Peyton Wolff
Numerous aspects affect the cost of a project, including its design, size, and finishes for the interior. While shipping container homes are attractive and may complement the surrounding landscape in some areas, certain regions will not allow them. Thus, before the shipping container is erected or placed on the land, approval from the necessary authorities should be sought and granted. In this situation, the proper authority may be the neighborhood homeowners’ organization, the local municipal government or from city council.
Even in remote locations where a permit is not always required, it may not hurt to inquire prior to embarking on a project of this nature. Where you are unsure of the applicable regulations, conduct research and communicate with authorized officials to educate yourself on the possibilities of placing these containers on your land.
Shipping containers offer a unique and adaptable method of constructing one’s dream home. Honomobo is a company based in Alberta, Canada which specializes in building modern homes, offices, residential complexes and more out of shipping containers.
The HO series includes prefabricated homes which range in size from a tiny 208 square foot studio to a three-bedroom house measuring 1,216 sq ft.
Large full-height windows let in an abundance of natural light and the actual shipping container volume is set on top of a precast concrete garage which is convenient, practical, safe and quite advantageous, ensuring that the living space at the top gets to enjoy panoramic views of the surroundings. The Rustic Retreat XL was built by Backcountry Containers and comes with a really cool feature: a rooftop deck. The tiny but charming home was built out of a 40′ shipping container and has a rustic-industrial appearance emphasized by its bright red exterior and the wooden elements such as the deck, the staircase and those cute little window shutters.
Inside there’s a generous closet with shelves and room for a washing machine, a kitchen with a breakfast bar, a fridge and a farmhouse sink and a large bathroom with a sliding barn door. Mountainer offers a complete package when it comes to planning and building backyard homes or extensions out of shipping containers.
You place your order, you come up with a list of features and layout details that you’d like to include into your new container home then a design team helps you finalize your plan and also checks the property’s permitting requirements and offers a pricing estimate.
If you’re happy with the process so far, the project moves forward and your new custom container home is built and then installed on your property. The smallest option is a one-module structure and you can add as many modules as you want, as long as there’s enough space on the property for them. Rhino Cubed is a company founded on the belief that spending time in nature enriches the soul and that the modern human needs a small and simple housing solution designed to facilitate that.
The solution is a series of Cubes which are small and robust structures made out of shipping containers. The fully equipped cubes include all the base features such as insulated walls, fiberglass energy-efficient windows, roof and floor insulation plus electrical wiring, plumbing, lighting, a kitchen with a sink, stove, refrigerator and cabinets and a bathroom with a full-size shower, a toilet, sink and storage cabinetry. It’s completely prefabricated and it includes two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen and a living room.
The double height living space is the most impressive of all, offering a very airy and open feeling throughout this unconventional home.
Large windows allow natural light to enter all the spaces and at the same time bring in views of the surroundings. That’s right, this is an off-the-grid house which can be put in pretty much any location because it doesn’t require any external sources of energy or water.
It’s made from a 20’ x 6m shipping container and it has these really nice double glass doors that let in lots of sunlight during the day. It also has a rooftop deck which creates a really cool outdoor area without extending the floor plan.
This is called the Helm and is actually the largest of the units offered by this company and there’s several smaller ones to choose from as well. Getting to spend some time living in a shipping container home can be an interesting experience, especially if you’re considering building something like this for yourself in the future.
This is actually a pretty spacious house with a realy nice mid-century-inspired design and a bright orange exterior. It was made from a single upcycled shipping container which has been painted black in order to better blend in with the wooded surroundings and to fit more easily into the landscape.
