90-year-old Hamilton woman finds independence in backyard tiny home

It took two years to get city permits and four months to build, but on Tuesday, 90 year-old Grace Baswick can move into her son’s backyard. The question is – how did she do it?

This home was supposed to be for both her and her husband who passed away in January. A chance to live closer to her kids in case of emergency. Now it’s a chance to live independently with help just a backyard away.

The build itself took only a few months but it was years in the making. Five stages of city permits later, it took a lot longer than expected.

“Those phases ended up growing at one point because they had us going back and forth so many times that we ended up having to pay almost double,” said Andrea Baswick, Grace’s daughter-in-law.

The permit stage was supposed to cost $15,000. At the end of the day, they set a budget of $300,000 – including the build, upgrades to their existing home and the permit costs. Andrea says they looked into many options, including a nursing home, but having her close by just made sense.

“It’s just so much easier. We were buying her groceries but now it’s so easy. We’re going out, we’ll just pick her up something,” said Andrea.

“This was in the making. But it was a little difficult getting a permit from the city, but we finally got it done,” said Grace.

Grace wishes this move was with her husband Frank but is happy to have her independence and have family close by.

This is the first tiny home build for contractor Joshua Mueller. He put a team together to make this happen. Home renovations, Mueller says, take a lot more time and planning because the family is uprooted. This build was free from those disruptions, cutting down on build time.

“When you are doing a new build in the backyard, you are really not interrupting services in the primary residence. So you’re able to not affect their daily living,” said Mueller.

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