
- 1.8 m sliding door
- built-in couch and stairs, both with storage
- brushed brass tapware
- tiled shower
- U Shaped Kitchen with lots of upgrades
- Cork Flooring

8 x 3 m, two bedrooms upstairs (each with its own door), a U-shaped kitchen and a double-height living room. Under 4.6 m on a registered, braked, roadworthy trailer.

The build starts on 6 October. It'll be finished in early December, and ready to move to its new home after the showcase week.

One thing to know: a double storey on wheels can't be approved as a permanent dwelling, because it has to stay under 4.6 m for the road. Tell us what your council has said and we'll look into it with you.

Comment SPEC or send us a message and we'll send you the full spec sheet. Or call Fran on 0433 114 155.

Interior images are visualisations. We'll post build updates every week.

rurutinyhomes.com.au

03/10/2026

This is an example from New Zealand.

"I downsized in my sixties.

I want to say something to the other people in my position who are thinking about it and not quite ready to make the call.

The big house after the kids left was an act of inertia. I stayed in it because I'd always been in it and because leaving felt like acknowledging something I wasn't ready to acknowledge.

My Little Ruru (the Wren here in Australia) is the first home I've had that is completely, entirely mine. Not too much space, not too little. Not shaped by the needs of a family that has moved on. Shaped by my actual daily life now.

The freedom of that — the physical freedom of a space that asks nothing of you that you're not using — is something I didn't expect to feel as strongly as I do.

I have lower costs. I have lower maintenance. I have more time. I have a home I walk into and feel immediately, completely comfortable in.

The fear of going smaller is real. I had it too.

It wasn't warranted. "

📞 0433 114 155 | rurutinyhomes.com.au