Why shipping container homes are overrated

They’re fun. They’re also way more difficult to build than they seem.

Shipping container homes have been a trend for a while, from reality TV shows to housing policy discussions. But the truth is that these homes are a lot more difficult to build than you might think.

It’s easy to think that housing solutions are purely technological, but many obstacles to housing aren’t in construction but in the policies surrounding homebuilding. Moreover, many of the supposed advantages of shipping containers turn out to be more complicated in reality.

Vox’s Phil Edwards spent a night in a shipping container home to see how the experience of staying in a shipping container compares with the reality of building one.

Further Reading:

[Vox]

Thanks for watching! Have you stayed in container home? Let us know in the comments below 👇

[miroslavbros]

The ukranian refugee containers are not repurposed shipping containers. They are specifically made for this purpose. They were used in europe also as vaccination and covid test centers. You just lay them somewhere on the parking lot and voila you have a covid center. That said, they are accually affordable because from day one they are made for their purpose intead of renovated and adjusted which makes the shipping container houses less affordable.

[misz]

I dont think anyone expected to buy a used container for 4k and not have to do a bunch more work.. even if you end up paying 15k for everything, that's a LOT cheaper than a house. Even with how small it is, it's a functional home they own, and for a lot of people that's amazing.

[xlynx]

It would have been interesting / useful to see some price comparisons to other methods of building small homes.

[yoholmes]

Every house needs "reinforcements, a foundation, plumbing, & electric".
If these are considered drawbacks then every modern house ever built is considered a "drawback".

[BrettHoTep]

I thought it was generally accepted that shipping containers are really only effective as the frame of a house or room. You aren’t just dumping one in a backyard and moving into it without major modifications.

[smallstudiodesign]

As architecture professional, I would say that *anything* that gets converted from non-habitation into habitation will take a lot of extra work — hence will then be classified as “overrated” when ubiquitously hyped by the senselessness of mass media.

[reyn]

i really like how the owner of the airbnb admits that shipping containers take a lot of money to turn into a “home”

[wrecklessgarage]

As a mechanical engineering undergraduate. It’s not really that impractical. They really aren’t that problematic just because you need to reinforce it if it’s modified. Literally every structure needs specific reinforcements when it’s changed due to the change in force application. Spending 4K per shipping container and a 2k welder you could get a lot done compared to standard housing costs. Architects aren’t engineers, so don’t rely on them so much for engineering specific questions. Usually architects are more into the form than function of a structure, while they still keep function in mind it’s not as pedantic as engineering analysis.

[ntatenarin]

I'll admit, after living in a studio apartment, these shipping container houses don't look so bad!

[jackhammerside]

Putting 400 grand into a house and then paying mortgage for years after isnt as easy as it seems either right?

[EvanBoyar]

I would've liked to see the per unit area price comparison between building a shipping container house and a traditional one. I'm not convinced by this video that it's more expensive, just that it's less inexpensive than people who haven't done enough research thought.

[jamesclark]

There is something skeezy about a landlord who is running an air bnb behind an abandoned house in an overgrown lot and they drive up in a BMW.

[DaemonEX]

I lived in one for a good few years back in the Netherlands and honestly it was great. The insulation was top tier, it had a heat pump, and it was extremely affordable. If I'd had to live by myself again, I'd happily move back into one

[CULatte]

Turning an intermodal container into housing is impractical, but building emergency housing in the footprint of a container is a good idea. Makes transport and deployment much easier and cheaper.

[austinwenger]

Shipping containers as homes are just a reaction to the slow building of affordable homes. So people look for alternatives.

[gabrielherguth]

This video just proved everything I already knew and was ready for I’m absolutely all in for shipping container home

[thomash]

I thought the title would be “underrated” lol, cause I never saw anyone actually living in them

[patrickfarabaugh]

My wife and I stayed in that exact unit in April! It was a lot of fun and the bathroom is even nicer than he described (the heated floors and big shower was so incredibly nice). The town of Warrenton, while small, was fun with a brewery, distillery, and a few restaurants within walking distance from the unit. I would certainly recommend staying there!

[mbrc]

You know what’s wild, and people basically never mention this, is that homes like these are considered ADUs. In other words they are an accessory dwelling unit. In order to have one you can’t just buy a plot of land and dump one on there, you have to buy a primary residence. The guy renting these out bought a trashed out house and land just to he could legally put those there. The big misconception for people trying to save a buck is that they can just buy some land and do that, which is really not the case.