Dealing with shipping containers

[Chyniece Cox]

Hey everyone,

Has anyone used shipping containers for a project??

If so what do you create and how is it going?

Looking forward to hearing from you all!

[Nik Moushon]

As an architect I have studied them and have seen various projects designed and built with them. If you want something different and unique they are a fun/challenging medium to work with. But they are NOT something that is going to make your build easier or cheaper. The cost of the project will be at least the same, probably more (bc most contractors have never worked with them so they charge a premium), and will probably take longer to build too (same reason that price is higher) than a traditional stick built project. 

There are three main reasons I would never suggest shipping containers as a REI build medium.

1 - As I just mentioned, cost and time are more than likely going to be over what a traditional stick built building would be. Mainly because you are going to struggle finding a contractor that has done it before. So they will charge a premium for a new building type. On top of the fact that, with anything that is new, screw ups and changes are going to happen, which only add cost to the project. 

2 - Shipping containers are structurally sound as they stand....until you start putting holes in the walls. So adding windows, doors, or any type of opening means you are destroying the structural integrity of the container. So you now get to pay for structural supports likes headers and beams and posts...just like a stick built building. 

3 - You still have to meet all the same building and energy codes. The biggest one here is the energy codes. So in order to meet the correct R-value in the walls and roofs you end up studding out the inside of the container to fit your insulation in and hang drywall. At that point you have pretty much just built an entire traditional stick framed building inside your containers. So you end up paying a premium for corrugated metal sheeting as your exterior material but with the catch that you have confined yourself to set dimensions of the container. 

So unless you really like the look that the containers give...this is not a medium to build from.