Shipping Containers as Homes

[arcturus]

Has anyone seen these first hand?  Anything local?

https://www.sgblocks.com/

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/realestate/home-in-shipping-container.html?utm_content=bufferbd207&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/36827823/shipping-containers-are-the-new-housing-project-coming-to-tucson

Edit:  Sovengard?

Edited November 13, 2017 by arcturus

[mpchicago]

Yes, Sovengard.   A few years back, someone had the idea for a shipping container "food court" in Eastown, where the Eastown flats are now.   

This whole movement has been around for a while.  I Really like the idea of recycling these into different uses.  

 

[Pattmost20]

Container Bar in Austin Texas had just opened when we were down there, it was a pretty cool use of shipping containers.

[GR_Urbanist]

I could have sworn there was an ArtPrize entry that was a single shipping container structure of some sort.

 

But I also would love to see more places here utilize them, especially as cheap housing options or as a replacement for existing trailer parks

[Pattmost20]

9 minutes ago, GR_Urbanist said:

I could have sworn there was an ArtPrize entry that was a single shipping container structure of some sort.

 

But I also would love to see more places here utilize them, especially as cheap housing options or as a replacement for existing trailer parks

"Containment" was an ArtPrize entry in 2013. It was a Shipping Container that opened up into a Bar.

[EastownLeo]

1 hour ago, Pattmost20 said:

"Containment" was an ArtPrize entry in 2013. It was a Shipping Container that opened up into a Bar.

I think you can see that bar here. Or something like it -  Bar Lee and Birch

I do think that are some regulations that the city has, I had a friend looking into it but could not get approval for residential.

 

 

[walker]

This article today in the Free Press made me think of the discussion in the Wealthy thread a month ago about shipping containers but since that thread has moved on I decided not to post it there.  And I'm not posting it in the Affordable Housing thread because even though the article mentions affordable housing once, this particular container house in Ferndale  isn't what most people think of when they use the term affordable.  So I dug up this old thread from last year to post the article to:

Free Press: shipping-container house sprouts up in Ferndale $450K 

This just re-enforces what I said last month in the Wealthy thread - these aren't at all cheaper than a comparable stick house, so what's the point. 

[Pattmost20]

22 minutes ago, walker said:

This article today in the Free Press made me think of the discussion in the Wealthy thread a month ago about shipping containers but since that thread has moved on I decided not to post it there.  And I'm not posting it in the Affordable Housing thread because even though the article mentions affordable housing once, this particular container house in Ferndale  isn't what most people think of when they use the term affordable.  So I dug up this old thread from last year to post the article to:

Free Press: shipping-container house sprouts up in Ferndale $450K 

This just re-enforces what I said last month in the Wealthy thread - these aren't at all cheaper than a comparable stick house, so what's the point. 

Not that long ago there was a company claiming total build cost minus land was $130 per Sqft, at that price it completely makes sense. These are priced at $250 per sqft, my guess is they think the value is in the land.

[elcelc]

Down the road from Ferndale is this one in Royal Oak.  Obviously the finishes here are top notch. I'd like to see cost of container vs cost of flatbed full of 2x4s to get a better idea of real value here.

http://thecasaclub.com/royal-oak-shipping-container-house/

[GRDadof3]

25 minutes ago, elcelc said:

Down the road from Ferndale is this one in Royal Oak.  Obviously the finishes here are top notch. I'd like to see cost of container vs cost of flatbed full of 2x4s to get a better idea of real value here.

http://thecasaclub.com/royal-oak-shipping-container-house/

A new stick built home with those finishes is probably $200 - $225/sf not including the lot. 

[jthrasher]

3 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

A new stick built home with those finishes is probably $200 - $225/sf not including the lot. 

 that equals less than $100/sf.   New homes are typically way more than that right now.  

[GRDadof3]

2 hours ago, jthrasher said:

 that equals less than $100/sf.   New homes are typically way more than that right now.  

Huh? No it's $200-$225/sf for the home. Then add in the lot cost (since lot prices are all over the board). 

So a 2000 sf home with those levels of finishes = $400- 450,000. On a 75000 lot = $475000 - $525,000. 

Granted that shipping container home has way higher finishes than most new homes. 

 

 

[walker]

On 3/20/2019 at 4:52 PM, walker said:

This article today in the Free Press made me think of the discussion in the Wealthy thread a month ago about shipping containers but since that thread has moved on I decided not to post it there.  And I'm not posting it in the Affordable Housing thread because even though the article mentions affordable housing once, this particular container house in Ferndale  isn't what most people think of when they use the term affordable.  So I dug up this old thread from last year to post the article to:

Free Press: shipping-container house sprouts up in Ferndale $450K 

This just re-enforces what I said last month in the Wealthy thread - these aren't at all cheaper than a comparable stick house, so what's the point. 

Just an update.  The Free Press today in a follow-up article reports that the Ferndale container house sold for $415K:

Free Press: follow-up shipping container house Ferndale  

Obviously a tolerable but substantial drop from what they were asking.  I kind of suspect a very good profit margin was built into the original list price with the builder pricing it hoping to catch someone who wants to live in a trendy new style house but no one bit at the original price.  The builder probably still did alright at $415K.  

Edited May 16, 2019 by walker

[walker]

I've been cynical about shipping container houses but I kind of like this:

MLIVE: shipping container restaurant swamped during 1st week in downtown muskegon

Sort of like the original pre-fab diners back in the twentieth century.

 

 

[walker]

Here's the Chinese solution for fast affordable housing:

China Expandable Container House in ten minutes 

[ModSquad]

There is a US company called Boaxabl that does the same thing.  I saw one of these, two story, at the IBS show in Vegas pre-covid.  They are pretty cool and pretty expensive.

 

https://www.boxabl.com/

[walker]

Many of you here have been intrigued by the idea of living in a shipping container.  Maybe the next evolution of this concept is to live in a Quonset hut (you know - those roundish metal temporary housing units favored by the military around WWII - think of the building where Gomer Pyle lived while serving in the Marines on TV.)  Saturday the Detroit Free Press had a story about a developer from NYC who has moved to Detroit and has bought some distressed property just north of Corktown and is building a community featuring Quonset huts.  The Free Press story is behind a paywall:

FREE PRESS: detroit-core-city-project-buildings-land

So because you likely aren't going to buy a six month subscription just to read this article, I've included some other links that describe this project:

This is from the developer's website - 

http://www.princeconcepts.com/015-the-caterpillar-detroit

This next link is of an article a couple of years old but explains what the guy is trying to do - 

https://seenthemagazine.com/philip-kafka-detroit/

Renting a Quonset hut apartment isn't cheap.  I'm not going to fish my hardcopy of the paper out of the trash but I think the Free Press article said renting one was around $1000 - $1300 a month, so they are not in the price range of the surrounding neighborhood where the average family income in under $30K.   And the developer has been been accused of favoring gentrification after he foreclosed on a popular but inexpensive neighborhood restaurant. 

Unrelated comment on Quonset huts: back sometime I guess after the end of WWII till around 1980 there were several Quonset hut homes scattered along the north side of 44th Street between Clyde Park and Byron Center Rd.  They gradually all disappeared.  They had nothing to do with the National Guard Armory being across the street since the Armory wasn't there till the mid sixties.   Just a guess but I suspect they were war surplus that had been purchased as kits and were put up during the housing shortage just after WWII.   So the Quonset hut experiment was once tried here and they didn't survive. 

 

Detroit Quonset Hut Apartment Building

        

     photo credit: JC Reindl Detroit Free Press

Edited October 11, 2021 by walker
added photo

[GRDadof3]

On 10/10/2021 at 9:58 AM, walker said:

Many of you here have been intrigued by the idea of living in a shipping container.  Maybe the next evolution of this concept is to live in a Quonset hut (you know - those roundish metal temporary housing units favored by the military around WWII - think of the building where Gomer Pyle lived while serving in the Marines on TV.)  Saturday the Detroit Free Press had a story about a developer from NYC who has moved to Detroit and has bought some distressed property just north of Corktown and is building a community featuring Quonset huts.  The Free Press story is behind a paywall:

FREE PRESS: detroit-core-city-project-buildings-land

So because you likely aren't going to buy a six month subscription just to read this article, I've included some other links that describe this project:

This is from the developer's website - 

http://www.princeconcepts.com/015-the-caterpillar-detroit

This next link is of an article a couple of years old but explains what the guy is trying to do - 

https://seenthemagazine.com/philip-kafka-detroit/

Renting a Quonset hut apartment isn't cheap.  I'm not going to fish my hardcopy of the paper out of the trash but I think the Free Press article said renting one was around $1000 - $1300 a month, so they are not in the price range of the surrounding neighborhood where the average family income in under $30K.   And the developer has been been accused of favoring gentrification after he foreclosed on a popular but inexpensive neighborhood restaurant. 

Unrelated comment on Quonset huts: back sometime I guess after the end of WWII till around 1980 there were several Quonset hut homes scattered along the north side of 44th Street between Clyde Park and Byron Center Rd.  They gradually all disappeared.  They had nothing to do with the National Guard Armory being across the street since the Armory wasn't there till the mid sixties.   Just a guess but I suspect they were war surplus that had been purchased as kits and were put up during the housing shortage just after WWII.   So the Quonset hut experiment was once tried here and they didn't survive. 

 

Detroit Quonset Hut Apartment Building

        

     photo credit: JC Reindl Detroit Free Press

Quonset huts are cool for a workspace, but not really to live in. They're like A-frame houses, you think there'd be a lot of light but it's only really on the ends. 

[Allison Slater]

There's a company here in GR that does container buildings, I could be wrong but I think they're somewhere by Roger B. Chaffee Ave? https://gotblox.com

[walker]

On 8/16/2022 at 12:52 PM, Allison Slater said:

There's a company here in GR that does container buildings, I could be wrong but I think they're somewhere by Roger B. Chaffee Ave? https://gotblox.com

 

First noticed this a couple of weeks ago before they painted it when it looked more like shipping containers including graffiti.  This looks like what I'm guessing is going to be classrooms for the John Ball Zoo School.  It is just to the left of the zoo entrance back behind the old pavilion where the band shell used to be.

     

 

Looking around the zoo, I for the first time noticed there are other shipping container buildings, including the ticket office that's been there for a few years along with a couple of concession buildings:

 

Edited May 9, 2023 by walker