The Getaway Pad is one of the most-shared tiny home kits Home Depot has ever listed: a two-story, one-bedroom steel shell with a rooftop deck and an outdoor spiral staircase, sold as a flat-packed frame you assemble on your own concrete slab. It went viral because the renderings look like a boutique cabin and the sticker price looked like a fraction of a stick-built ADU.
The kit is designed and manufactured by Well Done 1 Kit Homes, the California cold-formed steel company that previously operated as PLUS 1 Home Kits. Home Depot has carried the Getaway Pad under SKU GPRD540 since its debut, though the listing has been renamed and re-specced over time — it launched marketed as 540 square feet and is now listed closer to 594 square feet with a 1 bed / 1.5 bath layout. Pricing moves with steel costs, so treat any figure you see quoted online as a snapshot rather than a quote.
What hasn’t changed is the more useful part: this is a frame kit, not a house. Understanding exactly where the kit ends and your budget begins is the difference between a smart ADU project and an expensive pile of steel in the driveway. Here’s how it actually works.
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The Getaway Pad: A Steel-Frame Tiny Home Kit with a Roof Deck
Images via Home Depot
What You’re Actually Buying: Steel Frame Only
Read the fine print on the rendering below and you’ll see the three most important words in this entire listing: Steel Frame Only. The base kit is a panelized cold-formed steel (CFS) skeleton — pre-assembled, numbered wall panels with the brackets, fittings, and fasteners needed to stand them up, plus the engineering that makes them legal.
That framing spec matters more than the square footage. Exterior wall studs run 5.5 inches deep with 3.5-inch interior studs, in 18 to 20 gauge steel, typically spaced 24 inches on center and adjusted as the engineering requires. Deeper exterior walls mean room for more insulation, which is why a steel shell doesn’t have to be a thermal disaster. The builder rates the system to be engineered for over 200 mph winds and heavy snow loads, and steel won’t warp, shrink, rot, or feed termites — the failure modes that quietly wreck wood-framed backyard builds.
Images via Home Depot
A Real Bedroom, Not a Loft
The single biggest functional advantage of a footprint this size is that the bedroom is a proper ground-floor room with a door, a full-height ceiling, and a window big enough to matter. No ladder, no crawling, no six inches of headroom over the mattress.
That’s the trade most tiny house shoppers eventually confront. A 200-square-foot house on wheels wins on mobility and cost; a 500-to-600-square-foot slab-built ADU wins on livability and on the ability to be permitted as a legal dwelling. If your goal is long-term occupancy — an aging parent, an adult kid, a rental — the fixed foundation route is usually the one that survives an inspection.
Images via Home Depot
How the Layout Stacks Up
The overhead views tell the story better than any photo. The main floor reads as three zones front to back: a living area with sliding glass at one end, the bathroom and utility core pinned in the middle, and the bedroom at the far end. Putting the wet core in the center is a deliberate move — it shortens plumbing runs, keeps both plumbing walls stacked, and leaves the two ends of the building free for glass.
The second overhead view is the roof deck, and it shows the small penthouse volume that houses the stair landing and the half bath. That’s the trick that makes the rooftop usable: without a covered arrival point at the top of the stairs, a roof deck is just a hot, exposed slab you visit twice a year.
Images via Home Depot
The Rooftop Deck Is the Real Square Footage
Here’s the design argument for this whole building: the roof deck effectively doubles the floor plan for the cost of a railing and a waterproofing membrane. Grill, dining table, shade — you get an outdoor room the size of the house without expanding the footprint on the ground.
That’s not just a lifestyle perk. On tight urban and suburban lots, lot coverage and setbacks are what cap ADU size, and roof area doesn’t usually count against coverage the way ground footprint does. Building up rather than out is often the only way to get real outdoor space on a small parcel. The kit’s rooftop package includes the sheathing, membrane, mesh, rock finish, sealer, cable rail, fasteners, and the galvanized 60-inch-wide spiral staircase seen in the renderings.
Images via Home Depot
Reading the Renderings Like a Builder
Every image in this listing is a rendering of a finished, fully outfitted building — the siding, the black window frames, the sliding glass walls, the interior furniture. None of that arrives in the base frame kit. It’s worth training yourself to look at marketing renderings for kit homes and mentally subtract everything that isn’t structure.
Notice how much glass these elevations carry. Large sliders and oversized windows are the most expensive square footage in any small building, and they’re also where most of the thermal performance is won or lost. If you’re pricing a build like this, get window and door quotes early — they routinely surprise people more than the frame does.
Images via Home Depot
The corner glazing and the deep roof overhang on the penthouse are doing quiet work here, too. Overhangs shade south-facing glass in summer while still letting low winter sun in — a passive detail that costs almost nothing at the framing stage and is expensive to add later.
Images via Home Depot
It Starts With a Concrete Slab
This is the step that catches people out. The kit lands on a finished concrete foundation that you are responsible for pouring, and that slab has to be sited, engineered, permitted, and inspected before a single steel panel goes up. Site work — excavation, grading, drainage, utility trenching, and the pour itself — is a meaningful line item on its own, and it varies enormously depending on your soil, slope, and access.
The photo below is the real-world version of what the renderings gloss over: bare galvanized studs standing on a slab. Everything between this stage and the finished renderings is your scope.
Images via Home Depot
Dry-In Kit vs. Complete Kit: Know Which One You’re Ordering
Since the Getaway Pad first appeared, the builder has expanded well beyond the bare frame, and this is the single most important thing to get right when you order. There are now two broader packages, and they cover very different amounts of the project:
The Dry-In Kit takes the building to lock-up — weather-tight, so interior work can start. It adds sheathing (OSB or plywood), roofing materials with drip edge, underlayment, shingles and ridge caps, house wrap and Hardie backer siding, corner/window/door trim and fascia, and exterior windows and doors with flashing tape. Siding and trim ship long, to be cut to size on site.
The Complete Kit goes further into the interior, in a choice of chrome, brushed nickel, or matte black hardware schemes. It adds kitchen cabinets, flooring, lighting, fans, bathroom tile, vanity, toilet, bath/shower kits, drywall, insulation, a tankless water system, and split air conditioning.
Even the Complete Kit stops short of a finished house. Appliances, countertops cut and ready to install, paint, and the runs of electrical and plumbing line are still yours to source and install. Budget for a licensed electrician and plumber regardless of which package you choose.
Images via Home Depot
The assembly photo above is genuinely reassuring on one point: panelized steel goes up fast, by hand, without a crane. The panels are numbered and weigh roughly 200 to 350 pounds per section, which is a two-to-four-person job rather than heavy equipment. The system is explicitly marketed as DIY-friendly. Standing the frame is the fun weekend; the eight months of finish work afterward is the actual project.
Permits, Plans, and Local Code
The strongest argument for a kit like this over a generic shed is the paperwork that comes with it. The submittal package includes architectural plans, a site location plan, structural engineering and framing calculations stamped for your specific location, a foundation plan, MEP (mechanical, electrical, plumbing) plans, and Title 24 energy compliance documentation where required. Those stamped calculations are what a building department actually wants to see, and buying them piecemeal from an engineer is far from cheap.
None of that exempts you from local zoning. Before you order anything, confirm your jurisdiction allows an ADU on your lot, and check the height limit — a two-story structure with a rooftop deck runs into height and privacy restrictions that a single-story unit never sees. Setbacks, lot coverage, parking requirements, and owner-occupancy rules all vary by city. As a general rule, temporary hookups (an outdoor-rated extension cord, a garden hose) don’t trigger permits, but any permanent electrical, plumbing, HVAC, or sewer/septic connection does, and requires licensed installation.
Images via Home Depot
Design Details
- Model: Getaway Pad (SKU GPRD540), sold through Home Depot
- Manufacturer: Well Done 1 Kit Homes, formerly PLUS 1 Home Kits (California)
- Size: listed in the 540–594 sq. ft. range depending on configuration; roughly 620 sq. ft. of total open interior area including the upper volume
- Layout: 1 bedroom, 1.5 bath across two levels, plus rooftop deck
- Structure: panelized cold-formed steel, 18–20 gauge; 5.5″ exterior studs, 3.5″ interior studs, typically 24″ on center
- Foundation: owner-supplied concrete slab
- Rooftop access: galvanized 60″-wide exterior spiral staircase
- Engineering: stamped structural calculations issued for your specific location and code requirements
- Kit tiers: frame kit, Dry-In Kit, or Complete Kit
- Related models: Getaway Pad Mini 325, Getaway Pad 539, Getaway Pad 594, Getaway Pad 627
What Makes This Kit Worth Studying
- It sells engineering, not just materials. The stamped, location-specific structural package is arguably worth more than the steel, because it’s what gets a backyard dwelling permitted.
- Building up beats building out on a small lot. The rooftop deck adds an outdoor room without consuming lot coverage — the constraint that caps most ADU projects.
- Steel solves the failure modes wood doesn’t. No termites, no rot, no warping, non-combustible, and engineerable for extreme wind and snow loads.
- A ground-floor bedroom changes who can live there. Skipping the loft ladder makes the unit viable for aging parents, guests, and long-term tenants.
- The advertised price is the beginning of the budget. Slab, utilities, permits, labor, and finishes are the majority of the real cost on any kit build.
- Kit tiers are the decision that matters. Frame vs. Dry-In vs. Complete determines whether you’re a general contractor for six months or a finisher for two.
Learn More
- Manufacturer: Well Done 1 Kit Homes
- Rooftop deck model line: 1 Bed 1 Bath with Roof Top Deck Models
- Kit tiers explained: Dry-In Kit vs. Complete Kit
- Retail listing: Getaway Pad at Home Depot
Availability, specifications, and pricing for kit homes change frequently, and retail listings come and go. Always confirm current details directly with the manufacturer or retailer before budgeting a project.
More Kit and Steel-Frame Builds
- Couple’s DIY Steel-Frame Tiny Cabin in the Woods and How Much It Costs Them
- The Eagle 1: A 350 Sq. Ft. 2-Story Steel Framed Micro Home
- Shelter-Kit Prefab Cabins: DIY Assembly Starting at 144 Square Feet
- Cabin Fever Maxwell Cottage: 320 Sq Ft Prefab Kit with Curved Beam Roof
- Nanostead ADU Cabin in North Carolina
Highlights
- Two-story cold-formed steel ADU kit with a full rooftop deck and exterior spiral staircase
- One ground-floor bedroom and 1.5 baths — no loft ladder required
- Pre-assembled, numbered steel panels assemble by hand on an owner-poured concrete slab
- Panels run roughly 200–350 lbs per section; no crane needed
- Available as a frame kit, a weather-tight Dry-In Kit, or a Complete Kit with interior finishes
- Includes a permit submittal package with stamped structural engineering for your location
- Appliances, countertops, paint, utility runs, foundation, and labor are not included
- Offered in four rooftop-deck sizes, from the 325 sq. ft. Mini up to 627 sq. ft.
So the honest verdict: the Getaway Pad is a genuinely clever piece of engineering wrapped in renderings that oversell how finished it arrives. As a permitted, code-compliant backyard dwelling with a rooftop deck, it’s a strong starting point — as long as you go in knowing the kit is the first third of the project, not the whole thing. Would you take on a build like this, or would you rather hand someone the keys and a check?
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Alex
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It would be interesting to see the price after actually finishing it with windows, walls, plumbing, flooring, wiring, etc…
I love Home Depot and get most of my building supplies from them, however, I can’t say I like this house at all. It’s dark and poorly designed. It looks like you have to go outside and up a spiral staircase to get to a cooking area in a tiny room not big enough to sit down and eat on a rainy day when you can’t use the deck. How much fun will it be to haul groceries and propane tanks up stairs to a second floor, especially in the rain, and if it is lived in more long term, in perhaps in cold, icy weather, too. If you wanted to locate the kitchen downstairs, you wouldn’t have room for a kitchen and bath in that middle space, so you’d have to give up your living room for a kitchen. I’m sorry, but I am not a fan of this house design at all. The idea of an affordable home kit is great! Let’s just design a better kit. Get some tiny house dwellers in on the design, and keep in mind that most guys (men and women) are used to framing with wood; most are not experienced with steel framing, so that would be either an expensive learning curve, or an expensive subcontracting if the owner can’t do it, so why wood? Weight shipping?
Typo. . .I meant, why not wood?
Well, at 540 Sq Ft for the main floor, I’m certain you could fit a more usable floor plan instead of the one shown…
While it’s really only a framing kit, they’re only showing what could be done with it but it’s actually up to the person building it and how much they want to invest in it, as they would still have to get everything needed to turn the framed structure into a functional home.
So it’s just deceptive in the way it’s presented on what the kit actually provides and leaves out how much more is needed to actually turn it into an end product, as they’re treating it as a starting point but don’t make that clear enough…
As to why not wood, the steel framing studs are lighter but also less problems as they won’t warp or twist from changing humidity, you don’t have to worry about things like termites, and since the price of wood is still high the steel framing is also still cheaper. Steel is also recyclable, it’s easier to order replacement or additional studs sight unseen, and can have an actual warranty coverage.
Hmmm. . .all good points.