Shipping Container Home my first project

[Bradley Humphreys]

Let's do intro's first. I'm 21 years old, stationed at Fort Hood. I'm very interested in real estate investing, but wildly lost on any practical application of my passion. But for about 2 years, I have been dreaming of building gorgeous, unique, durable, and high quality homes out of shipping containers. So I set out to build my first one as a learning process. Unfortunately I'm getting deployed for a year so the project is going to get partially done then, put on pause. Now the details. The first thing I thought I needed was property. So I started talking to a real estate agent in town and gave her my parameters, small acreage, low cost, undeveloped, no building restrictions, and properly zoned ( shipping container homes as far as I can tell fall under manufactured housing.) Luckily this was the first property she sent me too, now I've read that you should search high and low for the right property, and although I didn't look at 100 other properties but I did look at about 10 this was before I talked to the agent. As soon as I saw the property I knew I wanted it. We started talking about financing and luckily Texas has an organization called Texas Veterans Land Board which finances properties like mine to people like me. It was a match made in heaven. I bought the property for $18,500. As far as I can tell and I can't tell very far it may not have been a steal but it was definitely a good buy based on the asking price per acre in the area. It's 3 Acres of raw land just outside Fort Hood, Tx. It's almost all stone, with mountain cedar bushes and other vegetation covering 85% of the property. It has access to county water and electric but sewage is not available so a septic tank will eventually have to be put in. The property has a nice view of an undeveloped valley of Fort Hood. Also I already own the first container it's an air and water tight 40 foot high cube, air and water tight is a grade of shipping container it's on the lower end but is still structurally all there. Now the goal. I want to put a shipping container home on the property and live in it or rent it out when I'm away. As the property is stone, I don't want to put a slab in ( that's what 90% of non mobile homes are built on in the area.) I'm planning on using the structural integrity of the shipping containers and putting large concrete pillars in the ground to set the containers on. After assembling the main structure I want to put a large screened in porch on top of the containers with a roof. This not only give you more living space but it gives you an elevated view of the valley and is a unique but not overly odd characteristic. Progress. So far I have begun installing the drive way it needs to be wide to accommodate large trucks and equipment. I had them cut the drive way in such a way so that the house won't be seen from the main road ( I like privacy). Once the drive way is done I'm going to move my container to the property and put it on a temporary foundation (cinder blocks) for my deployment and when I come home I plan on purchasing the 2nd container and beginning construction on the house. I've begun designing the house if possible I'll upload some pictures

[Sterling Cox]

Hi Bradley,

First off, thank you for your service.

Sounds like a great project, and I'm psyched more people are actually getting started with their build instead of indulging in endless rhetoric.

A couple things, unless your area of Texas is unique, container homes are treated like normal stick-built homes. That is, they need to be inspected per the local code to parameters and specs that a normal house would. It's a plus if you don't need to meet a minimum square footage (a majority of areas in the US require a home to be greater than 600 sq. ft.). A manufactured home is the newer (easier to digest) term for a mobile home. Though both manufactured and mobile homes are synonymous with each other, neither should be confused with the term modular home. A modular home is one that is built partially or wholly off-site then delivered and "hooked up" to the property. Modular homes are coded the same a traditional stick-built homes.

Manufactured homes are coded by a national code (the RVIA I believe), but it is a certification that is awarded to the specific manufacturing facility where the home was built.

Another thought, and this may be dependent on your local code, but you may be able to set the container on some blocks and then use cable tethers to tie it to the ground, like a tent. This may save you the headache of drilling through the property's stone for the pilings you mentioned. In this case, you'd just have to drive in some substantial spikes.

Anyway, these are just some thoughts. I hope they help.

Good luck, and I'd be interested to see some images of the progress.

-Sterling