California house spills out of shipping containers, what a novel idea

[madokie]

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-09-16T180758Z_01_N9D440766_RTRUKOC_0_US-LIFE-CONTAINERS-HOME.xml&archived=False


REDONDO BEACH, Calif. (Reuters Life!) - Dusty, rusty and dark, a shipping container may seem an unappealing home to anyone but, perhaps, a rat.

But eight shipping containers painted bright white with big windows have become a dream home for an adventurous California couple who wanted original design at an affordable price.

(snip)

When the crates arrived at the Redondo Beach site, it took only four hours to place them with a crane. The home's final price has come in at $135 per square foot, compared with an average $200 to $300 per square foot for traditional building.

(snip)

"But now people will be driving down the street and slam on the brakes and just sit in the middle of street look at it."

[nuxvomica]

1. There was a report on this on Lou Dobbs' show

Apparently China sends us 7.5M shipping containers a year and we can only return 2.5M due to our trade imbalance. The empty 5M have just been piling up in Los Angeles so a lot of people are using them to reduce the high cost of home construction in California. The high cost of building materials has been partly due to China's huge construction and manufacturing needs so it's all connected.

[madokie]

2. one of my brothers moved back to Oklahoma after living in Calif for years

and accumulating a lot of things. He bought two 40 ft containers to ship all his shit back here in and used the two containers for two of the walls of his shop. he has two vermin and moisture proof storage rooms now. I thought about one of the smaller ones for storage and for a tornado shelter

[nuxvomica]

4. They are well made enough to surive an ocean voyage

And protect all the Walmart-destined merchandise inside. Tornado shelter sounds like an excellent use. I wonder how many are piling up in New Orleans that could be used to rebuild homes there.

[WhiteTara]

6. you can dig a hole in the ground

set the containers in the ground, cover them with dirt...leave an entrance of course and, voila, an instant storm cellar...mushroom growing cellar...or in our part of the country, the common use, is to set them up as indoor grow rooms.

[GP6971]

7. Containers are sent back to Asia empty

The carriers have to backhaul the empty containers....doesn't generate a lot of revenue for them.

[LWolf]

3. Is there a pic somewhere?

I've used shipping containers as hay storage/tackroom; they work great. What do they look like, hooked together for housing, and how are they insulated?

[Richard Steele]

14. There's a lot that comes up on a Google Image search.

Some of these are just single containers, dressed up nicely....
others are real space-age marvels.

http://images.google.com/images?q=%22container+house%22&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images

[Wcross]

5. 2-300 dollars a sq ft?????? Damn what are people smokin?

That has to include the land costs, right? Average building costs are 60-125 a square in the real world (depending on the quality of materials used).

[Shipwack]

8. Depends on what you define "real world" as...

It probably does include land costs, but then again, building fees and licenses might be driving the price up also, but it wouldn't surprise me if construction costs were also high.

Not only is this California, where the cost of living is expensive, we're talking L.A. county, (expensive x2), in view of the ocean (x4).

Redondo Beach Property Sales Statistics for March 2006
1 Bed 2 Beds 3 Beds 4 Beds
Avg. Sales Price $743,909 $828,406 $836,222 $1,033,154
Avg. Price / sqft $965 $770 $534 $482
Num Sales 4 15 28 9
Redondo Beach Real Estate Guide

Assesor for L.A. County, if you want the break down by street map...

[madokie]

10. a house here that would cost say $100,000, no telling what it would

bring on either coast. :shrug:
so a dollar figure on its face is not comparable.

[muesa]

13. Forget "mid-Continent" land and building costs

The I-95 and I-5/US101 corridors are different worlds.

Silicon Valley prices are 4X-6X Ann Arbor prices,

[CabalPowered]

9. The magazine Dwell did a great spread on container houses

a few months back. They work very well and can be arranged in various positions to create all sorts of layouts.

We buy the shorter 20" containers every now and then for extra storage at the shop. You can buy two 40' for the price of one 20' because of the demand for the shorter ones. We paid about $2k the last time for a 20'.

[WePurrsevere]

11. We rented 2 smaller ones for storage for 2 years. It's a business in NNY.

The guy that owns it is a jerk but it must be a good idea since I see his storage containers all over the place down near our old house.

[divineorder]

12. I Found a Link

Looks pretty good, but then, I'm not a fan of super-modern housing. But it's cheap, durable, and probably will do in a pinch. And considering the housing market these days, I bet a lot more people will be living in them whether they want to or not...

http://www.treehugger.com

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