Meet ZenniHome, changing the game in STR "Tiny Homes"

The Offer Sheet readers —

Today we’re thrilled to bring you the story of ZenniHome, who we believe will change the game for STR tiny homes.

Not only are these tiny homes easily transportable and stackable making for great scalability in an STR business, but they are also transformable inside, say between day and night to maximize the space.

We sit down with the ZenniHome team (who have already raised over $6.4MM+ on WeFunder) to delve into how exactly their model works, how STR investors can benefit and potentially scale their portfolio, how the homes transform inside, what makes them stand out from competition and much more!

Let’s Go! 👇🏼

What exactly is ZenniHome and how do I get one on my piece of land?

Overview Video: https://vimeo.com/zennihome

ZenniHome manufactures a new category of housing called FASST – Factory built, Advanced tech, Stackable, Sustainable, Transportable. We have two base models: the 640 sq ft Citizen and the 320 sq ft Denizen that leverage robotic furniture to make each room multi-use.The homes are designed with a beautiful high quality living experience in mind featuring floor to ceiling glass and high end finishes, all at an attainable price point. 

To be clear, these are not just renderings. We are actively in production at our factory in Page, AZ.

For individual units, $100 Reservations can be placed on our website (https://zennihome.com/products/citizen) to lock your place in the queue.

Large scale projects can be submitted here (https://zennihome.com/products/zencity-for-developers) to begin discussions with our team. A deposit will secure factory line time to complete your project.

The full process including zoning, permitting, financing, general contractors, shipping, installation etc is outlined on our site here https://zennihome.com/pages/our-process. As with any home, there is a bit of prep work but once the home is shipped, it installs on-site in a matter of days. Each unit comes finished in two halves from the factory that are joined and installed quickly on site.

I think the concept of ZenniHome will allow STR investors to scale their portfolio with uniquely designed “tiny” homes in a somewhat scalable fashion? Do you agree?

Absolutely. The flexibility of these units is unmatched. Because of the size, price point, and stackability, an investor could simply add an ADU on a small property, or develop a project in phases say 10 homes at a time as their capital allows. They are like lego blocks. To give you an idea of how far we can push density, we’re currently in production on a 90 unit project called “29 West” on Main Street in Mesa, AZ with our partner Caliber.

The units are stacked 5 high over a retail podium on just a half acre of land. Interested in more beds per rental? We have “rambled” designs for 3,4,5 and 6 bedroom configurations with a beautiful covered shared patio space in between for larger families etc. While we don’t change the floor plans of the individual units (so we can streamline like car manufacturing), you can configure them in all sorts of amazing ways to achieve your needs.

Are short term rental investors some of your ideal clients?

Yes. As the STR market has become increasingly competitive, renters are looking for more and more unique experiences when making their decisions. Our robotic bed that descends out of the ceiling to transform the room really makes an impression.

It never gets old showing people how this works in our tourable prototypes (book here: https://zennihome.com/pages/tours). We are seeing an incredible amount of interest from STR investors in single units all the way up to hundreds of units in both high density and sprawling configurations.

I was fascinated by your concept of robotic walls, transforming the space in real time, and maximizing your living area. Can you describe that more and / or share a video?

Think about a traditional home - when you sleep, you use your bedrooms and waste the rest of your house. When you’re awake you use your kitchen/living room and waste the bedrooms. However, you are always paying to heat/cool and paid a lot up front to build the spaces in the first place. It’s hugely inefficient. 

Now think about typical tiny homes. They have what I call the “bento box” effect. The space is divided up into tiny claustrophobic spaces with your TV 3 feet from your face, or you end up sleeping crunched up close to the ceiling. Most people don’t want to live like that. 

We realized this was a design/engineering problem. By asking a radical question “What if the rooms could transform?” We arrived at a radical new solution with our MIT spinoff partners at Ori Furniture. 

In our 640 sq foot 2 bedroom Citizen unit you can now get the following:

• 2 spacious bedrooms

• 2 offices

• Kitchen

• Dining room

• Home Gym (Tonal)

• Full ADA accessible bathroom

• Washer/dryer hall

• Walk-in closet

• Covered deck

We say this is “living large in smaller spaces”. In 640 square feet you get the equivalent use and comfort of a 1200-1500sqft home.

Additionally, by using floor to ceiling windows, the homes feel open, bright, and luxurious. No one walks away thinking “tiny home” after seeing them in person.

What else makes you stand out from the competition?

After the stackability and transforming furniture, it would be sustainability.  We utilize recycled steel for construction, and we have upgrade options to go completely off-grid. We call these our Planet WISE sustainability upgrades.

W - Water: We have an atmospheric water harvesting unit from Aquaria that allows you to pull drinking water out of the air

I - Internet: Starlink can be added for high speed internet anywhere

S - Sewer: Busse water recycling can provide up to 98% water recycling for bathing, washing, irrigating, and even drinking (though some naturally are uncomfortable with this and would naturally prefer to drink from the Aquaria unit)

E - Electricity: Solar, inverter, and battery. 

Beyond this the homes are highly energy efficient, so all factors combined, we believe a ZenniHome purchase could offset an individual’s environmental impact more than any other choice.

Can our subscribers invest in ZenniHome? Any perks for our readers?

Yes. We’re currently raising our series A right now to further accelerate production. With such a huge amount of attention and a large fan base we decided to open the opportunity to everyone with a crowdfunding campaign on WeFunder anyone can invest starting as small as $250. 

Accredited investors looking to invest more than $25,000 can find a variety of options Here. One especially unique and timely offering we have as we approach the end of the year is our Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund. Many investors face capital gains taxes and our opportunity zone fund allows investors to invest that money in this round and reduce their tax bill significantly. Fill out a form and our team will work directly with you to answer further questions and walk you through the process.

Depending on the amount invested, we’re offering perks such as waived reservation fees, discounts on TV upgrades, solar panels, inverters, batteries, etc. or even VIP tour of the factory with Bob Worsley, founder and CEO.

Can they buy one / put in an order on one? Any perks here?

Individuals can place reservations for ZenniHome units. The Citizen model starts at $125,000, and the Denizen at $90,000.

Is there currently a wait to get one and are you increasing capacity to accommodate?

Yes, there is currently a wait for our units. This is why a reservation system is crucial. We have over 40,000 soft orders from a mix of small to large customers. We are in the digital twin design phase of an advanced manufacturing facility that we will be adding next door to our current factory in Page, AZ. Additionally, we have 3 more potential sites selected across the United States for additional advanced factories. These factories will cover most of North America and deliver homes to customers within 1 day's trucking distance.

You can learn more about this factory in process in a previous webinar we held on the topic.

What’s the original ZenniHome story? How did this concept come about?

The housing affordability and availability crisis was the genesis for creating this entirely new product. Bob Worsley and cofounder Steven James wanted to fill a massive gap for housing below the 300k, 400k, and 500k price point. Additionally they added a challenge for themselves to engineer them to be stackable for mass flexibility. It took over 3 years of design and development to perfect the engineering all while meeting the bar of International Building Code (IBC) standards.

Today they are fully certified in Arizona and the company is in process to certify in all 50 states. As home prices have now 3x’d since 2000, and mortgage rates have risen 2x from just a year ago, the timing of this product coming to market couldn’t be better. We receive radical calls every day from developers, cities, states, nations, and companies desperately wanting to figure out how to get their hands on thousands of units.

What’s been your customers’ feedback thus far? Are folks already using it in an Airbnb / STR capacity?

Our first 12 customer homes are sold and finished in the factory and are headed for installation in the next month. Many will be used for STR. We’ve had thousands of people tour our units in Mesa with the most common comment being “Wow, these are much bigger than I expected.” It's not uncommon for people to come back multiple times with friends, family, or colleagues to see this radical new approach to housing.

What’s in store for the future of ZenniHome, i.e. what’s on the roadmap?

We’re currently booking out factory production time for the remainder of 2024 and 2025. We’re extremely excited to bring our advanced manufacturing facility online and expand operations across North America and beyond. 

Our current home in production is version 2.2 and we have some exciting things planned for versions 3.0 that our advanced factory will build. We are in early designs for a fully integrated smart home that should push the limits of what is possible in the space. Imagine for instance having a set of home automation preferences saved to your profile that can follow you around to any ZenniHome unit you book as an STR.

Imagine walking into your unit for a stay… The door unlocks with your app and you hear “Welcome Alex, your comfort preferences are ready - climate has been pre adjusted to 71 degrees, lights are set to 50%, and the shades will close at sundown. Drinking water levels are at 95% and your car is charging. Would you like to confirm your morning alarm for 6AM?”. We can’t wait to push this technology to the next level.

We hope that you join the ZenniHome family and join us as we radically disrupt the $2T yearly US housing market and bring innovation to everyone in the STR space.