FAIRFIELD — The family of David and Mandy Ford of rural Fairfield are about to embark on a new journey when they move into a tiny house at the end of this year.

David said he’s been interested in tiny homes since 2008, when the real estate market “blew up,” he said.

David is the plant manager at Soil Tech in Fairfield, and before that he held many different jobs, such as working in EMS, and before that as an engineer.

“My dad was a master stone layer and brick layer, and he taught me stone masonry,” David said. “My uncles were all into trades, so I grew up in the trades. I’ve always built things, and I got my contractor’s license.”

The more David learned about tiny homes, the more he wanted to put his construction knowledge to work by building them himself. He discovered shipping containers were plentiful and cheap, as long as you could find a way to haul them, and David saw that they would be perfect building blocks for a tiny home.

David has developed his own line of tiny homes built using repurposed shipping containers, varying in size from 340 square feet to 820 square feet. He’s built five tiny homes so far, and now he’s finishing a tiny home for his own family north of Fairfield on 155th Street. The company Premier Tiny Homes built the shell of the structure on site, and now David and others are doing the interior. David said he and his family are able to do most of the work that remains, though he’s relying on a professional electrician to do the wiring.

One of the reasons David is passionate about tiny homes is that he believes they are a good solution for people in homes that have become too big for them. He mentioned that was true of his own mother, who lives in a 2,800-square-foot home alone now that she’s a widow, but she really only uses two rooms in the house.

“It’s too big for her,” David said. “For people like that, they don’t want to go to an assisted living because they’re still very independent, and my mom is very independent. Their home is just too big, and it’s become an anchor.”

David is from a little town in North Carolina called Havelock. David and Mandy moved to Iowa in 2006, living in Clarinda, and then moved to the Fairfield area in 2015. They have three children: Abigail, Gabrielle, and Parker. When they moved to Jefferson County, they anticipated buying or building a house in the countryside, but after doctors discovered a cancerous tumor in Gabby’s brain, the family had to reconsider its plans.

“We felt like we couldn’t move forward with building or purchasing a home until we made sure Gabby was taken care of,” David said.

The Fords have been living in a rental home north of Maharishi Vedic City. David said the family enjoys living there, and they like the landlord, but the property is showing signs of wear.

“The landowner told us when we moved in that we would be the last tenants, because he planned to tear it down,” David said. “It just needs too much upkeep.”

At the Fords’ tiny home under construction, they will have 702-square-feet of living space consisting of a master bedroom, full-size bathroom, kitchen, and living room, with the kids’ bedrooms will be in the loft area on the second floor. After adding the patio, that will bring the total square footage to 792.

“We’ll have a room with a washer and dryer accessible through the kitchen door,” David said. “We’ll have a back deck and a full 8-foot by 40-foot deck on the front of the house.”

David said he’s excited to move into the new house, and he hopes that the modest living space will spur his kids to play outside.

“My son is 11 years old and is fascinated with Nintendo Switch and Netflix and Xbox and all these other things,” David said. “I can’t tell you the difference in his personality when he goes outside to play. We want to pursue an active lifestyle and be outdoors. We don’t want to be cooped up inside.”