Escape Homes of Rice Lake, Wisconsin, has been selling tiny homes since 2014, but business has never been this hot. “The pandemic was gasoline on the fire,” Dan Dobrowolski — the founder of Escape Homes — told Insider.Urban dwellers searching for greener pastures joined a movement that Dobrowlski says has been building across demographics and age groups. He’s seen this in every region where Escape has built homes as large as 388 square feet over the past 8 years, from California to New York, and even in Hawaii. The cost of the homes runs from about $43,600 to $93,261.As the pandemic deepened in 2020, Escape teamed up with the furniture giant IKEA to develop the outlet’s first tiny-home offering. The 187-square-foot unit was Escape’s Vista Boho XL model outfitted with IKEA furniture, and available through its website. Dobrowolski says the partnership was a “really easy match,” with both companies aligned on environmental issues. In other sustainability efforts, Escape has introduced some all-electric models. Other models were already close to being all-electric, but changing out cooking appliances, water heaters, and furnaces brought them to the next level, Dobrowolski said. Escape is also trying to transform neighborhoods. In 2020, the company opened its Escape Tiny Home Village — a cluster of 10 homes in a converted Tampa Bay, Florida, trailer park. The homes only take up about 20% of the acreage, leaving room for ample green space. Dobrowolski calls it a “neighborhood of the 21st century.” “It’s a much more efficient use of space, but at the same time gives you what people still think of as the American dream,” Dobrowolski said.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiwwFodHRwczovL3d3dy5idXNpbmVzc2luc2lkZXIuaW4vdGhlbGlmZS9uZXdzLzE0LXRpbnktaG9tZS1zdGFydHVwcy1zZXQtdG8tdHJhbnNmb3JtLXJlYWwtZXN0YXRlLWluLTIwMjMtYnktbWFraW5nLWhvdXNpbmctY2hlYXBlci1oZWxwaW5nLW93bmVycy1lYXJuLXBhc3NpdmUtaW5jb21lLWFuZC1tb3JlL3NsaWRlbGlzdC85NjY2NzI3Ny5jbXPSAQA?oc=5
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