Ruru tiny homes

05/09/2026

What I love most about my own company is that I can make the call if something is possible or not. And man, things are possible.

One of our very first units and clients taught me. Erin and Scott, well known for their Olympic achievements in New Zealand, ordered a Tiny Home from us to be taken into the Abel Tasman National Park, where there is no road access, no roads even, no infrastructure, and no .... nothing. Other than beautiful nature.

How would we possibly get it there? We took it on, and we did. It was fantastic, and something I keep coming back to, loving the memories, challenges, learnings and the incredibly happy result. I get a call from Erin every now and then to chat, which is dear to me, and they still have the home, use it, for themselves, friends, guests - in a unique setting.

04/09/2026

LED strip lighting.

Under the mezzanine edge. Along kitchen bench undersides. Behind shelving. At the base of the staircase.

This is the detail that costs very little to add in the build phase and changes everything about how the home feels in the evening.

Not overhead light, which flattens a small space and makes it feel like an office. Layered light. Ambient light that warms the room without demanding attention.

I started noticing this in client homes more and more — the ones who'd specified the strip lighting. The difference at 7pm on a winter evening between those homes and the ones without it was remarkable. The space felt warm and considered and inhabited in a way that bare overhead lighting doesn't produce.

It's the kind of detail that you don't notice explicitly when it's there — you just feel that the home is nice at night — but you'd notice immediately if it was gone.

Small, inexpensive, meaningful. That's the category of detail we love.

📞 021 190 4155 | rurutinyhomes.nz 💡✨

04/09/2026

Whow - that's one of the most beautifully upgraded and home we've built in a Toroa Standard Layout for a long time, I'm stunned by the images coming through the Friday Progress Shots today! Congratulations Ira, this is a masterpiece!

03/09/2026

Every model. Every build. Same standard. No exceptions.

I want to put that in writing here because I think it's important to say explicitly.

When you choose a Toroa XS — our smallest, most affordable model — you are getting the same Bradford Gold insulation as the Moa. The same double glazed windows. The same certified electrical. The same three-year workmanship warranty. The same quality of framing, same grade of timber, same Alpine Clad cladding.

The footprint is smaller. The price is lower. The standard is identical.

We don't build good homes at the top of the range and adequate homes at the bottom. We build good homes. At every price point. Every time.

This is a deliberate policy that occasionally makes things harder for us financially and we've never once considered changing it.

Because the people who choose the XS are just as deserving of a well-built home as the people who choose the Moa.

Same standard. No exceptions.

📞 021 190 4155 | rurutinyhomes.nz ✅

03/09/2026

4x12m custom WHIO design - this one is a vintage lovers delight. So many details, and personal choices - we can't WAIT to see it finished with furniture and all the quirky beautiful additions. The client of Ruru Tiny Homes New Zealand is finishing the kitchen fronts herself. We just LOVE this build.

02/09/2026

A client who had been through a pretty rough few years personally bought a Little Ruru — downsizing by herself after a significant life change. She'd been nervous about the whole thing. Nervous about the decision, nervous about the process, nervous about starting again.

She messaged six months after handover.

'Moving into that home was the first decision in three years that felt entirely mine. Not negotiated, not compromised. Mine. I'm so glad I did it.'

That's the thing about tiny home living that doesn't get talked about enough: the ownership of the decision itself. When you choose a smaller life deliberately — when you design it and price it and build it on your own terms — the home carries that intention.

It's not just walls and a roof. It's the physical evidence that you made a choice for yourself.

We feel honoured to have been part of that. 💚

01/09/2026

Credit where it's due. The Dunedin City Council has done something most councils haven't — written the rules down in plain English and put them somewhere people can actually find them.

Their pages on ancillary residential units and family flats answer the question we get asked more than any other: can I put a second small home on my property, for my mum, my daughter, or myself? In the residential zones an ancillary unit is permitted up to 60 square metres, and there's no rule about who lives in it. Out in the rural and rural residential zones a family flat does the same job, up to 60 square metres, within 30 metres of the main house, sharing the driveway and services, lived in by family. Both still depend on your own site meeting the density and site area rules, and on what overlays sit over your land, so it's worth checking your property rather than assuming. But the framework is clear, and clear is rare.

We have two Dunedin homes on the books right now, ordered within weeks of each other, both due for delivery in the next few months. One is going on wheels. The other is fixed on piles as a minor unit. Two different pathways, same outcome — family close by, on land they already own.

A tiny home on wheels does not need a building consent. The only real question is whether your zone allows a second home on the site. If you're in Dunedin and wondering where you stand, send us a message. We've done the work on this one.

31/08/2026

Ready to be moved in is Ira's beautiful home, a dream in the making, last finishing details negotiated on the land lease and soon this home will be home - how incredible the light hits the timber in this one in the morning! We can't wait to see what it's like if she has put her own personal touch to it.

28/08/2026

28/08/2026

If you are running two companies across two countries, you work every day closely with your team, but mostly on video calls phones emails and messages. It is such a delight, on occasions like the Tiny Homes Expo in Australia right now, to come together and spend some actual time at work and after work, enjoying that work life balance we are missing out on daily task due to the distance. I’m so glad Kim is with me starting up presenting Ruru Australia to the public on this first outing, enjoying dinner seafood and sunshine ☀️ after work