Come the first week of April, there will be a tiny house rolling into town. It’s not just any 24-foot tiny house on wheels. It’s a newly completed high-performance tiny house “lab,” built by Chicago-based couple Grace and Corbett Lunsford.
Thanks to partnering with St. Johns Housing Partnership, St. Augustine marks the first tour stop on their 20-city national tour. You can find them here April 3 through 9, with their tiny house lab, onsite and outdoors at the St. Augustine Record, located at 1 News Place.
The Lunsford’s mission is simple: to revolutionize the home market by teaching consumers and contractors alike to use scientific testing to prove the work gets done to quality standards.
PROOF IS POSSIBLE
Grace and Corbett are jacks of many trades. Together they are both musicians and home building afficianados. Corbett works with homeowners and home professionals through home performance diagnostics, and together, the pair will be teaching communities how to harness the power of performance testing by showing off proof — their new tiny house lab.
The tiny house itself aims to lead as an example. “This is a home that has been designed and equipped to perform better than anything you’ve ever been in before,” stated Corbett Lunsford, on the duo’s promotional video.
You don’t have to be an advocate for tiny living to come check out the Proof Is Possible event. Regardless of your own preferred home size, this tour is all about high quality and efficiency in building, with the intention of equipping communities to build new homes and improve old homes, better than ever.
“Building performance is an overall concept that promotes thinking of the house as an entire system. Not building any one part properly can have a ripple effect on the performance of other parts. I think this tour hopes to do several things: raise the bar on consumers understanding what they can purchase, and how to ask for it; educate realtors on how improved building performance might increase value or help sell a home faster; and offer builders another way to promote the quality of what they are producing,” explained Bill Lazar, Executive Director of St. Johns Housing Partnership.
Along with offering daily tours of the tiny house lab, during their week-long tour stop, Grace and Corbett will be offering hands-on opportunities for homeowners and for building professionals, and then introducing the two groups together, so that work can happen once the tour leaves town.
Meanwhile, St. Johns Housing Partnership is working to generate more opportunities for collaboration while the tour is in town; including partnering with local academies to encourage student involvement, and hosting a workshop on Friday April 8 specifically geared toward builders and construction professionals, emphasizing building performance.
“I think building performance is part of the future of the building industry. It’s all about higher quality, sometimes without having to increase costs much, reducing warranty calls and consumer complaints – which are no fun for anyone, homeowner or builder,” said Lazar. ” ‘Build it right the first time,’ starts with educating the workforce on simple things that can improve performance and are easier to catch while under construction than afterwards.”
Beyond the Proof is Possible Tour events, while on the road, Grace and Corbett will be filming their new show “Home Diagnosis” where they introduce mystery home problems, and educate the public on how to diagnosis and solve. They are looking for one home to feature on each tour stop. If you live in St. Augustine and have a home with some mysterious problems in need of solving, get in touch with Corbett via the building performance workshop contact page.
PROOF IS POSSIBLE TOUR
WHERE: St. Augustine Record, 1 News Place (off 207); outdoor event
WHEN: April 3 – 9, all day
DETAILS: www.proofispossible.com
Learn more about St. Johns Housing Partnership at www.sjhp.org. Follow St. Johns Housing Partnership on Facebook to stay up with event details.
