23 Shipping Container Home Owners Speak Out: “What I Wish I’d Known Before Building My Shipping Container Home” Want to get our latest blog posts straight into your inbox? Enter your email and receive two free chapters of our eBook- How To Build A Shipping Container Home: The Complete Guide! We respect your privacyAverage home prices have risen to about $300,000 these past few years. While the location of the homes may have significant impact on the price of the home, the house itself costs a lot of money, a lot more than what most people can afford. This is why many people are choosing alternative ways to live. Modern urban ingenuity allowed us to create and make use of living spaces that would have been considered absurd at any other point in time. The deteriorating economy, rising levels of pollution and rapid increase in population forced people to consider more eco-friendlier ways. The newest solution for living spaces? People are building actual homes from these containers.

It’s called cargo container architecture.  It’s super cheap, compact and eco-friendly. Shipping containers typically cost only $1800 – $5000 (some as little as $800) depending on their size. They are readily available for purchase as containers that are shipped to their final destinations are usually too expensive to ship back. These containers are also eco-friendly, as they are re-purposed into homes instead of being melted down when they are scrapped or shipped back empty. Laminate Flooring Display StandsContainers are also “virtually indestructible” . Best Running Shoes For Peroneal TendonitisTypical homes in US seem like they are made of paper, they can’t handle extreme climate conditions. Cost To Install Shower In Bathtub

Containers, on the other hand, are tough. They are build to handle heavy loads, harsh climate conditions, and being handled by cranes. Containers can also be easily stacked to form multi-story homes. These sturdy houses can be welded together and built in a very short time, and handle just about anything that is thrown at them. Just like with any other irregular structures, container homes do have some disadvantages, so be sure to do some research. Here’s some modern container homes that you can drool over. 1. Container Guest House by Jim Poteet Comes with a cute rooftop garden as well! And that hardwood floor.. 2. Off Grid Container Home in Nederland, Colorado 3. Super Bright and Modern Beach Home in Redondo Beach Oh and it comes with a gorgeous backyard too.. Back view of the home 4. Sunny New Zealand Beach Home It’s even cozier at night!Who said containers can’t have fireplaces? 5. Container home / childhood dream come true

6. New Jerusalem Orphanage in South Africa 28 donated shipping containers were build together to form this beautiful home for kids 7. Your dream cottage in the woods 8. Accordion Style Modern Red Home If you ever decide to move, these elements pop back into place for easy transportation. 9. Tony’s Organic Farm Building (packing station, visitor center, hotel and office) 10. High ceiling container home that has a…. Another house inside of it! 11. Starbucks Drive-Through made from a Re-purposed Shipping Container (Tukwila, Washington) 12. Get cozy in this hobbit-like container dwelling that blends with the environment 13. This Youthful design by Marcio Kogan embraces the container look and their beautiful colors.. 14. Made entirely from recycled materials and embraces off-grid lifestyle 15. Talk about an entrance to your home! You can be indoors and outdoors at the same time! 16. Winter Getaway in Quebec, Canada.

Took 7 containers to make! 17. There is a Beach House in Hamptons Made out of Containers! The ceilings need no further decoration! 18. Bright Modern Barbie-Like Home 19. Beautiful Two Story Container Home Embraces its Looks 20. This home is located in the Mojave dessert! Almost makes you want to move there. 21. Modern Cabin in the Woods that Will Bring Back your Childhood Memories 22. Modern twist on the container home design in Chile! 23. Holiday Cabin in Sri Lanka Built on a army base, made from reclaimed materials including the shipping container, old weapons boxes and remaining bunker materials. 24. This home in San Jose utilizes it’s slightly slanted roof to let hot air out and cool air inOnly $40,000 to build! But the view is priceless. Also Read: 15 Incredible Vertical Garden Designs Incoming search terms:container homes for saleshipping container homes for saleshipping container homes costcontainer homesshipping container homesContainer Houses for Salecontainer homes costcontainer house pricecontainer homes pricescontainer house for sale

For more awesomeness delivered fresh to you:The Cheapest 5 Shipping Container Homes Ever BuiltSophie Pascoe wins gold in 200m individual medley with world record ... read more Container homes no low-cost solution Orest and Julia Tarnawsky's house was built in Akaroa using four 40-foot containers in 2009. A container home being constructed on Richmond Hill in Sumner. One bedroom self-contained unit. Shipping containers were one solution for temporary housing after Japan's March 2011 earthquake. An exhibition of architect's response to the disaster was showing at Canterbury Museum. Temporary containers housing marine businesses at the Overseas Passenger Terminal. A migrant walks past prefabricated container houses at the Hal Far Tent Village open centre outside Valletta September 2, 2014. Looking for a cheap, easy, quick roof over your head? A house made using shipping containers should do the trick, right? Orest and Julia Tarnawsky's house survived the Canterbury earthquakes with minimal damage.

The two-bedroom Long Bay Rd property, overlooking the Akaroa Harbour, was built using four 12-metre shipping containers at the end of 2009. The Tarnawskys are caretakers and teachers at Christ College of Trans-Himalayan Wisdom (CCTHW). Their house has double glazing, sliding ranch doors and is "very well constructed", Julia Tarnawsky says. "It feels quite spacious even though it has lower ceilings. "It's airtight and very cosy. We have a flue going up from the first floor into our bedroom. We have good insulation and it's up on stilts so we get airflow underneath." The Tarnawskys had to adhere to "stringent" requirements "in regards to the foundations" as they were "on the side of a fairly steep mountain", Tarnawsky said. While construction was "more expensive than we had thought in the beginning", they would use containers again, she said. There are plans to build accommodation units for CCTHW students, using 6-metre containers. "If people are going to build with containers they probably need to have a budget a little bit more [than first anticipated].

As with any building project, there are a lot of unseens that you come across at the last minute." If a client comes to Jared Lane asking for help in designing a residential property using shipping containers he will be straight up. What is their motivation? If it is cheap digs, then the senior associate at Christchurch-based architecture firm AP Design Ltd will enlighten them. "Quite often we have just said to [clients], ‘Why do you want to build it out of containers?' and generally, ‘It's cheap, it's easy, it's quick'. Well, it's not," Lane said. "We would need to discuss the possible design and the associated costs . . . client expectation doesn't always meet the hard financial reality." Peter Sparrow, the director of building control and city rebuild at Christchurch City Council, said container construction had been "prolific" since the Canterbury earthquakes. "[Containers] have been . . . used in variety of ways including hoardings, rockfall protection, storage of goods, facade stabilisation and the construction of buildings."

The council has issued 35 consents for commercial premises using containers since February 22, 2011, and four residential consents. Nine applications have been refused. "Some applications have not been accepted due to insufficient details showing how compliance with the New Zealand Building Code can be achieved," Sparrow said. Lane said people were drawn to "this sort of romantic idea that you just chuck some containers on your land and live in it". Reality hits when they start navigating the consent process. "There's a bit of a misconception that it's somehow cheap and convenient. The reality is that with the New Zealand Building Code it is neither," Lane said. The work needed to get compliance can sometimes make it more expensive than building a home using traditional materials. Sparrow said container houses, if well-designed, could be a good option. "One of the great things about the rebuild . . . is the innovation that's occurring," he said. "[Containers] are inherently strong from a structural perspective [and] they're modular so they can be locked together easily."

Because it is new territory, the council's consents team must interpret the building code on a "first principal basis". "There is no standard type of construction process for container houses. We have to go down to first principles and assess it to the building code. "The code is what's called ‘performance based'. It does not say how to build something." Many refused applications did not meet insulation, foundation and internal moisture requirements. Steel structures can lead to issues with condensation, and meeting insulation requirements can be difficult in small, container-sized spaces. Also, because container houses are "non-standard designs", there are engineering requirements for the foundations. Sparrow's advice is to, well . . . get good advice. "Go to a good quality designer that's got some experience in [container construction] and like everything - research." Lane said container structures "can work well" for commercial developments. "Considerations are a bit different for commercial properties."