How to Timestamp Tiny House Floor Plans Before a New Model Launches

When a builder launches a new tiny house model, the floor plan and photos are suddenly public. Timestamping the plans, drawings and specs before launch gives you verifiable evidence that they existed no later than that date, which helps if a layout is copied or your photos turn up in someone else’s listing. Here is how.

Disclosure: I’m Inna Hall, co-founder of TimeBinder, the file timestamping tool this guide uses. This page is general information, not legal advice.

Why builders should date their plans

Popular layouts get copied, and builder photos are regularly lifted for fake listings. AI image tools make it easier to alter a photo of your model or generate a near-copy rendering. In the US, architectural plans can be protected by copyright, but protection for standard layouts and functional features is limited, so evidence of when your drawings existed matters when you raise a dispute.

A timestamp doesn’t stop copying. It gives you a dated record of your CAD files, drawings and specs from before the model went public, which a copier won’t have.

Which files to TimeBind

• The CAD or design files for the model (zip the project folder).
• PDF floor plans and elevations, exactly as issued.
• The build spec sheet and options list.
• The original, full-resolution photos of the finished model, before they’re resized for the web.

Each time you release a variation, such as a longer or single-level version, TimeBind the new set of drawings.

Step by step: TimeBinding the original files

1. Collect the exact files. The CAD zip, plans, spec sheet and a zip of the launch photos fit in one TimeBind.

2. Stop editing them. A timestamp covers the exact bytes of a file. Renaming a file is fine, but re-saving, re-exporting or letting an app write metadata into it gives it a new fingerprint. Keep a copy that nothing touches, and work on duplicates.

3. Bundle if you have more than 10 files. One TimeBind covers up to 10 files. For a big folder, make a zip of it and TimeBind the zip. Then keep that exact zip, because the record matches the zip, not a re-zipped copy.

4. Open the app and select the files. Sign in at app.timebinder.io (Google or an email link), start a TimeBind and drag the files in. Each file is hashed locally in your browser. The files are never uploaded.

5. Add a short Reference. For example: New model, plans and spec sheet as issued before launch. The Reference and Details text are hashed into the record too, so keep them factual and leave out anything private.

6. Choose Pooled or ASAP. Pooled costs 1 Token and is batched with other users’ fingerprints, usually within 24 to 48 hours, and often sooner, depending on Bitcoin network activity. ASAP costs 3 Tokens and gets its own transaction, which can be checked without relying on TimeBinder. ASAP vs Pooled explains the difference.

7. Download the Proof of Time Certificate once the TimeBind is confirmed, and store it next to the untouched files and in a second place, such as cloud storage or a backup drive.

Anyone you choose can check it later: open the TimeBind, click Verify File and select the file. It is re-hashed in their browser and compared. Verification explained walks through it. If you want to see a file’s fingerprint first, our free SHA-256 file hash checker shows it without uploading anything.

Which plan fits

The free plan gives you 1 Token a month, which is one Pooled TimeBind of up to 10 files. That covers one model launch.

If you release models or revisions often, or want to date each design stage, a paid plan gives you more TimeBinds. Essential is US$20 a month for 5 Tokens (5 Pooled, or 1 ASAP plus 2 Pooled). Expert is US$50 a month for 15 Tokens (15 Pooled or 5 ASAP), and unused Tokens roll over. Verification is free. See pricing.

What a timestamp does and doesn’t do

TimeBinder anchors each file’s SHA-256 fingerprint to Bitcoin and gives you a Proof of Time Certificate. That is verifiable evidence of when a file existed: it shows the file existed no later than the anchor date, and it makes later changes detectable. An ASAP TimeBind can be checked directly on the Bitcoin blockchain without relying on TimeBinder; a Pooled TimeBind is verified through TimeBinder.

It doesn’t show who made the work, it doesn’t stop anyone copying it, and it isn’t a registration. It also doesn’t replace advice from an IP lawyer on what in a design is protectable. Our guide on proving you invented something first and engineering document records page cover related records.

Plan details were checked against timebinder.io/pricing on 28 October 2026.