Millions of People Are Falling for This Quirky Home Type — Here's Why
Container homes are a fascinating and fast-growing subset of the multibillion-dollar home-building industry. Though they can be misunderstood, perhaps the most important thing to know is that if you immediately conjure up images of shipping containers when you think of container homes, you’d be right to do so. If you’re wondering how to build a container home, whether they’re cheaper than conventional homes, and if they’re anything like modular or kit homes, here’s everything you need to know.
What is a container home?
Container homes are built from shipping containers — like the ones you see piled upon each other at ports around the country — that are repurposed into houses.
What’s included in a container home?
Buying a container home is often just like traditional, stick-built homes, and not like kit homes. When you’re buying a container home, you’re usually simply buying a residential home made out of containers, according to both Christi Homar CEO of Christi Homar Design, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Luke Stetz, the president of Container Kings in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Not all traditional homes come with appliances built in, but they should all come with electrical, plumbing, and everything you need to live.
“I’m sure there’s somebody [that is] going to start selling containers like they do on Amazon, right? But for the most part,” container homes are just like traditional homes, Homar says.
Indeed, some sellers sell prefabricated container homes online — like Offgrid Dwellings, which sells a three-bedroom container home for about $100,000. It’s unclear if appliances come with the build, and you’d also have to have land and a foundation for the container home, meaning real costs would be higher.
The only thing that’s different for Stetz and Homar, who essentially are just building a different home type, is how their container homes are built. They’re built and sold the same as any other home, just made out of shipping containers, not traditional materials.
Are container homes expensive?
“Container homes can be less expensive, but it depends how customized they are,” Joe M. Esposito, vice president for business development, at West Palm Beach-based Mesocore Modular Homes, tells Apartment Therapy.
For Homar, the affordability of the homes depends on how they’re designed. While she has plenty of ideas on how to make truly affordable container homes, including home designs she calls “plug-in-place” models, whenever more complicated container home designs come into play — like cantilevered homes, where container homes are built at angles on top of one another — that’s when costs get higher. Plus, finishes can be as high-end or as affordable as you want them to be.
“If I can get them down to a science, and [if I do] shotgun, single container, yeah, they’re only8 feet wide, but they’re 40 feet long. You could keep them under $100,000 [to build],” Homar says. But if you want more complicated designs? “You can spend millions on them.” In that way, they can be just like any other home.
Do you have to pay to ship a container home to your state?
If you’re buying a container home in the traditional home-buying process, the home is already locked in on its foundation and land, and you don’t have to pay to ship the containers to your state. However, if you’re buying a modular container home, you will likely have to pay to ship it to your state and lot.
Why should you get a container home?
There are a number of reasons to purchase a container home. For one, they can be, though they are not always, less expensive than a traditional, stick-built home. Not only that, but they’re highly durable (they are made from materials meant to be shipped long distances, after all).
Stetz has been working with container homes since he became excited about their durability, sustainability, and efficiency.
In the homes he’s building, “[the HVAC system] is three times as efficient as a traditional ducted furnace,” Stetz says. “We [installed] cell spray foam on every square inch of the house — it’s not your traditional fiberglass batt insulation. It’s hyperefficient.”
Then there’s the green element: Container homes necessitate fewer materials and reduce the amount of waste otherwise expended in the short term and in the long run. Shipping container homes are often built out of containers that have been used at least once, making them a recycled home material, and by design use less wood and other natural materials that make up a stick-built home.
Homar was also drawn to container homes in part because of their sustainability. Homar is an architect and has her contractor’s license. She has been hard at work building container homes once she was drawn to them for all of their quirks.
“They’re always green. You can’t get a container that hasn’t had a trip. You can’t just order a brand-new container, right?” she says.
As Homar works on her first container home builds, she’s particularly excited about the small footprint and green opportunities. “Everybody wants to be downtown. Our lots are small — which is another reason I did the green route with these.” She’s installing green roofs to catch storm runoff and is excited about the outdoor space that buyers will want.
Homar also praises their durability, which is more important than ever as climate disasters continue to occur. “This is where I get really excited,” she says. “These things weigh 9,000 pounds a piece. They will withstand 135 mile an hour winds on their own.” But that’s before you put them on a pier foundation.
“These plates were 20×20, half-inch thick, and we have 18-inch eyebolts that go down [from the container] into the piers,” she adds. “So then those plates sit on top of it. They’re bolted down. Then the container, that’s 9,000 pounds, sits on top of it. And then a structural weld is welded. And then we have a welding inspector come in to X-ray those welds. And those welds have to be about a half-inch.” In other words? “If that container is actually going anywhere, we’re all going somewhere.”
But because container homes are such a relatively newer home type, however, there are challenges when it comes to building a container home and cons to living in one. Shipping containers can be in limited supply, for one, and BigSteelBox, a company that rents shipping containers for moving and storage in Canada, notes that shipping containers have been in “low supply and high demand since 2020,” though the industry is recovering.
The company also notes that they can be homes with limited interior square footage, that the homes can be extremely warm if not properly insulated, and the construction challenges and zoning challenges of this home type can be myriad since they’re so cutting-edge.
Are container homes allowed in all 50 states?
According to USA Containers, a company that sells shipping containers across the U.S., you can buy or build a container home in almost every state. However, because container homes are a relatively new industry, and the United States is a big, big country, the regulations for your local market may vary. Some states that are known to be more lenient when it comes to shipping container homes include Texas, Florida, Colorado, Michigan, and California, per USA Containers.
All of these states do require that the homes meet some level of building code and zoning regulations; some require the homes to be built and constructed by licensed engineers or architects, some require all of the above. If you want to hire an architect to build a shipping container home, or want to know if the shipping container modular home you want to buy online would be up to code in your local area, check with your local government.
Do container homes have different zoning than traditional or mobile homes?
Container home zoning laws vary by state. You’ll want to check with your local zoning office if you are thinking of building a container home to see how the lot should be zoned.
Stetz — working in South Dakota — says his container homes are “zoned as real property, just like a traditionally built stick framed house.”
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