Park Model vs. Tiny Home in Colorado: What Actually Matters

The short answer: the label on your cabin decides what code it is built to, how it is titled, and where your county will let you put it. A park model RV is a certified recreational vehicle under 400 square feet. A modular cabin is built to residential code and becomes real property. A skid cabin is a movable building. In Colorado, none of these is automatically legal to live in on any given parcel, so the real work is matching the classification to your land and your plans before you buy.

We build all three types here in Gardner, so we spend a lot of time on the phone helping people sort out which one they actually need. Most articles on this topic are written for a national audience and gloss over the part that matters: the paperwork category is not a detail, it is the whole ballgame. Here is how we walk buyers through it.

The three classifications, in plain terms

Park model RV. A park model is legally a recreational vehicle. It is built on a single chassis with wheels, its gross floor area cannot exceed 400 square feet in set-up mode, and it is certified to the ANSI A119.5 standard, the national safety standard written specifically for park model RVs. Because it is an RV, it typically carries a vehicle-style title rather than being taxed as a house, and the standard itself frames park models as recreational and seasonal living quarters rather than permanent residences. Whether you can occupy one long term depends entirely on local rules, which we will get to.

Modular. A modular cabin is built in a shop to the same residential building code a site-built house follows, inspected along the way, and set on a permanent foundation. Once it is set, it is titled as real property, the same as any house. This is the path for people who want a cabin that banks, insurers, and county assessors all treat as a home, full stop.

Skid cabin. A skid cabin has no wheels and no chassis. It sits on heavy skids and moves by trailer or truck, which most counties treat the way they treat any movable outbuilding. It is the simplest of the three, and for a hunting base, an office, or storage with a porch, simple is often exactly right. The limits show up when you want to plumb it, wire it, and sleep in it full time, because at that point your county will have opinions.

Tiny homes: Colorado wrote a law for them

“Tiny home” is a marketing term more than a legal one, but Colorado is one of the states that has actually put structure around it. House Bill 22-1242, passed in 2022, directed the state to regulate the sale and manufacture of movable tiny homes and gave the state housing board authority to set construction standards for tiny homes on wheels that are built for long-term residency. It also classified tiny homes as residential improvements for property tax purposes.

The practical upshot: a wheeled unit built and certified for full-time living under the state’s tiny home standards sits in a different legal lane than a park model RV, even though the two can look nearly identical parked side by side. If a dealer shows you a “tiny home” without saying which standard it is certified to, that is the first question to ask. An RV certification and a residential certification lead to very different conversations at the county land use counter.

How counties treat them (and why we will not answer for yours)

Every county in southern Colorado draws these lines a little differently. Some are permissive about RVs on rural acreage for part of the year. Some allow a park model as a temporary dwelling while you build. Some want anything occupied full time to be on a foundation and built to residential code. Zoning district, parcel size, and whether you already have a septic permit all move the answer around.

We are deliberate about not telling you what your county allows, because we have watched confident secondhand answers cost people months. Call your county land use or planning office, describe the specific unit and how you plan to use it, and get the answer in writing. It is one phone call, and it is the single highest-value hour in this whole process. What we can do is tell you exactly what the unit is, what it is certified to, and what documentation comes with it, which is precisely what the person at that counter needs to hear.

Three things a national article will not tell you

First, the decision is usually about occupancy, not size. People come to us comparing floor plans, but the fork in the road is a different question: whether this is full-time housing, seasonal use, or a workday building. Full-time points toward modular or one of our other build types, seasonal use is where a park model shines, and a workday building is skid cabin territory. Every model we build is available as a park model RV, modular, or skid cabin, so with us the floor plan and the classification are separate decisions. That is not true at most dealers, where the model you like comes in one legal flavor only.

Second, Colorado weather does not care about your title paperwork. A cabin at 8,000 feet near Gardner or Westcliffe sees real snow load, hard UV, and wind that comes over the Sangre de Cristos with intent. A unit built for a Gulf Coast RV park may be certified and legal and still be the wrong building here. This is why we make spray foam insulation standard on our builds rather than an upgrade. Ask any builder, including us, how their package handles snow, wind, and a heating season that runs into May at elevation. If the answer is vague, keep shopping.

Third, moving it later is a real variable. A park model keeps its wheels and can leave the way it came. A skid cabin can be loaded and hauled. A modular on a foundation is a house, and it stays. Buyers who might sell the land, or who are placing a cabin on family property they do not own outright, should weigh that honestly. We have seen the ability to take the cabin with you settle more than one family land conversation before it started.

Where the park model fits for most of our buyers

For land in the Wet Mountain Valley, the Huerfano River country, and up the Front Range, the park model is the sweet spot more often than any other type: big enough to live comfortably for a season, certified under a recognized national standard, and movable if life changes. That is why it is the flagship of our lineup. But it is a fit, not a default. When a buyer tells us they intend to live in one full time year-round, we say plainly that a park model may not be the right classification for that plan, and we point them at the modular conversation instead. A cabin builder who never talks you out of anything is not advising you, they are closing you.

FAQs

Is a park model RV the same as a tiny home?

No. A park model RV is certified to ANSI A119.5, the recreational vehicle standard, and is limited to 400 square feet in set-up mode. “Tiny home” has no single legal meaning, though Colorado’s HB 22-1242 created state oversight for movable tiny homes built for long-term residency. The certification, not the appearance, determines how a county treats the unit.

Can I live in a park model cabin full time in Colorado?

That depends on your county and zoning district, and there is no statewide yes or no. The park model standard frames these units as recreational and seasonal living quarters, and counties vary widely on long-term occupancy. Before buying for full-time use, call your county land use office, describe the unit and your plan, and get the answer in writing.

Do park models and skid cabins need a foundation?

A park model sits on its own chassis and is typically set, leveled, and tied down rather than placed on a permanent foundation. A skid cabin rests on its skids over a prepared pad. A modular cabin does require a permanent foundation, which is part of what makes it real property. Your county may have its own siting and anchoring requirements for each, so verify locally.

Which build type holds its usefulness best if my plans change?

The park model and the skid cabin both keep the option to relocate, which matters if you might sell the land or move the cabin to another property. The modular gives up that mobility in exchange for being treated as a permanent home. We build all three, so we can talk through the trade-offs against your actual parcel rather than in the abstract.

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If you are weighing this decision for a specific piece of Colorado ground, call us. We will tell you what each classification means for how you want to use the land, and if the answer is that you should go ask your county a question before spending anything, we will tell you that too.