That’s insane.
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If only there was some way to transport them from a manufacturing center to their final destination…
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Very informative video. But like a video “How to Survive Prison” might convince you to behave and not go. This video cured me of any infatuation I had with shipping container homes.
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Agreed, but alas. I have a friend who was quoted $25k for a leech field. Nothing fancy, mostly just a hole in the ground for septic. He said he couldn’t afford it, and the septic guy said alternatively he could do it on Sunday when the code enforcers aren’t looking and do it for $2k, which are the real costs aside from permitting.
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a developer in my town is making apartments out of them. each unit is two stories and one set has 3 units while the other has 5. they have all filled within a couple of weeks of completion and i’ve heard he’s looking for another location to set up another 3 or 4 units.
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This only makes financial sense if you live in a place where metal panels are expensive and shipping containers are very cheap. You are basically just buying metal siding in a box shape.
If you could bury these, then your insulation issues would become a bit moot, but there may be easier and more durable ways to build a bunker house…
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That’s some expensive leeches, but worth it for if they handle your sewage for you.
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I stopped at 10 acres for $20,000. No way could I ever get a deal like that in British Columbia, where I used to live in Canada, unless it is in a muskeg a thousand klicks from the nearest town.
You’re getting more than just siding/roofing with a shipping container. You’re also getting the structure itself. With metal panels you would have to spend for materials and labor to construct that separately.
I suspect that a prebuilt shipping container will be cheaper on its face than the corresponding amount of siding/roofing + structure and labor. But everyone building with shipping containers seems to go ahead encapsulate the shipping container inside and out with structure and siding. The University of Missouri project linked above added exterior siding, a roof, and interior siding and structure to their shipping container home, leaving me to wonder if the containers added any value at all. And if they’re not adding value to the overall project, they’re still adding artificial and awkward space constraints.
It reminds me of my current neighborhood. Everyone wants to live here because of the cute little houses, but once they move in they almost immediately start expanding the houses because they’re too small. With shipping containers, everyone loves the idea, but in practice they immediately move to negate the advantages the containers supposedly offer.
Anyway, it’s a fun challenge to think about. I deal with a similar challenge in my industry. Everyone wants to build an Altoids-tin survival kit, but in practice an Altoids tin is utterly unsuited to the two most immediate survival priorities–shelter and trauma first aid. It’s this artificial constraint that people fetishize in social media, but has harmful consequences.
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The kind of thing you do when you’re young and wealthy.
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You misspelled “entitled”
I sure did.
Its only a complete structure with the doors closed and no holes cut into the sides. As soon as you add windows or regular doors you have compromised that container’s structural integrity. Better off just using materials that were designed to make buildings.
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Don’t get me wrong, it looks cool. I like the idea & the design challenge of fitting a home inside a 10x40 box.
Check out 707 Fremont St, Las Vegas, they built a cool shopping plaza out of containers.
Many do suspect that it would be cheaper, and they are mostly wrong. I’ve been down this path. Please correct me but I didn’t see him post a final price tag. First red flag for me was the price he did post for the 40’ container $4800, but he failed to mention the delivery cost which, depending on where you live, can add another $1-2K.
The labor to turn a shipping container into a home will almost always cost more than ordering a metal building because you need to do a bunch of cutting and welding. The steel used is fairly thick, so it’s kinda a pia. Most residential size metal buildings, including exterior doors & windows are up and constructed in a day or two.
Permitting is always going to be a nightmare in CA but even more so with “experimental” construction like this. Another advantages of the metal building, all the engineering and architecture has already been done and included in the cost.
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With my grumpy ol’ bastard head on, I’m going to say that the air-tight design of these means that the considerable heating and cooling that comes with a metal shell will combine with human occupation and give them a considerable condensation problem. This will build up between the metal and isulation layers and cause rot in the timber and make the whole thing a distaster which will need to be re-done or at least retro-fitted with passive ventilation.
Unless they fitted this and I missed it… in which case please disgard my opinions!
Oooo! Burying a shipping container has a whole load of other problems.
Shipping containers are very strong along their edges, but quite weak in the middle of each side. That’s okay with dry earth, but if there’s enough rain to saturate it, it becomes a submerged metal box, with water pressure trying to crush it. It needs a structure around it to prevent that from happening. Also, with metal, dirt and moisture, corrosion happens.
The best Altoids survival kits have Altoids in them. You can suck on the curiously strong mints while thinking about what you should be doing next. 
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Definitely don’t bury them! They collapse in the short term, or rust out in the long term.
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I have always been interested in the idea of shipping container houses, but the appeal is that you think it’s simple, like you’re building with Legos or something, but the video sums up that it’s every bit as complicated as building a house out of wood or brick. The one plus I would say they have is that stand-alone shipping container houses that fit on a flatbed are a step above regular trailer homes, which always seem like flimsy matchboxes waiting to be ripped to shreds by a tornado.
