How to build a shipping container home

At ConstructionScale, we love giving you all the best information we can find. Not only do we want to update you about the construction field, we also want to open your mind a little to the extraordinary possibilities that you can take advantage of! Building a shipping container home is not only a great way to keep costs lower than building a traditional home, but it can also be a fun project for anyone with a little bit of skill. If you are a contractor, this may be a great design to offer clients as well. We took our time researching everything you may need for this project and developed a loose process to follow when you start your shipping container home buildout. Lets take a look at the process!

Step 1 - Land Purchasing & Permitting

Purchasing your land may seem like a huge task, and you’re right, but it is completely worth it. For this, we recommend consulting with a local real estate agent. Not every parcel of land will be right for building a shipping container home! Make sure you find a parcel that is suitable for this type of construction. After consulting with your real estate agent, give the local building department for that city a call and make sure you are able to do this. They may give you a hard time, but assure them you are going to follow all the proper permitting and procedures to do this right. Don’t worry, you don’t need to cut corners to save money on this because you are still going to save a ton compared to a traditional home building process.

After you have purchased the land suitable for your shipping container home, contact the permitting department to get started on the documents they may need in order for you to start. it is important that you get started on this right away as it can be the most time consuming. Ask them if there are any steps you can take to get started before you have permitting in place. Some areas will allow you to grade the land and even begin the foundation process, Granted you don’t pour any concrete! If this is your local authority, it would be best to first call your local 811 or “call before you dig” to come out and verify you do not have any utilities running below your property and if you do, you will find out where they are located. If you are still designing your layout, you may want to hold off on digging for your foundations as these will likely need to get this stamped and approved by a structural engineer.

Step 2 - Buying your Shipping Containers

So now you have the land, and you have stared the permitting process. You are making some awesome steps in your adventure to build a shipping container home! While you gather the needs for permitting, you are going to want to complete your design. That means, laying out how you want the structure and buying your shipping containers! Learn more about how to find the best shipping container that fits your needs! If you already know what you want, you will find everything you need right here and not only that, you can order online.

Shipping boxes come in a few sizes, but the best part about building a shipping container home is that you can choose whatever configuration you want. Primarily you are going to be looking at 20 feet long to 50 feet long containers for your home build. You can choose to lay a few boxes on the ground together, spread them apart or even stack them. Be sure if you are going to stack them, you consult with your structural engineer because the last thing you want is to be cooking your first meal in your new kitchen and your bathroom container falls into your bedroom container. That would be...well a shitty situation.

Step 3 - Placing your Shipping Containers

By this step, you have purchased your land, obtained all the permits required, designed your layout and purchased your shipping containers. For moving the shipping containers, you are going to need to reach out to a crane company. Tell them what you are doing and they should know what you need. Send them your design for the layout of the containers and how you plan to secure them. You are going to want to secure them to your foundation in this step or secure them to the other container. Be mindful when you are placing them. You don’t want to place them in locations that block plumping or electrical utilities. If this happens, you may need to make some adjustments to the container so it fits flush with your foundations. Once your shipping containers are set in place, now you can begin the best part, the modifications.

Step 4 - Modifying your shipping containers

Depending on your design, you are going to have to cut our the doors and windows. Remember, the shipping containers are not moving so take your time to measure exactly where you want the doors or windows. Depending on the size, your structural engineer may require you to reinforce the container by fabricating wood headers above large openings to keep the structural integrity of the container intact. The shipping container gains it’s strength from the continuous use of corrugated steel along the outside of the box, once you cut into this, you are weakening the shipping box.

Now you have cut your openings for your doors and windows. You will need to fabricate a frame. You can do this using angle steel. This will require some welding experience so you may want to reach out to a welder or local fabricating shop and let them know the size of the hole you are cutting and the size of the window going in. This frame will need to be secured to your shipping container as well.

Once your doors and windows are installed, you will want to finish your flooring. you are going to want to remove the existing floor and expose the steel beams. You will then run your plumbing and electrical. Once that has been installed, you will may want to install vapor barrier and insulation if you have slab on grade. This insulation may not be the best at keeping in heat as it will be on the concrete or foundation, but you can always add extra subfloor insulation as well.

Once the subfloor is reinstalled, we recommend adding another plywood subfloor for extra protection, you can even purchase pre-insulated subfloor material and use this. You will want to install your moisture barrier on the floor, after this, you can choose what flooring works best for your design!

Before you install your final flooring, you are going to want to frame the walls. You will not want to leave the walls steel as they can rust in harsher conditions and that will cause structural issues. you would frame the container the same way you would frame in any home. You can use self tapping screws to secure the framing to the floor or ceiling corners. This is going to be your strongest point. Once you have finished the framing, you can run your electrical and plumbing to where it is needed.

Now you have windows, doors, subfloor and framing with utilities ran through. Next you are going to want to insulate your framing and drywall. Once the drywall is complete, you can finish off the final flooring of your choice and then you will have the basics complete! the only step left for you is to design your living space how you want!

Additional Information

We have included some great guides for you to have with you while you build your shipping container home! These guides will go into further detail about what is required and how to make the best shipping container home! Not to mention, if you find out you’re a master at constructing your shipping container home, these guides are completely refundable. These guides are digital downloads and they will teach you how to plan, design, budget, and build your new home so you can get started today!

Shipping Container Home Club

Click here for your full guide

Shipping Container home made easy

Click here for another full guide

Thank you for reading!

If you have any questions, want more information or just want to discuss your ideas for building your very own shipping container home, leave a comment below or contact us today!