Matt Goodwin, the co-owner of Brick West Brewing Co., and a silent partner have formed JTMG Construction Solutions #2 to operate as a franchisee of Anchored Tiny Homes, a Sacramento, California-based company that specializes in designing and building accessory dwelling units.

The Spokane-based franchise, which opened last month, is doing business as Anchored Tiny Homes of Spokane & North Idaho.

Anchored Tiny Homes builds ADUs, also known as in-law suites, granny flats, or carriage houses, that typically range in size from 240 square feet to 1,200 square feet, according to the company's website. The company offers around 15 layouts of studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom ADU models that customers can choose from. Customizable options are also available and can be designed to include up to three bedrooms.

“We have set plans that we can try to stay within for cost effectiveness and efficiency,” Goodwin says. “But if somebody wants a modern farmhouse ADU, for example, we can do it.”

Goodwin expects that about 70% of the company’s business will come from family-helping-family situations, for example ADUs built for aging parents who don’t want to live in a retirement home or recent graduates who can’t afford to live on their own yet.

“That other 30% is going to be the investor that wants to build a build-to-rent community of these or has a rental and wants to increase their cash flow and throw one on the backyard,” Goodwin says. “It’s a good investment too, as it will actually add value to the property.”

Goodwin had been searching for opportunities to buy a business when a friend of his stumbled upon Anchored Tiny Homes. He fell in love with the concept and the solution it can provide to help address the housing shortage, he says.

High housing costs combined with high interest rates make it difficult for people to buy a house these days, Goodwin says.

“That, on top of the very friendly ADU laws and the missing middle housing they’re trying to solve, it just checked all the boxes and made a lot of sense for us to do this here,” Goodwin says.

Middle housing is a term used to describe the residential housing that fills the gap between single-family detached homes and larger multifamily apartments, according to the city of Spokane website.

Recently enacted Washington state and city of Spokane laws, for example, the state’s House Bill 1110 and Spokane’s Unit Lot Subdivisions and Building Opportunity for Housing ordinances, aim to address the lack of middle housing available by easing restrictions and allowing more units per lot and flexible creation of lots of varying sizes and types.

One Spokane customer is planning to have Anchored Tiny Homes build four ADUs on a property that has an old house that isn’t in a livable condition, Goodwin says.

“We’re going to put together a plan for him to tear (the house) down and utilize the new friendly zoning in Spokane where we can put four ADUs on the property,” says Goodwin. “We’ll do the permitting, the zoning, the building.”

Anchored Tiny Homes’ ADUs range in price from about $90,000 up to about $200,000 depending on finishes, fixtures, and design choices, Goodwin says.

“(Customers) can use our standard inclusions, which are all high-quality finishes,” he says. “Or if they have products they like and they prefer, or a look that they’re trying to go for, we can modify that design to fit their needs.”

The business provides free on-site property evaluations, during which the Anchored Tiny Homes team looks at factors like water, sewer, and power.

“Through our technology platforms, we can actually take renderings of the units we have and plop them on a 3D Google Earth map,” Goodwin says.

Once the evaluation is completed, the design process ensues. Customers can go through the design with Goodwin, or for more sophisticated designs, work with Josh Hissong, of Spokane-based HDG Architecture.

Anchored Tiny Homes of Spokane & North Idaho has four employees who handle all of the customer-facing facets of the business, Goodwin says.

The company contracts with local general contractors for construction of the ADUs, which are stick-built, as opposed to being prefabricated.

“It’s not modular, it’s not mobile,” he says. “It’s a real tiny house.”

Goodwin says he quotes the time frame of the entire process, from the permitting stage through completion of the construction, at about six to eight months, depending on the city a customer is in and how long the permitting process takes.

While Anchored Tiny Homes specializes in designing and building ADUs, it also offers garage construction or conversion, pool houses, home offices, backyard gyms, and more.

The business has garnered a lot of interest since opening last month, Goodwin says.

“We’ve had over 200 leads come in,” he says.

Goodwin and his team currently operate out of their homes, however, he plans to build a model unit that can be used as an office and a showroom.